Just reading over at Pinstripeplus (
http://www.scout.com/mlb/yankees/)--a great site to read about/talk Yankees--a poster mentioned Diego Moreno's going on the DL with elbow inflammation. That's sucks. Having an MRI today I believe. Hopefully there's nothing seriously wrong and that scan comes back OK. This dude was impressive. He can help us. Branden Pinder recalled from AAA..
Bonn1997 wrote:Finestrg wrote:Big win yesterday. CC hung tough and kept us in the game against a very good pitcher, we scratch out that run against Felix to tie it and Tex took care of the rest with a missile HR against Rodney.Disappointed they sent Refsnyder back down. I know Beltran made it back and someone had to get squeezed, but why Refsnyder? What happened to giving this kid a run to show what he can do--isn't that what Joe was saying a day or two ago? I thought the kid looked good, esp. in the field where he made all the routine plays and didn't hurt the team. Very good sign because on the other side, you know he was gonna start hitting.. I know the argument's 'well, if he's not gonna be playing regularly, send him back down so he can' but let's flip that around--why shouldn't he be up with the big club playing 2nd base every day?? I just don't care for our other 2 options--not a fan of Drew and I like Brendan Ryan even less. I can't for the life of me see their fascination with both players, esp. Ryan--he's basically the reason Ref got sent down. Makes no sense to me at all. Drew's the better player over Ryan (not saying too much there) and should be the primary backup at SS/2B. No need to carry both Drew and Ryan. Why?? It's completely redundant. I wish they would just trade Ryan or cut him -- Ref plays 2nd full-time, Drew backs up 2nd and SS, Pirela's only a phone call away if need be (he plays 2nd and 3rd, even a little SS in the minors) and if anything happened to Headley, we've got Pirela, Gregorio Petit and guys like Cole Figueroa or Rob Segedin at AAA who can all play 3rd. A-Rod can still play some 3B too in a pinch.. Where does Ryan fit in?? He doesn't!! All you ever hear is how Ryan's close to going on a rehab assignment, Ryan's close to coming back, Ryan was just activated, etc. I mean WTF with this guy--they act like they just got Derek Jeter back off the DL or something.. Sorry but I don't get it. Now that we got a little taste of Refsnyder, I wanted to see more. Hard to believe that Brendan Ryan is interfering with that plan. 
I'm not sure if they're looking at the advanced stats but -0.5 wins above replacement for Refsnyder may have concerned them (-.4 from defense and -.1 from offense). That's saying he already cost the team half a game in just 4 games played. No doubt, it's a small sample and they shouldn't give up on the guy but they might feel each game is too critical to give him a tryout now. Statistically, Drew and Ryan are at least at the replacement player level rather than below it. Maybe these are concerns they had about Refsnyder before bringing him up too and it's not just these 4 games that led them to send him back.
I understand the excitement about a young guy like Refsnyder but going with Drew and Ryan seems to have worked out well. They've been almost .400 hitters since Refsnyder was sent back down. I think Drew will play solidly for the rest of the season. His very low BABIP earlier in the season may have meant that he was having a lot of bad luck on balls hit in play and his batting stats were misleadingly low.
Didn't know this:
Mark Teixeira, the Yankees’ first baseman, went from Atlanta to the Angels in 2008 for the low price of Casey Kotchman and a minor leaguer. Teixeira hit .358 to help win a division title for the Angels, who had no idea how big a victory it would be when Teixeira signed with the Yankees. The Angels were awarded the Yankees’ first-round pick the next June and used it to draft an outfielder from Millville, N.J., named Mike Trout.
Starphuching (in hindsight) sometimes comes with a price!
Nalod wrote:Didn't know this:
Mark Teixeira, the Yankees’ first baseman, went from Atlanta to the Angels in 2008 for the low price of Casey Kotchman and a minor leaguer. Teixeira hit .358 to help win a division title for the Angels, who had no idea how big a victory it would be when Teixeira signed with the Yankees. The Angels were awarded the Yankees’ first-round pick the next June and used it to draft an outfielder from Millville, N.J., named Mike Trout.
Starphuching (in hindsight) sometimes comes with a price!
Interesting how that worked out!
