N.Y. YANKEES ~ Big Papi, Mother Nature, and Sox Sweep Bombers

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

new york YANKEES:  Rain Only Delayed the Inevitable.

As far as Game Two, ...Look What Big Papi Did To You.... AGAIN.

There was no brush back.  There was no dusting off and hitting the dirt.  Papi picked up right where he left off Tuesday wasting no time depositing an A.J. Burnett pitch into the seats in right to make an early 1-0 lead, a 3-0 lead before the Yankees even came up to bat.  So much for backing him off the plate and moving his feet.  They moved his feet so much, he rounded the bases, and with all his ribs in tact.

...And the Stadium went silent.

But instead of David Ortiz being the center of attention again, the real story maker was A.J. Burnett, who's rapidly morphing into the Yankee version of Oliver Perez.  Two first inning home runs; a run in the second; and after three more runs given up in the fourth inning, Burnett was toast.  And at this point it must be acknowledged; the Yankees' pitching staff as a whole is in big trouble.  More on that maybe tomorrow.


(That was all meant for yesterday.  I fell asleep, too tired from softball last night and never published.  And so I resume today with some tweaks.)

Too bad the Yankees chose to wait three hours to get last night's game in.  Because the fact is, the Sox flat out rolled the Yankees like a drunk on 161st Street.  Not only C.C., but they rolled the whole team, all series long.


Last night was the big match-up between CC Sabathia and Josh Beckett.  Things were going fairly copacetically for C.C. the Yanks over the first six innings.  The Yanks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the home half of the first and made it last for the next five innings.


Along the way, Josh Beckett plunked another two Pinstriped milk bottles.  Then finally...Finally!... C.C. defended the Yankees' honor by drilling Big Papi with the pitch so many fans and Media talkies have been asking for.  After the game, when asked about getting hit, Big Papi told a group of reporters, "I hope you're f**king happy now."


But the damage inflicted by Papi and the S'awks had already been done.  The Red Sox sent a message received here in New York loud and clear by everyone. 


The Yankees relinquished their hold on first place and it has all the Yankee-leaning talkies in a full blown panic.  And why shouldn't they be?  Have you seen who's in the Yankees' bullpen lately?




The Joba Rules and Hughes Rules Got A New Spin:

In short work, which is how Cashman operates these days, he basically shook off any responsibility he might have had in the demise of Joba and Hughes.  Cashman said The Rules were always in place in their minor operations and that it was the Media who picked up the Who's Rules ball and ran with it because he implemented it on the Major League level.  And it's true; on both counts.  No one ever heard Cashman say these are "Joba Rules" per say.  But they were, no matter how much Cashman wants to deny it.  But my question was always why?  Why bring up the kid (Joba) after only 88 innings pitched in the minor leagues?  What equates to on-the-job training, is turning out to be a complete fail on many levels.

For all the babying they handled Joba and Phil Hughes with, the two still succumbed to injuries (as did Ian Kennedy when he came up as part of that much heralded trio).  Joba is done for the next year and a half if he has to get Tommy John surgery.  There is speculation now, Hughes will fill the bullpen role when he returns.  If that plays out, then the mismanagement continues in earnest.





Mike.BTB

N.Y.YANKEES ~ JOBA Who?

Pitchers; and Catchers; and Cashman...Oh My!


NEW YORK YANKEES:  JOBA'less Chamberlain?

If I'm Joba Chamberlain, I'm retiring from the Yankees today, hiring a lawyer tomorrow and suing the pants off the Yankees the next day for "Decimation of Career". 

Why in Hilltop Park would Brian Cashman want to come out and publicly say Joba may not even have a job with the club this season?  With everything concerning Brian Cashman lately, you have to take him with a grain of salt regarding the manner with which he strings his words together during his Post-George reign.

If Joba's status is on thin ice, it's because the Yankees broke him due to their lack of skill at procuring home-grown pitching.  Since George Steinbrenner purchased the team, there have literally only been a handful of starting pitchers raised through the Yankees' farm who've achieved anything worth speaking of in a Yankee uniform.  Those names are Ron Guidry; Dave Righetti; Andy Pettitte....  I will be kind and include Chien-Ming Wang.  BUT That's It!  I defy you to name two more!  Right up until the much-hyped Big Three came up together; Joba; Hughes; and Kennedy, that's all the Yankees Farm ever supplied for the team's use on their mound.  In thirty seven years, that's an abysmal history of pitching development.

