Yankees Catching dilemma

In Spring Training Russel Martin was going to be the starter and we were all wondering if Austin Romine would be able to get the backup job from Francisco Cervelli, but Romine injured his back almost immediately and it seemed certain that Cervelli would be the backup. Of course then the Yankees traded George Kontos for  Chris Stewart and Stewart became the backup Catcher because he was out of minor league options and Cervelli was sent to AAA. Stewart has had some timely hits but he was brought in for his defense and five passed balls is not the way to stick if Defense is your reason to be in the majors. Remember Montero was supposed to take over behind the plate but the Yankees did not trust him behind the plate last season and then traded him to Seattle because he did not fit in well unless he was a catcher. I think we would all prefer Cervelli to be with the big league club but until Austin Romine comes back then the Yankees are going to stick with Stewart and it looks like Romine will be out until July. If Romine had been able to have a full year in Triple A they could have potentially platooned Romine and Cervelli but now his injury means he is not guaranteed to start next year with the Yankees as they may want him to have a full year in Triple A. The Yankees are full of good catching prospects but right now with Romine injured the Yankees are lacking at high level catching depth. This is also an extremly odd time for us as Yankee fans as Jorge Posada has been a staple behind the plate for over a decade and replacing a player like Posada is nearly impossible. The other big downside with the loss of Romine for the first half of the season is that the Yankees are going to need to resign Russel Martin because they have nobody who could start next year behind the plate except for Martin. I also really do not want to risk letting Martin go either because Gary Sanchez is a long way away from the Majors and Romine has a grand total of 35 PA above Double A.

Jorge Posada will retire

Posada had been linked to the Orioles, Phillies and Rays but obviously the deals never worked out for him. Posada hit .273/.374/.474 for his career with 275 home runs and may have some real Hall of fame credentials. Posada played his entire 17 year career as a Yankee and was probably the most unappreciated part of the core four. Posada will officially announce his retirement in the next two weeks.

An apology to Posada

I recently wrote a post about Jorge Posada in which I said that Posada was hurting the Yankees. Posada evidently reads this blog because he responded by hitting .469 over the last two weeks and has raised his BA to .228 when it was sitting around .175 all season and while he has not yet hit a home run he has come very close and will likely hit one before too long. Posada has taken all that criticism and turned it into raw offensive production and despite the fact that he is still a liability on the base paths it looks like the Yankees will not need to bring in someone to DH for them and that patience that the Yankees had exhibited has proven to be worth it and the Yankees will not need to release a Yankee great. I really hope that Posada will keep up this hitting and he has shown in his 2 starts at 1st that is still able to play the field and hopefully with Interleague coming up he will get an opportunity to catch.

