Few things are more annoying than a no-rain rain delay. Yes I know that the last thing you want is to start a game with the potential of rain in the forecast early, only to wind up stopping the game and having to pull your starter, but still, rain delays are no fun, and it’s even worse when the game is in the central time zone to begin with. Thankfully, Phil Hughes made it all worth our wait.
Hughes was at his very best on the mound, using just 65 pitches to get through 6 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts while allowing 3 hits and no walks. Indeed, the only thing that could stop Hughes was the rain, which finally started coming down in the 7th and forced an early end to the game.
The secret to Hughes’ gem? Simple, he brought his good fastball with him to the park. Of Hughes’ 65 pitches, a full 45 of them were four seam fastballs, 36 of which (80%) were strikes. Hughes was blowing the pitch by hitters all night, dialing his velocity up to 95 MPH multiple times, and averaging 92.54 MPH, according to Brooks. The White Sox might not have the best lineup in the American League by any stretch, but the velocity Hughes showed on his fastball last night, as was the way he mixed his changeup and curveball in effectively.
The Yankees will be using a 6 man rotation this week, after which either Hughes or Ivan Nova may be headed to the bullpen. Prior to last night I had assumed it would be Hughes, and that a bullpen assignment may help him find his fastball again. Apparently the possibility of it alone was enough, and pitching for his rotation spot, Hughes turned in his best start of the season so far, and gave us all a reason to hope he may well put it all together yet this season.
After a 45-minute rain delay (which reportedly involved no rain), the Yankees and White Sox kicked off the second game of the series. Phil Hughes looked like his old self on the mound, but his outing was cut short when a rain delay ended the game after six and a half innings, with New York taking a 6-0 win over the White Sox.
Much like Monday, the Yankees got started early. Derek Jeter singled to left and Curtis Granderson worked a walk. Mark Teixeira grounded into a double play, but moved Jeter to third. Robinson Cano then lined a RBI double to center and the Yankees held a 1-0 lead.
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Triple-A Scranton beat Lehigh Valley, 3-2
The big story here was Manny Banuelos’ Triple-A debut. He went five strong innings, giving up seven hits, two runs, walking three, and striking out eight. He gave up a home run, but it was to Domonic Brown. Jesus Montero also homered, as did Brandon Laird as part of a 3-for-4 night.
The wheeling and dealing is done. We can begin debating who won and who lost.
In a few months we’ll be able to judge the teams who took a the short view: San Francisco, St. Louis, Texas, Philadelphia, Arizona, and Milwaukee. It could be years before we feel the full effects of this deadline for Houston, San Diego, and both teams in New York and Chicago. And, finally, there were a few teams – most obviously, Cleveland and Pittsburgh – who hedged.
To some extent this is true every year, but this year I was particularly tempted to interpret the trade deadline according to relative expected utility. That is, the assumption that different commodities have different values in different environments.
Example I: Texas Rangers
In: Koji Uehara (RP), Mike Adams (RP)
Out: Chris Davis (1B/3B), Tommy Hunter (SP), Robbie Erlin (SP), Joe Wieland (SP)
The current conventional wisdom argues, I think very convincingly, that relief pitching is abundant and volatile, and that veteran relievers are usually overpriced. We are frequently persuaded that few commodities are more valuable than young starting pitchers. Therefore, it follows that trading three promising pitching prospects (as well as a young power-hitting corner infielder) for a pair of relievers in their mid-thirties is, well, usually asinine.
For the Rangers, however, there is at least one flaw in the conventional wisdom. Barring an absolute catastrophe, there is little chance Hunter, Wieland, and Erlin, who have all reached AA or higher, would be able to fit into the Texas rotation within the next two years. In addition to a trio of 2011 pre-arbitration breakouts – Alexi Ogando, Matt Harrison, and Derek Holland – the Rangers have another very inexpensive season of Colby Lewis, as well as the impending arrival of Martin Perez and the possible conversion of Neftali Feliz. Robert Ross and Neil Ramirez are also highly-regarded and rapidly-rising starters who will probably be ready to debut in the relatively near future. Moreover, Nolan Ryan, Jon Daniels, and Ron Washington have repeatedly expressed their reluctance to have a rotation without a veteran stalwart, so they may very well pursue a free agent like C. J. Wilson or Mark Buehrle.