I really hope we don't end up facing Toronto in the playoffs. Their run differential suggests they've had a lot of bad luck and are playing better than their record. Plus, they made many big improvements at the deadline. The metrics I'm looking at generally say we're a very good team but they're actually better.
Wow, since July 8: 16-6, +53 run differential. That's a gigantic differential for just 22 games.
Holy cow! CC clearly still cares! That reaction to the Ortiz strikeout was awesome.
Was at the game yesterday...Bad loss but what are ya gonna do? Good team over there, went all in and added quite a few good pieces, but they're not unbeatable. Hardly...Two games where we ran into another damn knuckleballer we couldn't do anything with and Price threw a good game, give him credit. I've also seen us blast Price quite a few times in the past.... Picked a bad time to suddenly stop hitting, that's for sure. Gotta turn it around today. We get these guys what, 12 more times? Looking forward to each and every one starting with today's game. Hopefully Tanaka throws another quality start and our bats wake the F up!!!
On a side note -- I'd like to see the Yankees stick with Bryan Mitchell. Two outings in a row where he was so-so against the Chi-Sox and he gave up some runs again yesterday out of the pen. Kid has a FANTASTIC arm though. No doubt about it. Throws smoke and has real quality secondary pitches to boot. He might be more a guy for next year and beyond but I wouldn't bury this kid. Disappointed when I saw him come enter the game yesterday--that meant there's no plan to start him any time soon. They may want to re-think the 6-man rotation--CC looked real strong against the Red Sox and it was on 6 days rest I believe...Mitchell's stuff is too good not to invest the time in to get him right. I'd make it a mission to get this kid right... If I were a rival GM, Mitchell's one of the first guys I'd be asking Cashman for.
Also wouldn't mind seeing Refsnyder get called back up. I think the time is right for his return -- I know Brendan Ryan's a good clubhouse guy and all but we can't get by with minimal production outta 2B anymore. I threw up in my mouth when Ryan popped up to the infield with guys on and an opportunity to get back in that game yesterday. All I keep thinking was how nice it'd be to have Refsnyder up at the dish in that situation...Then he goes out there and boots a ball at 2B... Honestly, I'd DFA Ryan and call up Refsnyder. I think that's the move to make right now; it was the move to make weeks ago. Ref could be just what the doc. ordered--bolster the lower part of the order and generate some excitement. We're not hitting--a Refsnyder call-up is a good enhancement we could make right now.
Ouch, that would be a hard game to have gone to. I'm not sure how much stock to put in it but most metrics experts say you have to give more weight to run differential than W-L record. W-L is more influenced by bad luck. Run differential has Tornoto as the best team in baseball and I think they may well be the best team now. We're still a very good team at +63 but significantly below Toronto and St. Louis.
I guess I've always been more of a basic statistics guy over advanced metrics but I hear what you're saying. It's like looking at a pitcher--who really cares about his W/L record as long at the other more-important stats pop out--ERA, BA against, Ks per 9, WHIP...Those are all much more important that record when evaluating a pitcher's worth...However you look at Toronto--either using the eye test or looking at the metric evidence, they were an impressive team that just got much better. No question about it. I just hope we're not out there playing in awe of them. F that--we're in 1st place last I looked. They're on the outside looking in, not us...Go out there and take it right to these guys!! Whatever we gotta do--how 'bout trying to play some small ball maybe? Gardy and Ellsbury aren't hitting up to par all of a sudden, esp. Ellsbury who's been in a rut since coming back off the DL for the most part. Now A-Rod's cooled off too...how 'bout these two at the top try bunting their way on, hit and run with those two when they do get on, steal some bases (when's the last time either of those guys habe stolen a base that's led to a run scored? I can't even remember.)...TAKE IT TO THEM!!! Whatever it takes... Can't understand why Girardi has such a hard time implementing simple adjustments like that. He goes completely off the rails unorthodox by taking the ball outta Justin Wilson's hands the other night mid-AB up 1-2 (a mistake on so many levels that managed to work out for us--I loved how he refused to answer legit questions about it after the game) but can't get aggressive with the top of the order and try to manufacture some runs when the team's not hitting?? And Cash has got to play his part too. We chose not to cough up the farm to make deadline blockbuster deals like a Toronto did--100% the right move imo. I don't care if Toronto overtakes us and we don't even get in the playoffs--it still would've been the right call to keep all those top players. Keeping, cultivating and eventually incorporating those top prospects will translate into lasting success for us, success that Toronto may not have. I honestly believe that...We'll have to see...In the meantime, what Cash can do now, like Girardi, is make some adjustments for the immediate betterment of the team, the obvious one being recalling Refsnyder to help bolster a sluggish offensive.. The kid's ready--he'll play enough defense at 2B and his bat is definitely major-league ready. If the metrics are saying we're a good offensive team but Toronto's a little better, what can we do to close that gap? Working harder to manufacture runs and adding Refsnyder's ML-ready bat are two pretty good options we should consider.
