Daily Archives: March 29, 2009

Yankees 9, Pirates 8, blah blah blah.

Brett Gardner won the center-field job!

Sez the skipper: “It’s not going to be day by day. Gardy is our center fielder.”

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Nick Swisher (1B)
L – Hideki Matsui (DH)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
S – Ramiro Peña (3B)
L – Brett Gardner (CF)

Subs: Justin Snyder (2B), Carmen Angelini (SS), Angel Berroa (3B), Jose Molina (C), Melky Mesa (RF), Melky Cabrera (LF-RF-CF), Seth Fortenberry (LF), Eric Fryer (DH)

Pitchers: A.J. Burnett, Damaso Marte, Mariano Rivera, Phil Coke, Jose Veras

Big Hits:

Robinson Cano (1-for-4) hit his third homer of the spring. Xavier Nady (2-for-3, BB), Nick Swisher (1-for-3, 2 BB), and Johnny Damon (1-for-3)  all doubled.

Who Pitched Well:

Mariano Rivera pitched around a single for a scoreless sixth by striking out the side. Phil Coke struck out four and allowed only a single in two scoreless innings .

Who Didn’t:

A.J. Burnett got lit up by the Pirates starters, allowing seven runs (six earned) in his 4 1/3 innings on three walks and ten hits, including home runs by Eric Hinske, Ryan Doumit, and Adam LaRoche. He struck out just one. After the game he said his mechanics were out of whack, but his arm felt fine. Damaso Marte finished the fourth for Burnett by allowing a run on two hits, one of them an Andy LaRoche double.

Battles:

With Xavier Nady and Brett Gardner having been named the starters in right and center, respectively, the only suspense remaining concerns the reserve infielder and last man in the bullpen. Jonathan Albaladejo now seems like the favorite to complete the bullpen of Rivera, Brian Bruney, Marte, Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and Coke. In today’s game, Ramiro Peña started at third and later moved to shortstop, then second base. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and made a great bare-hand play on a bunt at third base. His one hit was a bunt single. Angel Berroa pinch ran for Johnny Damon, then replaced Peña at third base and went 0-for-1.

Who Dat?:

Lightening round on the five players the Yankees brought over from minor league camp for this game:

Eric Fryer is the catcher/outfielder obtained from the Brewers for Chase Wright. He was a tenth-round pick ouf of Ohio State in 2007 and hit .335/.407/.506 with 15 steals in 18 attempts in the Sally League last year.

Seth Fortenberry is a center fielder taken in the 11th round in 2006. He hit .263/.372/.434 for High-A Tampa last year.

Melquisedec “Melky” Mesa is a 22-year-old Dominican outfielder who has yet to play in a full-season league and has a career .221/.272/.395 line after three minor league seasons.

Carmen Angelini was a highly-touted tenth-round pick out of high school in 2007. The 19-year-old shorstop hit .236/.302/.295 in the Sally League last year.

Justin Snyder was a 21st-round pick out of the University of San Diego in 2007. Primarily a second baseman, he has played all four infield positions and center field in his two minor league seasons and hit .288/.371/.407 in the Sally League last year.

Also, the Padres returned Rule 5 pick Ivan Nova. Here’s what I said about him when the Friars took him:

A 21year-old Dominican righty starter [now 22], he spent [last] season at High-A Tampa where he posted a 4.36 ERA with unimpressive peripherals. Baseball America says he, “has flashed three plus pitches at times but lacks consistency and deception.” I can’t see how he could stick even on the Padres 25-man roster.

There are a bunch of good Yankee-related articles in the Times today, starting with Richard Sandomir’s profile of Randy Levine, the Yankees’ own bad cop:

Levine’s headstrong style has been visible in telling the Boston Red Sox to tend to their own business; encouraging questions that put Joe Torre, then the Yankees’ manager, on the spot after games on the team’s YES Network; and in talks to secure the stadium deal and to create Legends Hospitality Management, a food-concession company with the Dallas Cowboys.

“It’s tough love with Randy,” said Gerry Cardinale, a friend and managing director at Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that is a partner in YES and Legends. “He is brutally honest, has a very high demand for performance and little tolerance for not getting his way. He respects me because I won’t back down.”

During labor negotiations with correction officers in the mid-’90s, the union’s president, Norman I. Seabrook, said recently, Levine’s closed-door demeanor was close to a blood sport that neither man took too seriously.

“He’ll smile, shake your hand and cut your heart out if you’re not prepared,” Seabrook said. “Don’t mistake that smile for anything but a knife.”

Next, is a story about a promising documentary project, followed by a compelling piece about the fate of Stan’s sports bar.

Finally, an essay by William Zinsser:

My Mets are moving into a park named for a bank that I’m helping the government to bail out. The Yankees’ new stadium comes wrapped in a vocabulary that has no connection to baseball: luxury boxes, bond issues, cost overruns. My fellow taxpayers and I are also footing that bill, though the announced prices will dissuade many of us from going there to enjoy the fruits of our charity.