Being real about Jorge Posada

I'd like to start off by saying that Jorge Posada is one of the greatest Yankees of all-time and every fan should appreciate his 17 years of service to the Yankees. The agreed to his 4 year $52 million deal after he had one of the best offensive years for a catcher in MLB History in 2007 to go along with a silver slugger award, an all star berth and finishing 6th in the MVP vote. Posada has been beset with injuries likely due to the physical strain of being a starting catcher in your late thirties and only in 2009 did he catch the majority of games.  As a 39 year old Catcher coming into the 2011 season a move to DH seemed warranted especially after significant time on the DL in each of his 3 previous seasons and the Yankees were confident that he would do an adequate job despite a .205 Career BA at DH. Posada was concerned about how he would do at the position as he preferred to spend the games behind the plate. I'd like to say that the Yankees brass should have listened, but I doubt that being the backup catcher would change his offensive output. Posada is currently hitting only slightly better than Nick Johnson was at this point last year and Posada currently has a sub .300 OBP and has the worst slugging percentage of his career, although that may have something to do with being slow enough that he cannot leg out doubles. Posada also has not had a single hit while batting right handed this season and he is currently in a platoon situation at DH which will help Posada some as he is hitting .211 against RHP. But still thats not much of a platoon situation when your DH for righties is barely hitting above .200 and in the Month of May he hit .219, in fact the only positives he has is that he went 1-1  with a double as a PH and when he played 1B he went 1-3 with 2BB and a double. This has gotten ridiculos, I respect Posada but as the DH your contribution is measured by your Offense and right now he is a liability. When PosadaGate occurred I was torn as I greatly respect Posada but at the same time he should be hitting 9th and the fit he threw was extremely unprofessional as was trying to pass it off as an injury issue. No Matter what nothing will be done in the short term as the Yankee Brass wants to keep Posada around at least until Jeter gets his 3,000 hit. I think the Yankees will do one of a few things, they could keep the platoon situation going with Posada/Jones and add to it when Eric Chavez comes back, this may be the option they run with for June as having another pinch hitter for Interleague can't hurt. The more painful option is that if the Yankees decide that Posada can no longer contribute to the team then they may be forced into the option of asking him to retire and if he refuses giving him his outright release, which is the last thing that the Yankees want to do. They may also try and put Posada on the DL but the phantom DL doesn't go over as well as it does in the minors, also I doubt that Posada would agree to this arraignment. The Yankees know that Jesus Montero is sitting in AAA and they would either be able to make him the  backup catcher and send Cervelli down, have him be the Full time DH or have him split time between DH and being a third catcher who splits the backup time with Cervelli. In my opinion the Yankees need to make a decision on Jorge and soon because Jeter is less than 20 hits away from 3,000 at the End of May and he will undoubtedly surpass 3,000 by the end of the month and probably by the middle of June. Unless Posada drastically improves he will not contribute to this team and will need to either sit on the bench or end his Yankee career. The only real question is what is the plan, if Posada sits on the bench then he can still make occasionally starts at DH and the Yankees can provide a 1/2 day to a regular. The Yankees even have secondary options in AAA with Jorge Vazquez also knocking the ball out of the park with ease.
I think that the Yankees need to address this problem because right now I don't see what the benefit of having a DH is, because I think that our pitchers may be able to provide a better offense than Posada's -0.6 oWAR. I think that the best option would be to call up Montero and send Cervelli down to AAA and make Montero the backup catcher/DH and have Posada serve as the emergency backup/occasional DH because I don't think that the Front Offense wants to alienate Posada because they want to bring him back in some role after he retires, possibly as a scout or a coach. The fact is that Posada is currently hurting the Yankees and the Yankees are going to have to make some decisions when Eric Chavez comes back because he and Chris Dickerson will contribute more than Posada currently is. I do want to see the Yankees let Posada catch at least once this year and if that comes during interleague it could be a sign that Posada's time is nearly done.
As a side note for all of you who want to see Jorge Vazquez come up and DH there is a chance for that in September but he has nearly a 1/3 K rate to go along with his 18 Home Runs and while he is currently mashing the ball in AAA I don't think that will translate to the MLB nearly as well.

Groans, Facepalms and Everything that has Yankee fans Wondering "What the Hell?"

So first off, for any regular readers, I am not Nick. I am his girlfriend and he has asked me to write a piece here because I, as he is, am an enormous yankee fan.

One would be hard pressed to find a Yankee fan who hasn't, for a greater part of this season, been on the edge of their seat (and not in the positive "THESE GAMES ARE SO CLOSE BUT WILL PROBABLY END IN OUR FAVOR" kind of way.) Between sometimes shaky pitching from the back end of the lineup, barring Bartolo Colon, to offense who has seemingly forgotten that if you have a runner on third with less than 2 outs, just about any in play ball will bring in a run, Yankee fans are finding themselves scouring scouting reports of their own to see what our chances are to win a game or series. However, one may wonder who is at fault here; is it the management? the players? pitching? defense? offense? Why is it that with a team of heavy hitting, strong players are we having such issues? Here is my breakdown.

Offense:
This is an obvious problem; they're not hitting when they need to be. It seems that we can get all the hits in the world when we're winning 15-0 but if the game is close and we're not scoring via long ball, our offense stands at the plate and perverbially scratches their asses waiting for the pitcher whose on the mound to do something (also known as throwing a pitch they can hit). Unfortunately, when we're down or up by only a run or two, we can't see the ball or are focusing too much on "we can't lose again" and end up making rookie mistakes.