I have a mixed reaction to the trade deadline. I remember a time when Steinbrenner would have gotten a guy like Price just to make sure our rival didn't get him, and those were generally better times. We're really gambling on these prospects. They have to become very good. If they do, we're better off with them. I miss how things were when George ran the team, though.
Well that was about as bad as we could have imagined! I think Toronto is better than us but I don't think it's as bad as this series made it look.
Bonn1997 wrote:Well that was about as bad as we could have imagined! I think Toronto is better than us but I don't think it's as bad as this series made it look.
They have a good team, no question about it but let's be honest--we were WAY OFF our game this whole series. Our pitching was good for the most part--definitely good enough to win with; it's our offense that's completely stalled. And not just 1 or 2 guys--the entire friggin' lineup 1-9!! Very bizarre...Bothers me that we let this Jose Bautista run his mouth too--then this clown goes out there and backs it up. Just added to the misery of it all..I hate to go back to that knuckleballer the Red Sox threw at us a few games back but that seems to be the starting point where the offense stalled out.. What can you say? Need to wake the F up!!! Jake and Gardy look like little leaguers up there. Gotta get those two going--it starts with them...Maybe hitting the road isn't such a bad thing. Day off tomorrow, need to regroup and go get 'em starting Tues. night in Cleveland. We got the kid Severino going game 1 against the Indians--hopefully he can galvanize us and get us back on track. Not much we can do at this point to tweak the offense--guys need to rebound and resume playing up to their capabilities. Can't have everyone not hitting all at once. Again, one thing we can do is do away with the guaranteed 0-4 every game outta Drew or Ryan. I'm done with that shit--was done with those two weeks ago. Replacing those guys with Rob Refsnyder wouldn't be as big a splash as Toronto made adding Tulo, Josh Donaldson, etc., but I think it would help us. If I were Cash, I already would've made plans to have him meet the team in Cleveland. I bet there will be some internal discussion on that very topic over the next day or 2. I'd do it--what have we got to lose? Absolutely nothing. If everything went right, we'd pick up another impact bat. The time is now for Refsnyder imo--the quicker we get him back up here, the quicker we can get him reacclimated and on his way to helping this team down the stretch...Good thing is right after CLE, we get these Blue Jays again in their place. Then another 7 games against them down the stretch after that. A lot of baseball left against Toronto. Looking forward to some payback. I hope the Yankees are!!
Well I think even many Yankees fans would admit that Toronto has a better offense than us. They've scored almost 70 more runs this year. Did you know they have a lower team ERA too though? I'm not sure that there's anything we're better than them at. It's hard for me to find the positives. Maybe we won't face them in the playoffs.
Our taxes are lower. And their team name sucks.
I could go on and on...
I hate David Price. We kicked his azz all over the place earlier in the season, and now he looks like Mr. HOF.
You're right Finestrg, gotta wake the F up on offense. We either homer or we crap out.
What's up with no Headley tonight? Was he a late scratch for some reason?? Got a right-hander going against us, we're coming off the off-day yesterday and we've been struggling/haven't been hitting. Not too happy seeing Drew and Ryan hitting back to back 8 & 9. Better be a good reason Headley's not in there tonight. Looking forward to the explanation. Can't just 'give this guy a day' tonight for no good reason.
Didn't see this call-up coming. I like Bird A LOT, I know he's been red hot at AAA, but don't see him getting a lot of PT coming up here. We've got Tex at 1B and Alex at DH. Maybe Joe gives Alex a blow coming up and the kid gets another game but other than that, I don't see him playing a whole lot. If they keep him up, at least it would give us a solid bat off the bench, probably an upgrade over Garrett Jones. We actually may need another bullpen arm though (if Bird's here to stay, could we cut Jones a 2nd time? Man, that'd be rough for him but may be the right move to make)...See how it goes. I give the Yanks credit for doing something to shake things up a little though.
