My Take on Wang: Send Him to the Bullpen

We are 12 games into the seasons Yankee fans. We are 6-6. With our new improved rotation we all expected better. However we start off slowly every season. Pettitte and Sabathia are second half pitchers, and we don't yet have A-Rod. It can't surprise us this much. However, one thing does surprise me. Chien-Ming Wang has 3 of our 6 losses.

Wang has been one word. Awful. Call him whatever you want, but they will all be synonyms of that word. Through 3 starts, he hasn't finished the second inning twice, given up at least 7 runs in each start (8 in his last two), and is 0-3 with a 34.50 ERA. Something isn't right.

This is supposed to be the same pitcher that won 19 games two years in a row. The same pitcher that started last season 8-2. Before this season he has lost two starts in a row just once (beginning of 2007). And now we come into this season, he had a nice spring, and we feel that we have a potential ace on most teams as our number 3 pitcher. Then he comes out and gets bombed for 3 straight starts. The crowd at Yankee Stadium really let him hear it yesterday as he walked off the mound with the Yankees already essentially out of the game. Almost 50,000 fans booed him off the mound as he came out of the game with his ERA somehow higher than when he came in.

Something is going wrong with him. I don't know what it is. The Yankees need to figure that out. He's leaving pitches up in the middle of the plate. His sinker isn't sinking. Whatever "adjustment" the Yankees made between this start and his last one did nothing. They need to figure out what is wrong. However, they can't afford to keep sending him out to get destroyed while he's trying to figure it out. That will cost the Yankees games. They are .500 now because of him. 

He can't be sent down to the minors. He is out of options, so he would have to pass through waivers where he would almost certainly be claimed. Whatever work he has to go through, it has to be here.

So, they can't send him down, and they can't keep sending him out there. That leaves one option. Bench him. Demote him to the bullpen to figure it out. Send him up against real hitters like before, but more than just one time. I don't know how they are going to solve his struggles, but they need to. He's a big part of this rotation. The Yankees are counting on him for 15-20 wins. They can't afford him to pull an Ian Kennedy of last year, or an August Mike Mussina of 2007 for an extended period of time. 

Now that I come to think of it, Mussina was demoted to the bullpen. He figured out his problems there, had one relief appearance, got some confidence back, and came back to be the Yankees best pitcher in September of that year. I think that is what needs to be done with Wang (despite the fact that his ERA is almost twice as bad as Mussina's in August of 2007). Bring up Hughes or Kennedy from the minors (both are pitching great!), and put Wang in the bullpen. Have him figure it out there.

I know that he's capable of turing it around. He's a two time 19 game winner and only 29 years old. Last years injury can hardly be considered as a "career threatening injury." However, the way the Yankees have to do it isn't to keep sending him out there. His next scheduled start is against the Red Sox. Don't let him make it. There is an off day in between the end of the Oakland series and the beginning of the Red Sox series. You can skip Wang and go right to Burnett. Use the bullpen time to figure him out. Use Hughes and Kennedy if you have to. Do whatever it takes. Just don't send him out there unless you feel confident he has his problems solved.

Also, like I said in my last article, I'm visiting Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. I'm sitting in Field Infield seats. Anything on what the experience is like or how the seats are would be appreciated. Thanks!

Opener at the New Stadium: Ballpark Looks Great, Bullpen Looks Bad

The New Yankee Stadium looks great. It looks wonderful. Although I don't ever think it will develop the same history as Yankee Stadium I think it is a great park that suits the fans, and the players much better than the original. I think it is the beginning of a new era of success for the New York Yankees. The beginning of the beginning of that era, however, finished about as badly as it could have.

The game started out really good. We had the legends come out on the field and the players get introduced. CC Sabathia threw the first pitch, and Johnny Damon got the first hit. Both those balls are going to the Hall of Fame. Then we got to baseball. Sabathia threw a lot of pitches, and a lot of balls, similar to his start in Baltimore. However, the difference between this one, and the season opener is that this time he never gave up the big hit. The balls that went over the plate, the Indians made outs on instead of hitting it to the gaps and over the fence. I was encouraged by his start because we know he isn't going to have his best stuff every time. I'm happy that he is capable to get batters out when he doesn't. Cliff Lee had much better stuff today, but Sabathia, aside from the number of pitches, matched Lee inning for inning until he left. It was a good pitchers duel. Posada picked up the first homer in the new park. It was a great, 1-1 game. Until Jose Veras came in.