The fact is, historically, they have never had much use for rookies and prospects during the Old Boss Era (outside of all the work Stick Michael and Buck Showalter put in).  Doug Drabek and Jose Rijo are just two youngsters the Yankees traded away along with many more young position players who went on to have very substantial careers elsewhere.  The Yankees never had to procure minor league arms because their plan was always to buy someone else's starting pitching star.  Don't be fooled by any self-declared youth movements, development, and Farm System Ratings.  The signing of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett and their pursuit of Cliff Lee reaffirms the fact they'd rather just pay the money for a ready made pitcher.

So once the Yankees finally thought they had a trio of promising pitchers, they very unwisely in my opinion, started calling them up in 2007.  Joba Chamberlain in particular, was now pitching in the major leagues after only throwing 88 innings in the minor leagues!  In calling up their baby arms, they imposed all kinds of unconventional pitch counts and innings limits.  Isn't that what the minor leagues are for; to let these guys pitch and develop?  Phil Hughes benefited from more innings pitched at the minor level that Joba did and the differences in their effectiveness bear that out.  With somewhere near 300 innings pitched in the minors, Phil Hughes is obviously a more accomplished pitcher and more learned of his craft than Joba at this point.  What the Yankees did  to Chamberlain was plain irresponsible.  He's been toyed with like a Yo-Yo since day number one.  And it now seems he's gone from the Joba Rules...To a Joba Ruse...To just being plain ol' JOBA REFUSE.

If you're asking me, the Yankees lack of a standard philosophy on how to develop pitching was all too apparent.  Evidence of a feeble plan lay everywhere.  So then, like little spoiled-rotten kids,  the Yankees opened up all their new presents before Christmas, and when the day to actually open presents came around, what the Yankees had on their hands were three already broken toys.  All three pitchers wound up hurt and thrown on the DL under the Yankee Plan.

The Joba Rules as well as the Hughes Rules were absurd in theory and application.  Like I said earlier...Isn't that what the minor leagues are for?

Joba Chamberlain showed so much ability coming out of the bullpen when he was first called-up and filled the 8th inning role marvelously and in dominating fashion. He was immediately dubbed Mariano Rivera's eventual successor.  What followed was a complete mismanagement and mishandling of Joba Chamberlain.   His effectiveness, his role, his health, his velocity and now his very viability are teetering on insignificance.  A once very promising career appears for the moment to have been torpedoed by the Yankees, and it sounds like Cashen wants no part of the blame.

How did it get to this?  The Yankee mismanagement of Joba is culprit number one.  From the Bullpen to starting, to ridiculous pitch counts and three inning starts and a bug-battle with midges; it all culminated with an arm injury suffered in Texas from which he hasn't seemed recovered from yet and was maybe precipitated by a very erratic work schedule.

Now, adding insult to his short career, the Yankees signed former Tampa Bay closer, Rafael Soriano and follow that with a comment hinting Joba's time in Pinstripes is now uncertain at best.

It was a JOBA RUSE all along!

I was always on the side of him being in the bullpen.  When he showed how much of a force he was in that role, it made me recall how it was the Yankees themselves who unwittingly created the 8th inning set-up man so commonly utilized in Baseball today.

Ron Davis is widely regarded as the first (un)official Set-Up Man.  He was a force in his own right setting up for Goose Gossage.  By being so effective, Ron Davis pretty much created the role.  But even before Ron Davis, the Yankees created an uncomfortable bullpen situation when Cy Young Award winner Sparky Lyle was relegated to the eighth inning when the Bombers originally signed Goose.

It was the Yankees who always used the 7th; 8th; 9th inning roles to their fullest advantage.  After Ron Davis opened up eyes to a successful formula, the Yankees had a failed starter who was sent to the bullpen to become John Wetteland's eighth inning man.  Mariano Rivera dominated the eighth inning like Ron Davis once did.  Then Gene Nelson and Mike Stanton filled those roles behind Mo's 9th inning shut-downs.  Recalling all that, I always thought Joba Chamberlain was a natural for the role and could dominate it like Ron Davis and Mo did once before.

If you also remember, when Goose Gossage hurt his arm and went on the DL (one of those years; 1980 maybe..) Ron Guidry volunteered to go into the bullpen and close games because he said; paraphrasing all these years later... - "I can help this team more by coming out of the bullpen three or four times a week, than I can pitching once every five days."   If Ron Guidry recognized the importance pitching plays at the end of a game, that's good enough for me.

That's why I always thought Joba should stay in the bullpen.  But now it appears, according to Cashman, he's just trying to remain relevant enough to stay on the team.  While I think the chances of the Opening Day roster not having Joba's name on it are very slim to doubtful, you still can not hide the fact that Joba has become a mere after-thought in Yankee plans.

The blame for the complete mishandling, mis-application, and mismanagement of Joba Chamberlain and his current state of ineffectiveness and/or relevance today falls solely on the lap of Brian Cashman.  Cashman literally had no patience to let Joba stay in the minor leagues and let him learn his craft there; 88 innings...that's all he had.