Really thought Refsnyder was the guy to call up. All of a sudden, Drew's started hitting, but against lefties at least, Ref could get some ABs, more than Bird I think (Ryan's terrible offensively--automatic 0-4 every game...absolutely no reason to keep Ryan and Drew--I've thought that for weeks now). Drew also makes $5mm compared to $2mm for Ryan -- whatever prorated amount Ryan has left would be a lot easier for them to eat at this point to make room for Ref. As soon as Ref took Alexi Ogando deep at Fenway, he should've been a fixture here for the rest of the year (and beyond). Cash even said at the time that he sent Ref down only so he could keep all 3 (Ref, Ryan and Drew) and not have to waive anyone...Well the trade deadline's come and gone and no deal for Ryan. Time to waive this guy now (maybe someone claims him and we can work out a minor deal to at least get something back--I'll take a low level prospect for Ryan) and bring Refsnyder back up. Ref can get steady ABs against lefties and Bird could upgrade the bench and give Tex and A-Rod another day here and there down the stretch..
Finally off the schneid and back in the win column and it feels GOOD. Man, it was BRUTAL...What are ya gonna do -- I understand Toronto's a very good overall team that just got even better (was reading they'll be getting Marcus Stroman back at some point coming up) and Cleveland has real good young pitching but this skid also had a lot to do with us being WAY OFF our game as well. A day off seemed to help Ellsbury; hopefully that's exactly what Tex needed too. Maybe now we give Alex a day and get Birdy at least one more start...I'd love for Nova to be on his game and we snap the Jays' 11-game winning streak (I thought Sonny Gray would've snapped it yesterday but saw he was a late scratch with back spasms, so that hurt us). Everything eventually comes to an end, hopefully their winning streak and our brief period of ineptitude! It'd be HUGE if we can get this 1st one coming up--hopefully Nova's on his game, we tie this thing up and go from there.
Finestrg wrote:Finally off the schneid and back in the win column and it feels GOOD. Man, it was BRUTAL...What are ya gonna do -- I understand Toronto's a very good overall team that just got even better (was reading they'll be getting Marcus Stroman back at some point coming up) and Cleveland has real good young pitching but this skid also had a lot to do with us being WAY OFF our game as well. A day off seemed to help Ellsbury; hopefully that's exactly what Tex needed too. Maybe now we give Alex a day and get Birdy at least one more start...I'd love for Nova to be on his game and we snap the Jays' 11-game winning streak (I thought Sonny Gray would've snapped it yesterday but saw he was a late scratch with back spasms, so that hurt us). Everything eventually comes to an end, hopefully their winning streak and our brief period of ineptitude! It'd be HUGE if we can get this 1st one coming up--hopefully Nova's on his game, we tie this thing up and go from there.
Agree, I hope Nova doesn't show as bad as Eovaldi just did. Not that Nova's shown all that great since he's been back, but we've got to keep hitting. Our ineptitude is really with hitting. I mean, even CC looked halfway decent and couldn't get an ounce of anything approaching run support... how quickly that seven games up in the loss column disappeared...
Wow, I only saw a few min of the game and then highlights. It looks like it was a great game! Despite the Yankees' weak offense this month, Beltran's #s have been ridiculously good. His hitting after April has been pretty good. His defensive #s are really bad though. He'd be the perfect DH if we didn't have A-Rod. With A-Rod slumping, maybe Girardi should give him occasional days off and put Beltran at DH.
Feel good win of the year, against pycho-good Price is Right, no less! Listened to the first 7 innings, and we couldn't get anything across. Of course I turn the game off before the 8th, and miss Sterling's call of Beltran's homer.
That guy is so clutch in key spots. I remember hearing some kind of stat that he's one of the best playoff hitters in the game.
Toronto must be in a frenzy with this team. Waldman said field level seats for this weekend were going for 12 thousand dollars!
So glad we weren't who they get to set their winning streak record with!
Back in first! Now go for the sweep!
What a performance by Tanaka against a great offense!
