Joel Sherman has a new piece up in the New York Post, where he examines the long-term considerations of why Hughes and Granderson had the inside track for 5th Starter and starting Centerfielder this year heading into camp. He writes:
They didn’t exactly rig the event as much as set the bar nice and low for Phil Hughes and for Curtis Granderson. As long as those guys just avoided losing jobs, then nobody else could win them.
So once Hughes showed the makings of a pretty good changeup and Granderson essentially did not belly-flop tracking flies in center, the pseudo-competitions were over. That Sergio Mitre outpitched Hughes did not matter nor did the fact that Brett Gardner is likely a superior center fielder to Granderson. The Yankees had both short- and long-term reasons for stacking the deck.
For example, the Yankees cannot guarantee that Mitre or Gardner will even be part of their team on July 1. Meanwhile, they envision Hughes and Granderson being vital pieces of their club into 2011 and beyond.
This is no small item. Success by prime-aged players such as Hughes and Granderson are vital to the Yanks navigating effectively away from the Core Four while being more judicious in the free-agent and trade markets. For example, if Hughes honors the Yankees’ scouting projections to evolve into, at least, a No. 3 starter on a championship contender then the organization could be more financially disciplined in wooing a free agent such as Cliff Lee.
If Granderson is not a center fielder and has to move to left, then the Yankees either have to trade him or he would be a block to pursuing Carl Crawford, a player they almost certainly will desire in the offseason.
I agree completely with Joel’s take on this. Fans often don’t view things this way, but Baseball decisions on the Yanks are ultimately made by the GM, since Cashman is in charge of Baseball Ops. Putting the team in a strong position to deal with future considerations will be a tipping point in decision making, as long as they’re not hurting the 2010 team. In running the numbers, all the projections I’ve seen had the difference between Hughes or Joba as the #5 Starter or Gardner/Granderson in CF as marginal, so setting yourself up for future considerations is something they can afford to do. This is one of the reasons the Yanks are a well-run organization and set apart from other teams, most of whom don’t have the luxury of thinking this far ahead.
BTW-2 days until Opening Day. . . . .
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17 Responses to Reasons Behind the Rigged Competitions
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TIQ IQ
The best thing that could happen to Gardner is a trade to a team that will let him play CF and leadoff.
He’s a guy you’ll like better and better doing tohse 2 things over an entire season.He could hit .240 on a lot of teams and play a great CF, with game saving catches and 40-50 stolen bases and winning games with his legs.
On YAnkeees batting .240 and batting 9th in LF won’t be enough.
After a year or 2 of batting leadoff, he’d figure it out and bat higher.
I disagree. Phil won the 5th spot by showing a decent change-up. Phil won fair and square.
I do agree with the poster from yesterday’s daily Joba thread, who wondered how Chamberlain became the chosen one.
Phil didn’t win fair and square because there was no competition. As long as he was able to take the ball he was going to win the job. As stated within the article it didn’t matter if mitre outpitched him because their minds were already made up.
Joba became the chosen one because of what he did in 2007-2008. Many fans, media members, and ppl within the organization put him above hughes and rightfully so because at that point he had shown he was the better of the two pitchers. But now it seems like the roles are reversed.
I don’t think anyone in the organization put Joba above Hughes. I think a lot of fans did, and I think they’ve never let it go. Joba showed the same inconsistencies he’d shown last year. Hughes is the better pitcher. He won.
One more thing: a contest is rigged when the guy with the ERA over ten wins, not when the guy with the ERA less than half of that wins.
But if it was truly a competition shouldn’t mitre have won or at least been strongly considered. He pitched equal to or better than hughes. All the coaches raved about how well he pitched although he was never a real option.
And in terms of joba’s ERA it is high but it was a product of his 1st 2 starts. After that he pitched well. You wouldn’t judge someone on their 1st 2 starts of the regular season so why judge someone on spring starts. The kid was battling the flu and took the ball regardless of how well he felt. Also take into account that a number of games he pitched were intra-squad games and his ERA stayed high
Mitre? The only way any of the other three would have made it is if both Joba and Phil were bad. Only one was. The other was pretty good and won.
Hughes looked better than Joba over the second half of last season as well.
Linking the two (Joba vs Hughes and Granderson vs Gardner) is IMO intellectually dishonest. One was a competition (between 2 of the 5 ‘contestants’), the other was to see if Grandy had lost it in CF. Apples and oranges.
“Mitre? The only way any of the other three would have made it is if both Joba and Phil were bad”
But wait a second the yankees were the one that said they had five guys competing for one job. If it was a true competition they wouldn’t mitre have been considered a real canidate. As I said he pitched equal to hughes did he not.
“The other was pretty good and won.”
hughes wasn’t pretty good he was ok/decent. Because if he was as good as you said then ppl wouldn’t have to have a bunch of yea buts after his starts. Yea gave he up homeruns but they were wind aided. Yea he struggled in the 1st inning but he looked sharp.
Hughes was far from terrible but ppl are making it seem like he had a terrific thats not the case.
“Hughes looked better than Joba over the second half of last season as well.”
of course he did he was pitching in the pen. But for their career as starters joba has done better than hughes
how is it that no one in the organization put joba over hughes when joba was given a rotation spot in 2009 and hughes was sent to the minors. You mean to tell me when joba pitched well in 2008 and hughes struggled no one in the organization thought joba was better than hughes. C’mon now
“If Granderson is not a center fielder and has to move to left, then the Yankees either have to trade him or he would be a block to pursuing Carl Crawford, a player they almost certainly will desire in the offseason.”
On what planet does that make any sense? As if the team couldn’t move Granderson to center for 2011. This is one of Sherman’s better pieces, but the dude is still dumb as bricks.
That is just DUMB. Crawford will NEVER be a Yankee!
Who in their right mind would go out and trade real value for an All-Star center fielder and then move him to left to accomodate a mid-level ceiling rookie. That is just and has always been a nutty idea. Grandy was brought in to play center and was slotted there from day one. Gardy would have had to morph into DiMaggio to displace him. And forget about Crawford. Left is reserved for the geriatric set when the time inevitably comes.
why do u say that
jeter can just play third when the time comes
I think third is taken, by a guy with a pretty long contract actually.
I hear he’s a pretty good player, too.
a-rod is not going to play third forever. He has what 7 yrs left on his deal. Can you see him playing third for the entire length of his deal?