The bullpen was awful. Just awful. Veras couldn't throw a strike to the first batter, then he gave up back to back doubles. He was taken out. Marte came in, gave up a few walks, couple hits, a grand slam, and then before we know it it's 10-1. We lost 10-2. 

The bullpen needs to get it together. The starters can't give us 8 innings every time. They need to figure it out. Veras and Marte have been awful. Ramirez has been good but he's pitching in trouble too much. He has a 2.40 Whip. Coke has struggled. All we have had is Bruney and Rivera. We need them to come through. It's really important if we want #27.

I'm writing this post after the second game of the series. I saw us win 6-5 today despite a rough start by Joba. The pen got it together, we hit a bunch of homers, and we got ourselves a victory. Now that the first one in this new park is out of the way, I have a feeling a lot more will come.

Chein-Ming Wang is going tomorrow. He has been terrible his first two starts. He's left too many pitches in the middle of the plate. His sinker hasn't been sinking. He, sort of like Lee for the Indians, need to get it together. He's an important part of this staff. We will know early tomorrow whether he has it or not. If he doesn't, then prepare for a long day Yankee fans because Cleveland has proved they can hit bad pitches.

The New park looks absolutely beautiful! I'm going for the first time on April 22, thats a Wednesday against the A's. Main Dugout seats. If anyone has gone to the Stadium feel free to tell me some fun things to do there, good places to go. If anyone in particular has sit in those seats tell me what they are like. I'm really excited! It's gonna be fun.

CC: Thats More Like It

As you know, CC Sabathia really struggled in his opener in Baltimore. He wasn't happy with himself at all. He had a bullpen session where the Yankees fixed something in his mechanics. He's now taking a little shorter stride to better locate his fastball and get more velocity. He responded tonight. All I can say is CC Sabathia pitched brilliantly!

He pitched 7 2/3 innings, striking out 6, walking none in 108 pitches. He got out of the jams he got into with strikeouts and double play balls. Most of the night he pitched with ease. He was outstanding tonight. I looked on the MLB websites. Not too many Sox fans there now!

Now, at the same time, it's just the Royals. One of the weakest offenses in baseball. He was great tonight,  but at the same time it will be twice as fun to watch him fool strong lineups like the Red Sox or Angels. However, this is reassuring.  It means that he isn't losing his form because it was early in the season, or because it was cold. It means he isn't injured in the slightest, and that he's ready to pitch a great season for us this year. This is just the first step.

Sabathia Roughed Up as Yanks Lose Opener

A very unfortunate opening day for the Yankees, especially since they have been playing so well. The Yankees lost to the Orioles 10-5 in the opener of the 2009 season from Camden Yards. CC Sabathia, in his first official start, was really roughed up. I watched the game, and here is my view on it.

CC, I could see, didn't have his good stuff. Right from the start, right in the first inning, I could tell he was going to have a tough time with it. He couldn't locate his fastball. He threw a lot of pitches, and had an awful strike to ball ratio. He was working really slowly right out of the gate. I knew he was going to struggle. He managed to get out of trouble in the first and pitch a 1-2-3 second, his only easy inning of the game. He gave up 3 in the third, got into and out of trouble in the fourth, and completely lost it in the fifth. He left the game with 4 and a third innings pitched, giving up 6 runs, walking 5, and striking out none! That, more than anything else, stuck out to me. CC is a strikeout pitcher. When he can't get that done once you know he's struggling. 

