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.

A-Rod: Get Surgery

Once again, the headline in Yankee camp is Alex Rodriguez. Nobody cares that CC Sabathia pitched well in his first start during spring training, or that the Yankees won yesterday. People care about Alex Rodriguez. But guess what? A-Rod may not be here for a while. Personally, I think he should get surgery.

You would know that Alex Rodriguez has a torn labrum in his right hip. Since then we have heard 2 different sides of the story. We have heard A-Rod's brother say that he is getting surgery, and we have heard the Yankees saying they want to take a "conservative" approach to A-Rod. Basically, what they are saying is that they want their third baseman to play through the season, hurt, for 7 months including postseason, and get surgery in the offseason directly after that, take 4 offseason months to recover, and be ready, completely healthy, for opening day in 2010. I have one thing to say to that. Big Mistake. I have many reasons, and if you hear them, it should be an easy decision.

First of all, remember, this isn't the 2008 Yankees. This is the 2009 Yankees. We've added a lot of great guys. Sabathia, Burnett, Teixiera, are all healthy and all be productive in 2009. Yea, Alex is really important, and the lineup really suffers without him. However, We have one of the best rotations in baseball. We don't need a great lineup to win ballgames. Does it help? Of course it does! But is it required? No. The Yankees of 2004-2008 really needed a strong lineup to win because they really had no reliable pitchers. 2004 they had nobody. 2005, they had Mussina, but nobody after that. 2006, they had nobody after Wang and Mussina. 2007, they had Wang and Pettitte, nobody after that. 2008, Mussina, nobody after that. We have had no more than 2 reliable starting pitchers in a season since 2003. Now, we have CC, Burnett (if healthy, which I expect he will), Wang, Joba (if he stays healthy), and Pettitte if he can have a comeback season. That is 4, possibly 5 reliable starting pitchers. Now that we have a powerful rotation, we don't need as much a powerful offense. Basically, my point is that this team is stacked and could swallow the loss of A-Rod for half a season.

Secondly, I think it will be good for A-Rod to get away for a little bit. Selena Roberts book on A-Rod comes out in April. The thought of his steroid use is fresh in everyones mind. Remember, no matter how much Rodriguez just wants to "get back to baseball," fans won't think that way. He will be booed everywhere, and it will be bad. Also, remember that he isn't the most emotionally stable guy in the world. He doesn't handle these things really well. I believe that it might be good for Alex to get away from the game of baseball a little bit. Let the stories die down. Let the thought of steroids go away from everyones mind. I think it would be good for him emotionally to miss a little bit.

Thirdly, remember at the end of 2007 he signed a 10 year, 275 million dollar contract. Thats a lot of time, and a lot of money. If he tries to play through this injury, and his hip blows up, it could end up being a lot worse. He would miss the end of the season rather than the beginning. He would miss postseason. And his future in baseball may start to be questioned. Will he ever be healthy enough to play again? We wouldn't know. I don't think it's worth the risk. This is a big investment. The Yankees shouldn't risk it. Remember, A-Rod is trying to prove himself again. It wouldn't be good if his career ended a year after his steroid episode, would it? All Hall of Fame chances would be destroyed, and 275 million dollars from the Yankees would be wasted.

I also need to say that Mike Lowell, the Red Sox third baseman, also had a torn labrum. He tried to play through it last year. What happened? His production decreased. Also, the pain got to be so much that he missed the postseason! So Lowell played worse than he otherwise would, and missed the playoffs. What if that happened to A-Rod? I would rather have a productive Rodriguez for the second half of the season and postseason, than a less productive Rodriguez for 5-6 months, with no postseason, and a possible chance of permanent injury. Mike Lowell is evidence that something bad is very possible. We wouldn't want that to happen.

Well, when you look at all this, it is an easy decision. We won't fall out of the AL East race without him, and it is too big of a risk. He should have surgery. Will it hurt our team without him? Of course it will! Any time you lose a player like A-Rod for an extended period of time it will hurt your team. But the Yankees have to look at the big picture. Keep him healthy in the long run. It may hurt the Yankees even more if he decides to play. Get surgery, come back in July, have a strong second half, and help the Yankees win a World Series!