One huge culprit of this is Robby Cano. Robby is a fantastic player, don't get me wrong, but for whatever reason he cannot seem to get his swing together as of late. Although he carries one of the teams highest batting averages at .273, he keeps swinging at pitches out of the zone, using a long lazy swing that has developed into a lot of groundouts or high pop-ups or just not swinging at the type of pitches he can hit for contact. All batters slump and he certainly isn't the only one in the line up that is doing it right now, but for a guy who is considered to be our best hitter, he isn't showing his stuff right now and instead of being a difficult out at the plate, he has become the exact opposite in the last few games.

It is also difficult to build a solid offense when certain members of the line up are going several games without a hit. These members are Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher. I have been a huge Posada fan for the entire time I've liked the Yankees and I have come to really like Swisher. However, these are two holes in the batting order that are causing some serious problems. With Posada hitting only .178 and Swisher plummeting from .270 last season to .206 this season there are basically two guaranteed outs when they come to bat. This is obviously a problem. Although one would immediately think to either bench them for a while or move them down in the line up, that has proven to be more difficult than it seems. With Posada being a long time Yankee and already irked that he had to give up his position as catcher, moving to 9th in the line up was not something that thrilled him. Although after the "Posadagate" incident in May Posada admitted that he was not hitting the way he should be and that he wasn't contributing much to the team offensively (which is all he can do, because he's the DH!) he still said that he felt disrespected by the Yankees. With ego's like that at work, it is difficult to make any moves or changes. Swisher, on the other hand, has not spoken much about his slump other than to say that he is working with Kevin Long and hopes to improve soon.

Basically, we need a new line up order. The one that we have right now is coming to bite us in the ass. Although Derek Jeter is improving (and then not improving, and the improving again) he is no longer effective in the lead off spot. We should have someone like Gardner batting lead off, Granderson following, Teixeira, Cano, Roderiguez, Martin, Jeter, Swisher, Posada. With a line up like this we would have a better shot at producing runs early and keeping leads. Unforunately, the management is afraid of hurting the feelings of integral Yankee players such as Jeter and Posada. Although Jeter is certainly far from useless, he is no longer (as I said before) effective where he is and until/when/if he improves he should be moved to a part of the line up that reflects his offensive contribution, not his time vested in the team. As far as Posada goes, he needs to take an enormous chill-pill and realize that if he wants to benefit the team he loves so much, he needs to take one for the team and bat 9th. Changes can always be made as players stats change, but for right now, a line up change would help incredibly. Other teams have had no problems moving strong players to lower batting slots in they weren't performing well. For example (and as much as it pains me to say it), Francona and the Red Sox had no problem moving Carl Crawford from the 3rd slot to the bottom of the order when he wasn't performing as he should. Again, I hate to say it, but that is good management. Although loyalty to players is something of a Yankee tradition, Joe Girardi needs to pull his head out of his ass and instead of babying the bullpen and starting pitchers do something about his fledgling offense.

Furthermore, the offense needs to learn the power of contact hitting. Although home runs are great, and they are certainly not a cheap way of scoring runs but they are not the ONLY way. Everyone wants to be the hero so when we have runners in scoring position, instead of taking the sacrifice (in a tight game just to tie the score or gain insurance runs) or trying to just loop the ball into the outfield, everyone starts swinging for the fences. In the process, they miss pitches, get out and we strand our runners. Working on manufacturing runs and playing small-ball will increase our chances of winning more games and make us a more solid team.