That's not gross mis-handling.  I think it's negligent.  Any lawyers out there?  What are the chances of suing your GM for ruining your career?

Supposedly there are many high-end prospects within the Yankees system at AA and the AAA levels as we speak.  Warn Them!  Tell Them Beware.  Because, if the Yankees aren't cutting a check for some other team's star pitcher, they have proven they have no idea what they're doing with young kids.  Where is the proof otherwise?

After Guidry; Rags; Andy; Wang (to be fair), and now Hughes (still to be determined).....  Where is the proof they know what they are doing?  Joba; Hughes; Kennedy; All Hurt.  Two are now near feeble and one so far seems up to pushing a rock up the hill.

Four credible starting pitchers in 37 years is hardly a record of proficiency. 

What they did to Joba is pathetic.  Sorry, it's the truth.  Not wanting to hear it is another matter.




Mike.BTB

4x4 Yanks-Red Sox

The Starting Front Four of the Red Sox vs. the Yankees:
(eh..hem - allow me SoxNation)


Evil Empire

vs.

RedSoxNation

C.C. Sabathia
Josh Beckett

A.J. Burnett
John Lackey

Javier Vasquez
Jon Lester

Andy Pettitte
Dice-K Matsuzaka


The ACE - Both are aces. I give the edge to Beckett. Two rings to one. Both won rings with their present team. Beckett closed out the Yankees in 2003 with the Marlins. C.C. wasn't enough to get the Brewers to a W.S. Make your own call when he was in Cleveland. Fugeddabou'th stats. I think it's fair.

Two Spot - Burnett, when he's on, he's really on. When he's off, he's befuddling to watch. He's been a headcase with respect to his catchers, but NYC seems agreeable enough with him. Lackey is a bulldog and more consistent on a game to game basis. I watched A.J. throw his arms in the air after surrendering a HR and yelling aloud "Why did I throw that pitch?!", somewhat showing up his catcher Posada. We all watched Lackey yelling at his manager, "This is my game skip!" in the ALCS. What say you?
EDGE? It's close, almost a wash. It's Lackey by a nose.

Three Spot - Let's not waist too much time with this. Vasquez didn't do too well here, literally, since he went to the All-Star game for the Bombers in his first stint. Foolishly, they wanted Randy Johnson instead. He has improved somewhat since then. He has nice strikeout numbers since those days. But currently he's a really good aquisition for the Bombers, giving up Melkey and a bag of balls.
....(say this fast, for effect)> LesterIsBetterNuff'Ced!!!
Edge - Jon Lester.

Four Spot - Dice-K? Hmmmm. Tough call. Versus all Andy Pettitte has done, key word here being "has", it's Andy. C'mon SoxNation it's true, today. But what does Andy really have left. At least we think there is still a promising future for Dice-K. Don't we? Last year was a nice Swan Song for Andy. Is there anything left? Perhaps. Now-Now Yankee fans, if I pit Andy against Jon Lester instead of Vasquez, Andy looses to Lester. There's way too much ahead of Lester and Andy's career is in the rear view mirror. So, does it matter?

The Verdict - three rounds to one.....TheNATION has a better starting rotation than theEMPIRE. The Brooklyn Trolley Blogger has spoken.


P.S. What comes after the four spot is another matter. The Sox have Buchholz, while the Highlanders continue to mismanage Joba and Hughes, and seem about ready to delete Wang. Is Wakefield still able to flutter a knuckler or is he retired for good?

The Hot Stove is a-burnin' folks.

Brian Cashman says it's Joba vs. Hughes

NYC- Last week on 1050ESPNradio, Brian Cashman said Joba and Phil Hughes would compete in spring training, for one starting rotation spot.

My question, why bother?
I'll make my case for Joba being in the bullpen and why Hughes should start.
And I'll give you my opinion on why I think the Bronx Bombers botched the whole developmental process of Joba and to a lesser degree Hughes. here goes...

Why Bother? Cashman already intimated the Joba Rules will apply to Hughes as well next season; the "Hughes Rules" if you will. Tom Verducci did a study on pitching the Yankees loosely based their "rules" on. But the Yankee interpretation does Mr. Verducci's study an injustice. Last year it meant 2 and 3 inning starts on the bad side, 5 innings on the good. It meant pitching knowing the inevitability of the bullpen loomed ahead. It meant the Yankees self inflicted need for another starter down the stretch and for the playoffs (crisis averted, but none-the-less). It meant inconsistent work routines in the form of 5,6,7,8 and 9 days rest between starts. I've never seen such a developmental process. For that you leave them in the minors. Remember the minors? I know Cashman is trying to re-establish a developmental philosophy for the Bombers. But it's a process and the Yankees were NEVER good at it. They buy other team's players. Boss George never met a rookie prospect he didn't want to trade or think of trading. The Yankee system never needed kids. It was what it was.

