Breaking Down the Yankees for the Second Half--The Bench

[So the All Star Game is officially over--and we can thus consider ourselves in the second half.

This is where it gets fun.

All of those days players got rested in the first half? Well, now they have to play. Now the pennant races start to heat up, and every move a team makes, be it a trade, a free agent signing or simply bringing someone up from AAA has even more added meaning.

What do we expect from the Yankees?

I'm going to do a series of posts addressing this, because there's so much to say that having it all in one post would a) kill your eyes and mine, and b) give me carpal tunnel at the age of 23.]

Next on our list, we have the ever-changing and always underrated bench

The Bench

The Yankee bench went from being centered around Jose Molina and Cody Ransom to Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Peña and then back to Molina and Ransom again.

It's not a knock on Cervelli and Peña, but rather a compliment: the Yankees have seen that much more potential in Cervelli and Peña than they expected so they're giving the two a chance to blossom even more in AAA. Both of them will likely be up again in September--if not before. Cody Ransom, at least, isn't giving the Yankees a whole lot of good reasons to keep him at this level...

(In alphabetical order)

Francisco Cervelli

Cervelli was never supposed to make it to the majors this year. It took injuries to both Jorge Posada and Jose Molina within days of each other, and the Yankees unwilling to panic and sign for another catcher, to get the .190 hitter in AA a call up to the big leagues.

At the time, the only thing the Yankees were hoping for was someone that could catch the pitches when thrown to him and possibly throw a runner out at second. They didn't really expect anything from him offensively, so when he hit .269/.284/.346, it was quite a pleasant surprise.

Granted, the low on base percentage and almost zero slugging power would have eventually caught up to him, but Cervelli had a knack for timely hits (even infield ones), running well for a catcher, and all of the pitchers seemed to enjoy throwing to him. And, of course, the dreamy eyes of doom.

Anyway.

Cervelli earned himself a getting-sent-down-promotion, in that instead of being sent back down to AA, he was sent to AAA, where he should have been this season had he not lost so much of 2008 to a wrist injury.

Cervelli always has been a legitimate prospect--but without the bat of Montero, Romine or some of the other Yankee catching prospects--and thus perhaps not seen as such. Until he develops more power, he'll only project as a back up, but the Yankees would probably be quite fine with that, using Cervelli and Posada in tandem until teh Jesus makes his first appearance.

Or until one, or both, of them is traded.

Assuming the Yankees don't trade Cervelli, look for him to re-appear sometime around September.

Brett Gardner

Gardner won the starting CF job, then lost it to Melky, and now, seems to have wrestled back a platoon position--which is probably what the Yankees wanted all along. The trade off with Melky is speed vs. power; and don't underrate Gardner's speed--he does have an inside-the-park-home run.

While Melky may be Clutchy McClutchbrera, Gardner hasn't done too badly for himself, coming off the bench, either.

In 21 plate appearances when coming into a game as a sub, Gardner is batting an insane .556/.600/.889/1.489. Small sample size all you want, but this is more than three at bats we're talking about.

No, I can't explain it, either.

In the second half, don't be surprised if Girardi eventually decides to ride the hot bat--the Yankees are getting more out of their 4th OF centerfield than I think anyone thought they would, and they seem to do quite nicely when platooned. Gardner's other benefit is that unlike McClutchbrera, he can hit lead off, which allows Girardi to rest Damon and/or Jeter on occasion, and the two will certainly need a day or two off down the stretch.


Eric Hinske

A late addition to the Yankees, Hinske has already hit three home runs as a Yankee, winning himself the urging of fans everywhere to play him more.

Therein lies the problem.

Hinske's most valuable coming off the bench--he did it for Tampa and Boston and killed the Yankees every time. Playing him every day, the team will take a hit defensively--he's really not as good as Swisher; certainly not as good as anyone the Yankees have on the infield--but off the bench, he has enough pop to be a legitimate pinch-hitting threat. Certainly a better one than Cody Ransom.

Look for him to start periodically to spell Swisher and Damon, but don't be surprised if he ends up with more ABs as a pinch-hitter. For what it cost the Yankees--two low-level prospects that don't profile very high--the Hinske pick up was, thus far, a good move indeed.


Jose Molina

The back up catcher who played too much last season has now played too little this season to really know much.

The wear and tear of last season did seem to still be effecting him as his defensive numbers were down in April and May, until he got hurt, but now that he's healthy, it's as though he starts with a clean slate.

The MO on him has always been that he's one of the best back ups in the game but should not start; the Yankees haven't seen anything to prove differently. In the second half, pray Posada stays healthy and that Molina doesn't have to do more than back up--although, at least this time around, the Yankees have a more than able third-stringer in Cervelli which would undoubtedly soften the blow.


Ramiro Peña

Strangely, the highest compliment that can be paid to him may be the fact that he's in AAA learning how to play center field.