After the game I read some fan comments on mlb websites. Half were Sox fans trashing to Yanks because they never seem to comment on their own site, and then there were some Yankee fans who already seem to be writing CC off. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! We invested 161 million dollars in this guy for 7 seasons. You can't give up after one start! He was pretty bad, but last year he started out bad in April too. He's a second half pitcher. He has always struggled in April. I am positive Sabathia will find it, hopefully sooner than later, but I'm sure he will find it and have a great, ace type season we expect from him. Also, you select fans who are saying that he can't pitch in the clutch, or in big spots, I couldn't disagree more. He single-handedly carried the Brewers to the playoffs last year, and pitched great games in some huge starts in September on three days rest. Those are some pretty big starts he had to pitch in. There is my point there. Also, I have heard some say he can't pitch in the American League. I just have this to say to you. The 2007 AL Cy Young Award Winner is incapable of succeeding in the AL? Sox fans, get a life. Yankee fans, Sabathia will be fine, and we are going to have one heck of a season. We were never going 162-0. We lost one game. Let it go. We have a stacked rotation with a capable ace at every spot. Not like last year where every time Mike Mussina wasn't pitching you didn't have a good feeling going into the game. This year we aren't sending the likes of Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner out to the hill every fifth day. We have a great team, and we are going to win a championship!

Other parts of the game, Matsui and Posada seem fine. They each had 2 run homers. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon are both off to good starts. Teixiera had a rough start. I think the booing Orioles fans may have had an effect on him. If thats true then he needs to get over it because he is going to hear that a lot. Bullpen was roughed up in the eighth, ruining any chance we had of coming back in the 9th. 

Remember Yankee fans, it's one game. We are going to win a championship this year. We have the players, the stadium (best clubhouse in major league baseball), and the motivation. We have all the tools. Now we need to get it done.

Check Up on Yanks

Sorry I haven't written for a while. I've been really busy lately but I'm back and I'm prepared to write a lot more. You guys have been getting plenty of Yankee news lately from other sources, I'm sure. I'm just going to go through everything thats happened lately.

-Brett Gardner wins center field job

-Xavier Nady wins right field job

-Yankees win 10 straight to finish spring training

-New Yankee Stadium opens with 2 wins

Thats pretty much it. I would have prefered Melky like I said before. He had a great spring, a spring worthy of the center field job. Also he's proven he can play center field at the big league level, and Gardner hasn't yet. I hope he will if he's going to be playing, but I just think Melky would have been a better choice. I always knew Nady would win in right. He deserved it with his year last year. The Yankees finished spring playing great, and I know it was only spring, but it's good to get used to winning, and get better at playing as a team. Winning creates team chemistry, which I think is very important. Never too early to start. It's time for a great season.

Melky Not Done Yet

Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner have a competition for the starting center field job this spring. The winner will be the primary center fielder for the season, and the loser will probably be sent to a fourth outfielder job, or the minor leagues. The winner of the competition will play center on most days, and Johnny Damon will play center when the Yankees need to get Nick Swisher some playing time, or when they want to go with a more offensive lineup for that day. When Brett Gardner got to a hot start this spring, most people immediately said, "this is our center fielder" and are expecting that he is a lock.

Not so fast.

Joe Girardi reported that Melky is "very much alive" in the center field competition, and it seems to be that, when most people thought Gardner had all but won the job, Girardi comes out and gives an indication that the battle is pretty much even. 

For me, I really like Melky Cabrera. Now, I like Gardy too, but I honestly believe that Melky deserves the job. I know that he struggled last year, but I think, overall, he is a better baseball player than Gardner. Melky has a stronger arm, can lay down a bunt, can play good defense, and is actually a better hitter than Gardner with more power. Gardner has more speed on his side, which can help him track down more balls. However, his arm is almost as bad as Johnny Damon, and I'm not even sure he's capable of hitting .220 in the majors. This spring hasn't changed my mind.

Remember Brett Gardner last year? Except for a little hot streak for the last 2 weeks, Gardner couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I watched him, game after game, for the longest time when he started, watching him go 0 for 4, or 1 for 5. He had a good game here and there, but I don't think he's capable of hitting in the majors. He hasn't proven anything.

Melky Cabrera, however, has proven to me that he can hit in the big leagues. He was above average as our starting center fielder in 2007. He hit for the first month and a half of 2008 too before slowing down. However, he has worked hard this offfseason. It's a new year. There are a lot of guys that had off years in 2008. He's one of them. He's more than capable of coming around this year. Am I saying he will? No. For all I know, maybe Gardner will be a better hitter. But from what I've seen so far from both players, Melky is the better hitter. Thats all I'm saying.