That brings me to our next problem, Management:
I do not like Joe Girardi. I feel I need to clear this up now, because I don't think I have many nice things to say about him.
A manager should listen to his players, which Girardi does so I give him that, but he is also supposed to make tactical decisions about problems that players may be biased on. That is what a manager does and that's what they're paying him for. Instead, he over or undermanages different aspects of the team to the point where they become ineffective. Although he does well with the bullpen and makes sure that they stay fresh and ready, he needs to understand what to do with a starting pitcher. Someone like CC Sabathia is easy to manage; he's a workhorse and rarely falters beyond his ability to fix so there aren't too many problems there. Unfortunately, not every pitcher is CC Sabathia. Guys like AJ Burnett are more difficult. Last season I was ready to overthrow the Yankee higher-ups and fire him myself because he was useless, but despite everything, Burnett has come back this season as a reliable pitcher. However, someone needs to deliver the message to Girardi that when he starts to lose the plate in the 6th inning and he has an upwards of 80-90 pitches, he rarely comes back from it without letting a run or two go. It's not entirely his fault, he's not 25 anymore and when he gets tired, as with any pitcher, he gets sloppy. Even though this has been shown time after time, Girardi chooses to rest on his laurels and wait for the score to be tied or give the other team he go-ahead-run before he makes the call to the bullpen. I don't know if he is just trying to give the bullpen time to warm or if he is waiting to see if Burnett will discover the plate again but he waits way too long (not just with Burnett, but with just about every starting pitcher) and it costs the team runs and games. Furthermore, he also has the opposite problem which consists of taking a starter out too early when they're dealing. For example, on April 24, Freddy Garcia was pitching against the Orioles and he was dealing. Of course, Girardi decides to take him out a little early. You could even seen Garcia saying that he was fine and wanted to go back out, but Girardi insisted. The bullpen came in and ended up blowing the lead and tying the game forcing it into extra innings. Although we won, it is possible that if Garcia had come back out it wouldn't have gone on that long. This is an example of his over/undermanaging style. He either makes too many or too few moves and it can render the team in a losing position.

To remedy this situation, Girardi really just needs to pay more attention and take his head out of his special little binder and watch the damned game. He seems to misread signs from the pitchers and overall just waits way too long to make a move when needed and sometimes moves to early when things are "too good to be true". Maybe he should take a him from himself and listen to his pitchers, if they say their tired than it may be time to do something, but if a guy is showing no signs of slowing down and says he can pitch, give him a shot. You can always bring someone in from the bullpen if they prove to be unable to make the outs. Or, there is another option (my personal favorite), fire Girardi's ass and employ Billy Martin's corpse to do the managing.

Finally, we have magically adapted a problem with our defense:
One thing you could always say about the Yankees was that they were solid defensvively, until recently. For some unknown reason (therefore I'm calling in laziness) we have adopted errors, and lots of them.
Robby Cano (sorry to pick on him again, but it's true), a former gold glove second basemen is losing track of the ball and making more errors through this part of this season (5) than he had all of last season (3). He wasn't always a great fielder, but you expect when someone makes advances that they will stick with them instead of regressing.
That coupled with some sloppy infield playing at times is causing some problems for us defensively. Hopefully this is just a phase and they'll come out of it.

This is just a matter of better communication among the infield. They need to decide where to play, how shallow/deep and they need to pay better attention to their signs. Also, our gold glove, silver slugger second basemen needs to wake the fuck up and smell the baseball. It's time to stop playing lazy like you're in little league and play to your full extent. We have the talent and potential to overtake and pull away in the AL East, but if we keep doing nothing with RISP, experiencing shit management and dealing with a sloppy defense, we'll be waiting and watching come post season.

