Okay so a lot happened over the last weekend in Yankee baseball and I didn’t really comment on much of it at the time, so here we go…
1. The Cliff Lee Saga
This trade was something I did not want to happen. I didn’t want it to happen not because I’m anti-getting-Cliff-Lee; I’m anti-getting-Cliff-Lee-in-a-trade. The Yankees, despite the trade of Lee to the Rangers, are still likely the favorite to sign Lee as a free agent in the offseason. I didn’t want the Yankees to pay for him twice in prospects now and then in money later.
Obviously, if the trade went down I would’ve been annoyed, but not unhappy. If the Yankees had been able to add one of the best pitchers in baseball, it would not have been a bad thing. A poster on RAB, I believe the one with the handle “ZZ” said after the trade fell through that either way, Yankee fans could be happy: either the Yankees would’ve added a great pitcher or they would’ve held onto their best prospect. Sounds like a good deal to me.
2. The weekend series versus the M’s
Aside from the Joba incident–I’ll discuss him later–this was an awesome series for the Yankees. They hit well, aside from Saturday’s game, and the starters were just great. Can we PLEASE get Javy some run support? Anyway, the Yankees win seven of their last eight and head into the ASB with the best record AND run differential in baseball. That’s always good stuff. The fact that they seemingly haven’t clicked on all cylinders yet (I’m looking at you, Bullpen) should scare the rest of the league. If the Yankees go on their typical second half run, they could match last season’s win total.
3. The Joba
Well, he’s not pitching very well of late is he? Like everyone’s said, his peripherals look great but he’s just not doing well. What, then, is the solution? The way I see it, there are a few options:
A) You let him keep pitching: After all, how’s he going to get better if he doesn’t pitch? But, the way he’s been going, this may not work all that well.
B) Relegate him to a lesser role: Well, then he’ll pitch even less and probably get even rustier than he currently is.
C) Send him to the minors: This is, IMO, the best option. While the results will likely be staggering in Joba’s favor, that’s not what it’s about. This move would be about Joba fixing his mechanics in a stress free environment. Regardless, a lack of development has finally caught up to Joba and something needs to be done about it.
4. The passing of Bob Sheppard.
What a downer, huh? I’m relatively young (23) as Yankee fans go, but his voice will always be meaningful to me. The thing I miss most about YSII is Sheppard’s calming and eloquent voice. His class was simply unmatched. Losing him and Ernie Harwell in the same year is nothing short of a baseball tragedy. Rest in peace, Bob; thanks for the memories of your melodious voice.
So, yeah, there was a lot happening this past weekend. It’ll be nice to have a few days off from it all so we can catch our collective baseball breath. !Felicitaciones Espana! Good luck to Nick Swisher in tonight’s Home Run Derby!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
5 Responses to The Busy Weekend That Was
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Matt, obviously you watch more NYY games than I do, but perusing Joba’s numbers, I don’t see how solution A isn’t the best route. He’s got career high ground ball rates, is K’ing guys at an elite level and walking few batters. To me, the biggest culprits are a high BABIP (no certainty that it’ll regress given the amount of innings a reliever pitches) and an unsustainably low left on base %. Usually it’s around 70-72% for the league, Joba’s is in the 50′s. No way does that continue. Once that rises, everything will be fine and the papers can start churning out the “tweaks” Joba’s made to his delivery or whatever else they’ll attribute it to.
I gotta say, I find it really hard to disagree with this sentiment.
I hate to be “that guy,” but maybe scouting and using our eyes can help also. It was pretty obvious to most of us, and even Girardi admitted as much afterwards, that Joba was uncomfortable and not locating on Saturday. He simply has appearances where has has nothing and gives up 2, 3, or 4 runs. Otherwise, he’s been pretty damn good. Might that explain how his ERA doesnt match his peripherals (bc he’s bunching all the bad stuff into a limited number of performances) as well as explain the LOB%?
I understand why his ERA doesn’t match his peripherals, I think mostly everyone understands that. The question is what to do about it. Obviously he had trouble locating, obviously he’s had a few bad outings, obviously from time to time he’s been uncomfortable, and obviously he’s made some really glaring, ugly and obnoxious mistakes. But what I’m saying, and what I think Mike is saying above me, is that maybe we should just let him work it out, maybe reduce his high leverage role until he does, but perhaps we shouldn’t panic and overreact and send him down just because his struggles are more high profile than others.
Ah, that makes sense. i disagree, but a lot of that is that unless he’s showing me that he really can replace Mo, I want him starting (I always wanted him starting, but him not dominating as a reliever makes that wish even stronger). I’d send him down and maybe just tear it all down and try to rebuild his mechanics.