My favorite thing about Cabrera is his throwing arm. It is probably the best arm I've seen us have since we had Raul Mondesi. And Cabrera has a better arm than Mondesi. He led the AL in assists in 2007. He saved us a whole bunch of runs that could have made the difference in some games. Gardner doesn't have nearly the same arm. I believe that Melky and Damon together give us range in the outfield that is as good as any team in the majors. Gardner would give us better range because he can just fly. I will give him that. He's one heck of an outfielder for tracking down balls. I remember him robbing a home run at Yankee Stadium last year against Baltimore. However, I think that Melky's arm makes a bigger difference than Gardner's range, simply because the difference between Melky's arm and Gardner's arm is much bigger than the difference between Gardner's speed and Melky's speed. Other people might disagree, but thats more than okay.

When you look at it all, I'm actually fine with either of them there. Both of them provide different talent with a lot of upside. I would prefer Melky because I think he can make more of a difference if he starts. I would actually like the Yanks to hang on to Gardner as a pinch runner, or back up outfielder for defensive purposes. Gardy can be great use there, pinch running in a big spot, or coming in to play defense in a close game. Thats another reason. What does Melky Cabrera do on the bench? Not really much. But Gardner can do quite a bit off the bench. I think we would be using more out of both of these players if Melky starts, and Gardy plays off the bench. I think that would give us the best chance to win.

What do you think?

With A-Rod Out, Yankees Should Get Figgins

Alex Rodriguez has opted for surgery rather than to play the year hurt, which will leave him out until May. The Yankees have a few options on who should replace him. One is Cody Ransom. Another is Angel Berroa. There has been talk about trading for a third baseman. I like that idea, and I think that the Angels third baseman Chone Figgins would be a great option.

Figgins has experience at third base. He is the starter there for the Angels, and would be a very suitable replacement for A-Rod for a couple of months. I'm not just thinking of a couple of months though. I'm thinking about after that. 

Figgins is a speed guy. They have Gardner, but another guy with that kind of speed off the bench, or in the lineup could be very helpful. Playing everyday, Figgins can steel 50+ bases every year. Off the bench, he can be a very effective pinch runner. As a manager, another guy on the opposing team with that kind of speed can change the way he manages. Figgins can win the Yankees extra games without even doing anything. His speed can really be helpful.

He also is very versatile. He can play third, short, second, and anywhere in the outfield. When A-Rod comes back, Figgins doesn't have to move to the bench. If Gardner or Cabrera doesn't work out, Figgins can play center field. If Johnny Damon gets hurt, he can play left. If Jeter gets hurt, he can play short. You get the idea. His ability to play a number of different positions can really help the Yankees.

He is also young. He is only 30 years old. If you ask me, he has about 4 years of his prime yet. He can be helpful to the Yankees for the next bunch of years too. Johnny Damon is a free agent at the end of this season. The Yankees will need a new left fielder. They will want Matt Holliday, who is a great player. However, the Yankees won't have to pay nearly as much for Figgins, and Figgins brings a different style of baseball that may be more helpful to the Yankees. I would much rather have Figgins leading off next year in left field, than Matt Holliday in left field. He's a great player, but I don't want another power hitter. We've failed to win the World Series the last 8 years because we have payed money for sluggers. Giambi, Sheffield, and so on. I much better like the speed idea. We have 2 power hitters, so lets leave it at that. Lets go back to the small ball idea that got us to 6 World Series in 8 years. The winning by manufacturing a run with a single, a sac bunt, a stolen base, and a sac fly, instead of always waiting for the 3 run home run. Getting Figgins, I think, will get us a lot closer back to that idea.

So, there is my case. Figgins can fill in for A-Rod, be a solid pinch runner for the rest of this year, and then be our left fielder and lead off hitter for a few hitters after that. I have always liked Chone Figgins, and always hated it when he hit against us. However unlikely it is that this will happen, I think the Yankees should at least attempt to get him. I like his style. He is a gamer, and he is the type of player we need to build our first dynasty since the late '90s. 

What do you think?