High and Tight.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Girardi Gets What Torre Never Could

Girardi said he never had any intentions of using the ultra-effective Phil Hughes in the eighth inning of Sunday night's 5-2 win over Boston. He called on lefty Phil Coke instead, and watched him give up a 1-0 lead on Victor Martinez's two-run homer.

But Girardi sounded like he'd do it again to avoid overusing Hughes, or any other reliever. Hughes had pitched the three previous days.

"The bullpen is something you have to watch," Girardi said. "You don't want to fall in love with one guy because you can wear him down. You can hurt him. You don't just want him effective for two weeks, but for the whole season."

He said he's willing to bite the proverbial bullet to stay away from a pitcher.

"I knew yesterday I'm not going to use Hughes," Girardi said. "Sometimes, you've just got to say, 'Hey, know what? We don't have this guy today.' "

I'll admit, when watching the game I questioned not using Hughes myself, but I wasn't aware he'd been in three consecutive days. It worked out anyway, but I'd have preferred Bruney or Aceves to face the righties there after Coke got Ellsbury.

In any case, Girardi is makingthe right moves here. He's not falling into the Torre trap of falling in love with a reliever who then has his arm fall off.

Look at the post-Torre careers of former Torre flames Tanyon Sturtze, Steve Karsay, Ramiro Mendoza, Paul Quantrill, Ron Villone and Scott Proctor if you want to see what could have been in store for Hughes.

Labels: all hail girardi, bullpen, joe girardi, joe torre, phil hughes, phil phranchise, torre is dumb

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 10:01 AM 14 comments

Friday, August 22, 2008

Does Ponson Have Naked Photos of Cash or Girardi?

They were willing to pull Rasner from the rotation, but the Yankee brass still hasn't seen fit to send Sir Sid a-packin'. There has to be some kind of reason for this. Instead we get Brian Cashman saying things like "Sidney's pitched very well for us." No, Brian, he hasn't. He has pitched very, very poorly.

Even the Sportswriters are giving him a pass. Instead of "release Ponson" we get puff pieces like how Sidney is setting up a crab dinner in Baltimore, full of skewed comments like these:

"People like Sidney," Derek Jeter said. "He's a good guy."
The journeyman has become reliable.
"His sinker has been a big pitch," manager Joe Girardi said. "He's thrown the ball really well for us. I love the way he attacks the (strike) zone. I love the way he goes after hitters. He works fast and keeps everyone involved."

Reliable? Yes. Reliably awful.

Ponson has pitched 56 innings with the Yankees this year. He's averaging a little over 5 innings per start, has a WHIP of 1.607, a 5.46 ERA, a K/BB ratio of 0.95, and an ERA+ of 78.

For anyone who doesn't know what each of these stats mean, allow me to summarize: he's been awful. Really, incredibly awful. He has been awful this season, he's been awful since 2004 and there's no logical conclusion that he will ever cease to be awful.

Why is he stioll getting innings at the expense of Phil Hughes? At least if Hughes was putting up those terrible numbers, one could see the reasoning: Hughes is a part of the Yankees future. Giving him major-league innings is a step toward his development. Same thing for Ian Kennedy.

When Joba comes back (and I suspect he will soon, judging by the reports) my guess is the Yankees choose not to remove Ponson from the rotation and instead send Rasner back to the bullpen.

I'm going to attempt to be as clear and concise as my currently seething mind can possibly be at this very moment: Release. Ponson. Now.

He. Is. Not. Good.

Labels: ian kennedy, joba chamberlain, lupe's bf, phil phranchise, pitching rotation, pitching woes, roster moves

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 9:58 AM 1 comments

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Reality Check History Lesson

Who was the lowest regarded prospect of the following:

A. Phil Hughes
B. Joba Chamberlain
C. Sam Marsonek
D. Domingo Jean
E. Ian Kennedy
F. Brandon Claussen
G. Johan Santana
H. Ted Lilly
I. Ryan Bradley
J. Jake Westbrook
K. Tyler Clippard
L. Ed Yarnall

If you guessed "G," you were correct. Santana was left unprotected in the Rule V draft by the Houston Astros, and then was selected by the Minnesota Twins. The Astros didn't think highly enough of Santana's future to place him on their 40 man roster, and lost him for nothing. Two (and deserving of at least one more) Cy Young awards later, Santana has proven the scouts and pundits wrong.

So where are Yarnall, Bradley and Jean these days? Clippard is now so low on the Yankees radar that they'd happily throw him in on almost any deal at this point. Claussen is now in the Nationals system after frustrating Reds fans and not pitching in 2007. Westbrook has had one good year (2004) and been a mediocre pitcher in every other. Theodore Roosevelt Lilly has had the most success of any of the "highly regarded" prospects traded by the Yankees, and has put together a pretty decent career as an above average major league pitcher (although 2007 is the only year since he left the Yankees he has posted an ERA under 4.00). I believe Sam Marsonek picked up my dry cleaning last week.

What's the point here? Yankees fans tend to overvalue their own prospects and young players, thinking every single one of them is going to be the next Whitey Ford or Roger Clemens. Kennedy, Hughes and Chamberlain are good prospects and appear to be able to compete on the major league level and hopefully all three will have good careers ahead of them. There are, however, no guarantees.

Remember that when the thought of sacrificing one of three prospects to obtain the best pitcher in baseball in the prime years of his career becomes a possibility.

Or maybe you're still hoarding that Hensley Meulens rookie card, convinced he could still be the next Mickey Mantle.

Labels: bam bam meulens, ian kennedy, joba chamberlain, johan santana, phil phranchise, prospects, trade rumors, yankee history

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 4:01 PM 4 comments