It's not that Peña couldn't play third or short or second--but rather that he could play all three that has the Yankees trying to see if they can expand his versatility as a defensive player and thus make him that much more valuable.

The knock on him was always that he could field, but no one knew anything about his bat--and then he surprised everyone by being not-so-much an automatic out. He did not hit for much power and his batting line differs from Cervelli only in a slightly higher OBP, but he's still young enough that some more time at AAA may help him come even farther.

At any rate, his defense is, right now, anyway, so much better than Cody Ransom's, one has to consider if the Yankees would consider calling him up before September to take Ransom's spot. It's one of those situations in which the Yankees have to balance the immediate needs of this season with the long-term goals of the future, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

If Cody Ransom's defense ends up costing the Yankees a game (or three), it will be that much harder to justify keeping him over Peña.


Cody Ransom

Kind of said it all above, but when the best thing you've got going for you is your crazy 5' vertical jump, that's not going to do you much good.

He's not very good on offense, not very good on defense and, already past 30, is a finished product. At this stage, the only reason to justify keeping Ransom on the bench is to give Peña some more ABs in the minors, but this may wear thin pretty soon if other options make themselves available.

As stated above, if his defense ends up costing the Yanks a game or two, it will be that much harder to justify keeping him.

Then again, you never know, he could catch fire...and the Nationals mathematically can still win the World Series...

Dude, People, It's Been Six Games

The level and the number of people freaking out over the Yankees' 3-3 record after six games in a 162 game season is astounding.

Don't know what I'm talking about?

Check out this post. It really only gets worse from there.

Look, I understand the importance of not blowing it in April, because, hey, I've paid attention the last couple of seasons. So yeah, if the Yankees go 10-20 or what have you, it's a pretty big deal, but 3-3 is not 10 games under .500.

The Yankees could be the Red Sox, 2-4, or the Indians, 1-5, or the Nationals, 0-6, but they're not.

The Yankees are right now in third place at 3-3 behind two teams that probably have weeks left in the first place spot, if even that, in Baltimore and Toronto. Now, Baltimore and Toronto aren't as bad or playing as bad, as some make them out to be, but, whether or not they can hang with Tampa, Boston and New York over the long haul is another matter, entirely.

What's more important to take into account is how the Yankees have been playing their games.

The Yankees, in the six games they have played, have scored 5, 5, 11, 4, 6 and 4 runs. In 2008, over the same span, the Yankees scored 3, 2, 3, 4, 3 and 2 runs.

May I remind you that at this time last year, Alex Rodriguez was in the line up, though he is out so far this season, and, oh, over the past two games in 2009, the Yankees have scored 6 and 4 runs without Teixeira.

Now, 6 and 4 runs hardly counts as a blow out, but when you realize that if not for today's blow-pen, the Yankees would have won both games-even with today's line up including Gardner AND Melky Cabrera AND Cody Ransom AND Jose Molina-then the six runs and four runs loom fairly large, indeed.

Think of it this way: with the exception of the first two games, Yankees' starting has been stellar.

Since game three, ER from the starting pitchers are 2, 1, 0 and 1 (today's other KC runs were either unearned or ER from the bullpen of dooooom). When you consider that a quality start is 3 ER or less over six innings, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Yankees have gotten four quality starts in a row. Niether Tampa Bay nor Boston has done that.

Now, it will of course be interesting to see how Chien Ming Wang rebounds from his poor outing last week tomorrow night (or tonight, depending on your time zone), but the fact is that with the Sabathia-Wang-Burnett-Pettitte-Chamberlain rotation, it's unlikely the Yankees will get more than two games in a row where the starting pitching doesn't give the team a chance to win.

In fact, if you consider that the Yankees trailed Baltimore by the score of 6-5 going into the ninth, you can argue that there has only really been one game the Yankees' starting pitching took the team out of the game early, and even then, the Yankees still came within 7-5.

There has not been a single game the Yankees have been 'blown out', which, for this purpose, I'll define as the Yankees scoring less than three runs while the opponent scores at least five more runs than the Yankees. There can be arguments, some valid, that the final score of the first game indicates a blow out loss while the majority of the second game was a blowout for the Yankees, but don't let that fool you: in both games the Yankees showed enough fight to have a chance to win, despite the poor starting pitching.


Even today's loss could be considered more of a result of over-managing the bullpen, though hindsight is still 20/20. Today's loss can be blamed as much on not giving Damon a chance to pinch-hit for Melky in the seventh as much as it is Coke's awful outing, but the fact is, that the Yankees have that option bodes well for the team in the near future.

Oh, also in the near future? The return of Alex Rodriguez.

Whatever you think of him as a person, he's still a damned good baseball player, and having him in the line up over Cody Ransom? Yeah, if Alex is even half as good as he normally is, he'll still be eight times better than Ransom.