Lets talk about Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran signed his 7 year $119 million deal with the Mets back in 2005 and his deal expires after this season making $18.5 million this year and the cash strapped Mets want to deal him. Beltran had knee surgery last year, he was moved from Center field to Right field and has not played more than 81 games since 2008. His name has come up in trade rumors as he has been very good this year and most think that a move to the American League to DH would be great for Beltran, but his high price tag and injury history has made teams wary.
The Mets have solved some of their financial issues with selling a minority stake in the club, but the ownership has also said that no player is off-limits to be dealt by the trade deadline.
Beltran had been part of trade rumors since before the season even began and at the time the Yankees did not seem as though they would be even considering Beltran as they had Nick Swisher in Right and Posada as the DH. Now its mid-Febuary and Nick Swisher is slumping bad and Jorge Posada is slumping really bad and so Carlos Beltran's name has come up in trade rumors with the Yankees. The idea is that the Yankees would trade for Beltran and split time with him in Right and at DH with Swisher and Posada and Jones would probably be released.
I don't think that the Mets would be realistically expecting anything for Beltran except maybe a mid level prospect or two, this trade is about Salary relief and the Yankees definitely can afford to take on Beltran's salary. This seems like a match made in trade rumors heaven as the Mets free up a lot of salary room and the Yankees get a bat that can energize their slumping offense as Beltran is swinging the bat pretty well slugging .564 in 39 games and just had a 3 homer game. The problem is that we as Yankees fans sometimes forget that those other guys who play baseball across town and make all those funny mistakes are technically our rival and Mets fans would probably be really pissed if Beltran was traded to the Yankees.
Also some Mets fans apparently think that Beltran is deserving of some legitimate prospects or even for some reason Brett Gardner or Nick Swisher in addition to taking on his salary. The Yankees could take Beltran's full salary and in exchange they would give someone of Justin Maxwell's caliber. If the Mets Front office expects more then that in a trade will never get done with the Yankees. This is also assuming that Nick Swisher does not rebound, because if he does and Posada continues to struggle then the Yankees would likely just promote Jesus Montero to DH and Catch once in a while or promote Jorge Vavquez who has hit 16 HR in 37 games with a .303 average.

Jorge Vazquez

Honestly even if Swisher continues to slump will likely keep him for next year even if they trade for Beltran and I think that a deal is unlikely to come about. To me the most likely scenario is the A's trading David DeJesus for Beltran with the Mets eating a large part of his salary. It is still more of a possibility than any of us expected coming into this year.

Francisco Cervelli 2011

(Nam Y. Huh/AP)

Heading into spring training there has been a lot of talk about the Yankees catching situation with the newly acquired former Dodger Russel Martin and Top Prospect Jesus Montero both looking at the starting job. The Yankees have already said that Martin will be the Starting catcher but Montero hopes to win the job in spring training, however most expect that he will start the year in AAA before making his debut later in the season. One person lost in the Montero/Martin talk is current backup Francisco Cervelli, who despite being the backup last year actually started more games than Jorge Posada. Cervelli will likely start the year as the backup behind Martin, but could still catch a fair number of games if Martin doesn't feel 100%.

Francisco Cervelli endeared himself to many Yankees fans when he was called up in 2009 after both Posada and Molina were injured and he did a great job behind the plate. Starting off the 2010 season Cervelli was great at and behind the plate and some even said that the Yankees should trade Montero and Romine because Cervelli was clearly the future starting catcher for the Yankees. Unfortunately Cervelli made a lot of errors in the second half of the season and as a result his defense rating plummeted and he finished  at the bottom of the league defensive ranking, but anyone who watched the games saw that a lot of these errors were not due to Cervelli making true defensive errors but were more bone headed than anything else. Also he was has statistically been good at throwing out runners until this year when he posted his lowest caught stealing percentage ever and again he was good at the beginning of the year before falling apart around the second half. He did post a .359OBP but his batting average took a nose dive after a very hot April & May and he has never had any power , but oddly enough did hit more triples this year than he hit in his entire minor league career.

Despite the criticism of Cervelli he has was a good backup and he hits well enough to be the starting catcher on most teams and in a recent interview he talked about working with Robinson Cano on hitting and on his desire to be a Starting catcher and win a Gold Glove. Cervelli has been apart of a lot of trade talks with many clubs asking the Yankees about him and he was almost dealt to the Dodgers for Russell Martin. Unfortunately for Cervelli I doubt that he will ever be the Starting catcher for the Yankees due to their great Catching prospects, but he could be a long term back-up or he could be traded at some point in the future as he is definitely capable of starting for a number of teams. Many could project that Cervelli could be dealt some time this season when the Yankees trade for a Starting pitcher but I expect that Romine will be the most likely trade chip this season if a catcher is involved.
I expect to see Cervelli about once a week and I expect that now that he will be playing in the backup role his defensive stats will improve. Also hopefully we will see the return of his Rawlings S-100 protective helmet which earned him the nickname Gazoo.