Now, if I were the Rangers, I probably would’ve preferred to convert my surplus pitching into a center-fielder or a catcher, even if it meant waiting until the offseason to do so, but they clearly believe the bullpen upgrade is what will get them back to the World Series. Thankfully, they have the luxury of taking that gamble without doing any serious damage to their franchise’s long-term prospects.
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This report from Ken Rosenthal seems to have raised some eyebrows, for understandable reasons:
The Yankees on Sunday made a play for Houston Astros lefty Wandy Rodriguez, but that push was driven by ownership, not Cashman, according to major-league sources. The Yankees were willing to pay $21 million of the $38 million remaining on the final three-plus years of Rodriguez’s contract, according to SI.com. The Astros, on the other hand, were willing to pay $2 million of Rodriguez’s salary this season or $5 million if his option for 2014 were exercised, sources said. But the teams, unable to bridge the financial gap, never even got to the point of discussing names.
Of course, it’s that “driven by ownership” line that has caused people to worry. Are Hank and Randy sticking their noses in Brian Cashman’s business again? Are we set to see another Rafael Soriano situation any day now, with a disastrous decision coming from the owner’s office as though it had become indwelt by the ghost of The Boss himself?
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After a strong home stand, the Yankees started their road trip in Chicago. They got on the board early, but the White Sox were not easily beaten, as they collected ten hits against the New York ace. In the end, the Yankees held onto a slim lead for a 3-2 victory.
The Pinstripes wasted no time in getting on the board. Brett Gardner led off with a single to maligned White Sox first baseman, Adam Dunn. Curtis Granderson followed with a double to right and Gardner crossed the plate for the first run of the game. Robinson Cano singled to right, past Dunn again for an RBI single and the Bombers had a 2-0 lead.
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Triple-A Scranton played a doubleheader against Lehigh Valley. They lost the first game 4-2…
Scranton faced a rehabbing Roy Oswalt in this one. They had a 2-0 lead after four innings, with Jesus Montero and Austin Krum both knocking in hits, but Lehigh Valley tied it with two in the top of the sixth off starter Lance Pendleton, and then took the lead in the top of the eighth. Ah, well. Kevin Russo doubled off Oswalt, and Randy Flores gave up the lead in his last appearance with the team; he is being released.
…and won the second game 4-1.
Scranton scored in the second and third, and held on for the win. Kevin Russo went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot for Scranton, and Jesus Montero and Jorge Vazquez doubled. George Kontos threw five strong innings, giving up just three hits, one run, and striking out seven. JC Romero struck out two in a scoreless inning.
I’ll be totally honest; I’m less than enthused by news that Manny Banuelos is being promoted to Triple-A, and maybe headed to the big leagues in some capacity this year as well, and Dellin Betances may be following soon. My fear is that I’ve seen this movie before, with the Yankees rushing their top pitching prospects through the minors. Do the Yankees rush their prospects relative to other teams?
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From John Nalbone, in an article on Manny Banuelos‘ call-up to Triple-A:
According to sources close to organization, Trenton catcher Austin Romine, then Dellin Betances, will be next to board the SWB shuttle, with top overall prospect Jesus Montero expected to join the Yankees’ lineup in the very near future.
Excellent news about Montero, and none to soon either. I’m less excited about the promotions of Banuelos and Betances, for reasons I’ll elaborate on in a later post.