So whatever your thoughts, the Yankees are playing well, for the most part. In the first week of April, while the record still matters, what's more important is how well the Yankees are playing, and they are, for all intents and purposes, playing well enough to have a chance every game.

They didn't do that last year.

Chin up.

It's April.

Hope abounds.

Cody Ransom can Jump Over Me

I'm only 5'3", and that's if the measuring stick is generous




Courtesy NY times/It's About the Money, Stupid/Youtube

Analyzing the Yankee Bench

The issues facing the Yankees' rotation and starting line-up have been well documented--for example, check out LoHud's post on the rotation. While some still seem to be unable to rid themselves of the sign-Ben-Sheets mantra, the basic problem facing the rotation is still the lack of a quality fourth starter.

With the Yankee line-up, the questions are a little more subtle--do you start Nady or Swisher? Gardner or Cabrera? Where do you bat Canò?

However, one of the issues that is receiving relatively little attention is that of the Yankee Bench.

Sure, the bench might not be as critical as the rotation, but anyone that says the bench isn't important simply didn't watch Yankee baseball in 2008.

So, for the sake of discussion, let's assume that the 2009 seasons started on 14 January and that the Yankees decided to DH Matsui and to start Nady over Swisher, and Gardner over Cabrera.

That leaves us with a bench of Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher, Josè Molina and Cody Ransom.

The one guy listed there that you can almost guarantee the Yankees won't touch is not, in fact, Nick Swisher but Josè Molina.

Jorge Posada did have major shoulder surgery last year, and while he seems to be recovering nicely, we still don't know how his arm will respond in an in-game situation. If it responds poorly, not only is Molina an adequate back-up, he is, by some accounts, the best defensive catcher in the game. Hey, when you throw out nearly half of everyone trying to steal a base, I'm not complaining.


The other person that stands out on that list is Nick Swisher.

Swisher is clearly the best bat of the bunch, but that in itself presents its own problems. Teams don't generally give five-year, nearly $27 million contracts to players to come off the bench.

Had the Yankees been unable to sign Teixiera, Swisher would have been a very viable plan B, but as it is, the Yankees did sign Teixiera and now there are rumors rampant that the Yankees are looking to move either Nady or Swisher. Swisher is drawing more interest than Nady-which should tell you something about whether or not other teams think Swisher belongs on the bench.

Guess it also says something about the Yankees, that they can afford to have Swisher on the bench...

Cody Ransom was a great story when he came up last season and started Shane Spencering everywhere, but at 32 he doesn't exactly have youth on his side, nor does he have very promising career numbers, just in terms of games played alone.

That said, right now Ransom is the only bench option that can fill in at third, short and second, which is a very good reason for the Yankees not to move him. Between Rodriguez, Jeter and Canò, one is historically not looking at a whole lot of playing time from the bench, but things happen. Players get hurt, ejected, etc. One only has to remember the beginning of last season-while there is certainly no replicating the bat of Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter, one hopes to have more production than, say, Alberto Gonzalez.

So while Ransom remains a great story and a likable fellow, he's probably not the guy you want to see come up in the ninth inning with a man on second and two outs.

This brings us lastly to Melky Cabrera.

For a time in 2008 it looked like Cabrera was going to have a break-out year, and then, all of a sudden, he stopped.

It got bad enough to the point that Cabrera was sent down to AAA Scranton-though at this point it was becoming pretty clear that the Yankees were not going to make the playoffs.

As one ESPN analyst said last year, theoretically Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner are both "warming the seat" for Austin Jackson...but Jackson is still likely a full season away from the majors, which means that the Yankees have a center field issue for 2009.

Since Nady has stated he doesn't play a good center and Cashman has stated that Swisher won't play center, that leaves the Yankees with the Cabrera/Gardner platoon.

Although Cabrera is technically a switch-hitter, his numbers suggest that he is much better from one side than the other. When you consider that Gardner has better speed and is patient enough to be a lead off hitter (although his power is sorely lacking), Gardner would seem like the better starting option.

The problem with trying to move Melky is that, after last season, the Yankees would be unlikely to be able to center a deal around him, unless they were trading for a player of a similar caliber--which isn't exactly what the Yankees need to do unless they are that desperate for a player at a certain position.

Defensively, Carera can be great--that is, as long as he's not getting distracted by the Roll Call (I should know, I was at that game!)--but right now neither his bat nor Garnder's offers anything like the power the Yankees are usually accustomed to getting from their center fielders.



The Yankees bench, if it started today, would be far from the worst that the Yankees have ever had--April 2007, anyone?--but it does present some concerns. There's only one player than can play all the infield positions (Ransom), a bat that is, from a cost-effective point of view, getting paid too much to ride the pine (Swisher) and the latter half of a center field platoon that might very well duke it out in Tampa to see who gets to hit in the nine spot.

Right now the bench is not the Yankees' overriding concern, but it is an issue that they should address in some fashion before the season starts.