I assume that the new stadiums will feature the newest advances in audio-visual assault. I stopped going to Mets games at Shea Stadium when my friend Dick Smolens and I could no longer hear each other talk between innings — such was the din of amplified music and blather from the giant screen in center field. But baseball is also a game of silences. After every half-inning, it invites its parishioners to meditate on what they have just seen and to recall other players they once saw performing similar feats. Memory is the glue that holds the game together.

Excellent job by the Times.

Opening Day is a week from tomorrow, and the Yankees are heading up to the new stadium for a workout on Thursday. With just four Grapefruit League games remaining, the Yanks look ready for the season. They won again yesterday, beating the Braves 6-4, then trimmed the number of players in camp down to 31.

Lineup:

R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
S – Mark Teixeira (1B)
R – Xavier Nady (RF)
L – Robinson Cano (2B)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
R – Cody Ransom (3B)
R – Kevin Cash (C)
R – Brett Tomko (P)

Subs: Shelley Duncan (1B), Angel Berroa (2B), Ramiro Peña (SS), Justin Leone (3B), Chris Stewart (C), Todd Linden (RF), Brett Gardner (LF-CF), John Rodriguez (LF)

Pitchers: Brett Tomko, Alfredo Aceves, Dan Giese, Edwar Ramirez

Ouchies: Derek Jeter bruised his left pinky in a collision with Greg Norton at first base. He’s playing today.

Big Hits:

Homers by Mark Teixeira (2-for-2, BB) and Robinson Cano (1-for-3). Xavier Nady and Melky Cabrera were both 3-for-4.

Who Pitched Well:

Brett Tomko tossed three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk. Alfredo Aceves only allowed two singles and a walk in three innings, but did allowe a run. Both struck out one. Edwar Ramirez retired the last two men of the game to earn the save.

Who Didn’t:

Dan Giese gave up three runs on three hits and two walks in a mere 2 1/3 innings, though he did strike out three and only one of the runs was earned.

Battles:

Take another look at those pitchers. This was something of a final battle for the long-relief job. Brett Tomko (1.17 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 6.0 K/BB) has been by far the most effective of the three candidates, but he’s not on the 40-man roster, which could be enough of a barrier for the Yankees to look elsewhere. Dan Giese has posted great strikeout and walk rates (9.77 K/9, 2.30 BB/9), but has also allowed a team-worst five home runs along with a 1.66 WHIP and a 6.89 ERA. That would seem to leave Alfredo Aceves, but Aceves has allowed four home runs of his own and has an awful 7:6 K/BB ratio to go with his uninspiring 4.60 ERA. That could push the Yankees back to Tomko or back to their senses, as Pete Abe reports:

Joe Girardi threw a change-up after the game, saying it was “possible” they could start the season without a long reliever. That means Jon Albaladejo could make the squad instead of Alfredo Aceves, Dan Giese or Brett Tomko.

That is what happened last season and don’t bet against it this time around.

Pete is (likely correctly) assuming that Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and Phil Coke already have the team made.

In other news, don’t look now, but Melky Cabrera, coming off a 3-for-4 day, is hitting .346/.434/.500 to Brett Gardner‘s .367/.436/.673. Also, Ramiro Peña is hitting .320/.370/.400 to Angel Berroa‘s .365/.377/.596.

Cuts:

The Yankees have cut the fat on their remaining non-roster invitees, reassigning Shelley Duncan, John Rodriguez, Todd Linden, Doug Bernier, Justin Leone, Chris Stewart, and P.J. Pilittere. Don’t count on seeing any of those guys again this year.

The Yanks also optioned David Robertson to Triple-A. I was disappoined by that move given howe well Robertson pitched this spring (1.35 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 13.5 K/9, 0 HR). Still, Robertson was out-pitched by Jonathan Albaladejo (0.93 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 8.0 K/BB), and has outstanding control, which stands in stark contrast to Robertson (4.05 BB/9 this spring). If Albaladejo does indeed make the bullpen over Tomko, I won’t mind that Robertson got farmed out. Farming both out, however, would be inexcusable.

The only non-roster invitees still in camp are Tomko, Berroa, Peña, and third-string catcher Kevin Cash. The players on the 40-man roster remaining in camp who are still on the bubble are Aceves, Giese, and Albaladejo. Two of those seven will make the Opening Day roster. I’m hoping for Albaladejo and Peña.

More:

When the Twins claimed 26-year-old Double-A righty starter Jason Jones in the Rule 5 draft, I said he was unlikely to stick on the pitching-rich Twins. He didn’t, but the Twins wanted to keep him anyway, so they turned the claim into a trade, sending the Yankees a younger righty arm in San Diego State product Charles Nolte. The 23-year-old Nolte is a relief pitcher with an extreme groundball rate (4.82 GO/FO last year) who posted a 2.05 ERA in low-A last year. He’s a bit wild (4.4 BB/9), but has solid strikeout rates and has allowed just one home run in 94 2/3 innings as a pro.