It was a sad Thursday for fans of Japanese baseball. In the morning, Kosuke Fukudome, heralded in 2007 as the greatest Japanese position player since Ichiro, was traded to the Indians for what amounts to spare parts, bringing to a close an extremely disappointing tenure with the Chicago Cubs. In the afternoon, Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky posted a tribute to Ichiro, which was foremost a declaration of the “end of Ichiro,” examining his disastrous 2011 season, far and away the worst of his career. And, finally, Hideki Irabu, the man responsible for the Japanese posting system, was found dead in his home in L.A., an apparent suicide.
In many ways, Ichiro and Irabu are the Janus twins of baseball’s first truly global decade. Irabu, probably the hardest-throwing Japanese pitcher of all time, made a bad first impression. When the Chiba Lotte Marines traded him to the San Diego Padres in 1997, Irabu balked, refusing to play for anybody but the Yankees. The Padres worked out a deal to trade his rights to New York, who signed him to an enormous contract, amid increasing publicity. Irabu responded by laying an enormous egg in his first season under the microscope (7.09 ERA, 1.67 WHIP) and earning the nickname “Fat Toad” from George Steinbrenner, an unkind epithet which still appears on his Baseball-Reference page, as though announcers were prone to saying things like, “That’s another wicked forkball from Fat Toad.” Irabu rebounded with a couple of league average seasons, but did not meet the lofty expectations he had helped to create by insisting on the trade, and was shipped off to Montreal in 1999 (a somewhat underrated trade that netted New York two future All-Stars, Jake Westbrook and Ted Lilly) where his questionable work ethic combined with injuries to further derail his career. He pitched his last game in 2002. What good Hideo Nomo mania had done in getting Americans excited about Japanese players was largely undone by Irabu’s heavily publicized failure.
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This is probably neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things, but I’ve seen a lot of this this season, and it’s kind of been nibbling at me a bit:
I don’t think holding on to Jesus Montero, Dellin Betances, and Ivan Nova is Cashman’s most egregious move as a GM. I think allowing Eduardo Nunez to stand in the way of acquiring Cliff Lee last summer is.
Lee still may not have signed with the Yankees this offseason, but I do believe they get past Texas in the ALCS, and clobber San Francisco in the World Series. Who knows, after going down the Canyon of Heroes Lee May not have had the same affinity for Philadelphia. You just never know.
This is not really how I remember the Lee trade going down. Rather, the Yankees and Mariners spent most of the day discussing a deal, and the Mariners kept altering their demands and dragging the process out. The Yankees would learn the Mariners were still talking to other teams, particularly Texas, and get steamed at Jack Z. So rather than simply refuse to give up Eduardo Nunez, the Yankees more or less refused to continue to be used as leverage for Seattle to use to pry Justin Smoak out of Texas. We can debate whether it was a good negotiating strategy or not, but at the end of the day it’s probably neither here nor there; Texas had the player Seattle wanted, and once they agreed to include him in a trade there wasn’t anything Cashman could have done differently.
But maybe I’m misremembering events?
I wanted Ubaldo Jimenez to be a Yankee. I’m still upset that he isn’t, and subsequent reports coming out aren’t making that any better (if the Yankees really made the decision on Ubaldo as Sherman describes, just asking who they’d rather have start a playoff game this year without regard for anything after this season, the relevant decision makers don’t deserve to win anything), but still, I have to feel pretty good about this team. They’re a near lock to make the playoffs right now, barring a total collapse, and their offense and starting pitching stacks up with anyone else in the league.
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After beating up on the Orioles twice Saturday, the Yankees finished out the long series with a win on Sunday afternoon. Freddy Garcia continued to put forth strong outings for the Yankees, perhaps making it easier for some fans as the trade deadline passed without a blockbuster move in the Bronx. As the day turned into evening, the Yankees sent the Orioles back to Baltimore on a three-game losing streak, as the Bombers won 4-2.
The Orioles were actually the first to score Sunday. Robert Andino drew a walk in the top of the third and stole second. Nick Markakis worked a walk and Andino stole third. A single by Adam Jones plated the first run of the game, as the Orioles went up 1-0.
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