Joba has already demonstrated dominance in the 8th inning role. As a starter he lost velocity, focus, concentration, confidence and most importantly, the strike zone. His pitch economy was terrible. Oh yea, and he got hurt too. The Yankees fast tracked him to the majors after only 88 innings pitched in the minors. 88! Juan Marichal had over 600! I digress. Phil Hughes has, off top of my head, over 300 innings pitched in the minors. He was also fast tracked and I believe about 70 of those innings came after he too, got hurt and rehabbed his way back. Hughes looks more polished as a pitcher in my opinion, because he has more minor experience than Joba. Joba is loaded with talent. Yes. But he's so raw and you learn in the minors, not on-the-job training for the Bombers. I believe Joba and Hughes already demonstrated their strengths and one, Joba, belongs in the pen, and Hughes should be the starter. If they still want to impose the HUGHES RULES, that's fine. Unlike Cashman however, I think their roles are already clear.

Ron Guidry, when Goose Gossage hurt his arm in a clubhouse fight, volunteered to come out of the bullpen until Goose got back. He said, and I'm paraphrasing here, he could help the team more coming out of the pen 3 or 4 times a week rather than pitch once every 5 days. That was a temporary solution, a different time and different reason. But Ron Guidry said that.

Imagine having a Cy Young award winner as your 8th inning guy? The Yanks created that very scenario when they signed Goose. Sparky Lyle just came off a Cy Young year as the Yankee closer and he became their 8th inning guy with Goose on board the next year. But this is when I think the Yankees truly invented the 8th inning set-up role. Ron Davis was given that role specifically, to set up Goose. He was damn good at it too. And there you have it, the SET-UP man. After Goose, the Yanks I believe misguidedly converted Dave Righetti into a closer. They never had a stable closer after Righetti until they signed Wetteland many moons later.

Now let's remember Mariano Rivera came up as a starter and didn't make it as such. He became the Yankees' 8th inning guy by default, and because Joe Torre typically abuses bullpens, Mo put up great numbers setting up Wetteland in 1996. We know what happens next in the MO story.

I give the Yankees credit for establishing the Set-up guy in baseball. It goes back to Ron Davis. It's a proven formula, (although my opinions about relievers, set-up and firemen are another matter for another day) and the Yankees have, in hand, the variable in that formula to preserve continuity in the closer role. We know Mo is great and he's a freak. But we know he's well beyond the shelf life of a closer and he's on borrowed time now at 40 years of age. Put Joba in the bullpen, he's your successor to Mo, and you're set for at minimum, a good block of years.

The Yankees have tortured and misused these kids enough, and that includes the since departed Ian Kennedy. I liken the Yankees to a spoiled kid who opened up his/her Christmas presents too early, wound up breaking them all lest we forget Joba, Hughes and Kennedy were all DL'd. Then when it came time for X-mas and opening of the presents, the Yanks had nothing to play with except broken toys. All three should have been held in the minors till this year.

Let's face it, under The Boss in the last 35 years, the Yankees groomed all of four pitchers from their system that have done anything worth speaking about. One of them, Wang, is about to be deleted. Ron Guidry, Dave Righetti and Big HGH himself Andy Pettitte are the others. I defy you to name another. The Yankees have always paid the premium for other team's pitching. The Yankees don't know how to develop pitchers, evidenced by these convoluted rules. I know, Cashman is trying to change all that, right? I know. Of course he is. He's been GM for a decade plus. He proclaims wanting to bring the Yankee payroll down and be more fiscally responsible, and reinvigorating their farm system. He even managed to break up the little Tamper Team in Tampa the BOSS used to keep in his back pocket. His resoluteness to these principles impelled him to sign C.C. for $60 million more than the next highest and really only other offer, made by the Brewers. His dedication to development and fiscal responsibility also secured A.J. for another wheel barrel of cash. No? And the Tex signing too? New rules, new direction, new philosophy = same Yankee$.

In the long run, I think Joba and Hughes will turn out fine and be very good pitchers, in spite of the Yankees, that is. I'm sure Cashman will refine his developmental strategy. After all, only the Yankees can afford to sign free agents the way they do, pay to retain the talent they groom, and still be able to afford the grocery list of mistakes Cashman (and George) signed for big money. We know the names; Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, Vasquez, Wright, the infamous Carl Pavano, the $40 million dollar minor leaguer Igawa.....do I need to go on? Most teams can't even afford to make one of those mistakes, much less two. In the mean time though, I think "The Bankees" are ruining their kids. We'll see.

What say you Yankee fans?