Yankees want Joba in rotation: BIG MISTAKE

Mlb.com has reported that Yankees RHP Joba Chamberlain is preparing for a full season in the Yankees starting rotation. This has been a big controversy in the last few years. Start him, or put him in the pen? I, for one, am against starting him. I have been from the start. I have many reasons, and those reasons make it so that it just doesn't make sense to put him in the rotation

Joba has already proven himself as a brilliant reliever. He posted a 0.38 ERA in 2007 in middle relief, and had a strong season in 2008 out of the pen as well. Yankee fans, and the front office knows that he can pitch out of the bullpen. He would shorten up the game. The starters only have to go 7 innings, because the last 2 innings are locked down. That way, guys like CC Sabathia don't have to throw 251 innings during the regular season, and might be successful when it really matters in the playoffs. They may even have to throw less. The Yankees bullpen was the strength of this team last year, and if guys like Veras, Ramirez, Coke, Marte, and Bruney come through like last season, the game is even more shortened for the starter.

Joba has a lot of energy. What I have noticed is that he runs himself on enthusiasm, and it helps him pitch in games. The "fist pump" is a perfect example of him showing his enthusiasm. It is very difficult to keep that enthusiasm for a 7 inning start, but he is easy to keep it for an inning. That energy he has in the pen won't be there as much if he is starting.

He may get hurt. He could break down if he starts. He broke down in August last year, and that turned out to be costly to the teams playoffs chances. Who's to say it won't happen again? Would you rather have no Joba at all?

Putting Joba in the rotation would mean another year without Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, and Alfredo Aceves to develop. You guys all know that I am big on wanting these kids to develop. They have all proven that they can pitch at the big league level. I think that they have a lot of potential to be just as good as Chamberlain, and I feel that the sooner you develop them, the sooner they will become that good.

He should be a reliever. There is no bad to it, and almost no risk. He can take Rivera's place in 3 years and the Yankees will still have one of the best closers in the game. He throws too many pitches to be a starter. He will be gone after the 5th on most starts. I just think he is best suited for the bullpen

So what do you guys think. Leave your comments with your decision. Starter or reliever? If I may try and influence your decision even more, what is it you want. For him to influence 80 games, or 30 with the chance of breaking down?  

Andy Pettitte to Return

Well, the Yankees and Andy Pettitte will be having a reunion after all. I posted earlier that I didn't think that the Yankees should bring him back because I didn't feel that he wanted to come back for a pay cut. I said that since he rejected the offer, another one shouldn't be on the table. However, another one was, and he took it. He took a 5.5 million dollar offer, and would have to pitch 210 innings and not get injured at all to get 12 million. 

This contract has made me see things in 2 ways. Either the guy is an idiot, or he really wants to pitch for the Yankees. I don't think he can pitch 210 innings next year, being a year older. He may have a better ERA, may have more wins, have a better batting average against, but he won't get 10 million if he doesn't pitch 210 innings. He may think he can, but I'm not sure if anyone else thinks he can. I guess he is an idiot and he wants to pitch for the Yankees. If he is going to take this offer, there is no reason why he didn't take the guaranteed 10 million dollar offer. But also, if he took the lower offer, I guess he does want to pitch here. And no question he helps the team. In my opinion, his return means the Yankees can go two ways.

The first is to go with a deep rotation of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Chein-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain. That is a pretty deep rotation when your number 5 pitcher had an ERA of under 3 during his short time as a starter last season. I say Joba is the number 5 because if the Yankees do it this way, Joba will be skipped to keep his innings down. That may very well be the best rotation in the American League. That is the first way they can go.

The second, as you may have guessed, involves putting Joba Chamberlain back in the bullpen. Permanently. This is the way I think would be better. I think that the kids need to be developed, and have the potential to be just as good as Chamberlain. I also think that out of all the kids, Chamberlain is the least durable, throws the most pitches to get people out, but is also the most dominant. We've seen what he can do in the bullpen. They only have to fill 7 innings with starters and other relievers, which, by the way, are pretty good. After that, if you have a lead, 99 times out of 100 the game is over (except, unfortunately, the one time it failed happened to be in the postseason). And when Rivera is gone, Joba can be closer and you will still have the end of the game locked down for another 15-20 years. This is the smartest way to go.

Well, Andy's return makes the Yankees better, and gives them different options. Hopefully, whichever option they take, it will be a championship team on the field in 2009.