Going back to Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Oakland…Cano was up with the tying run at 3rd base and 2 outs when he asked for a timeout BEFORE the pitcher started moving. The ump didn’t grant him timeout and then Cano decided to swing at a pitch up and away to end the game. This wasn’t an instant where Cano was too late in asking, it was an instant where the ump didn’t do his job…unfortunately Cano decided to swing anyway. Cano needs to recognize a bad pitch and not swing. His ability to hit anything actually makes him a worse hitter because he can’t control himself. When he learns some plate discipline he will lead the league in hitting; he has that much talent. Not sure he will learn it as there are so many times where he decides he will take the first pitch for a strike and then swings at the next curve no matter what. I would have to see some numbers, but I bet he swings at a higher % of breaking balls than any player in baseball. What he needs to understand is that when he did HR derby he had his dad throw fastballs and not breaking balls for a reason.
Sunday was almost a rare time where both Robertson and Rivera didn’t get it done when they had some spare room. Robertson was really off as he had little velocity and didn’t have a tight spin on his curve. Rivera got the final 4 outs, but allowed 4 hits and the Yanks held on to a 7-5 victory with Robertson and Rivera allowing 3 of the runs.
Monday was a game against a team really struggling…Seattle played poorly and we just got the job done winning 10-3. With CC going tonight, this has to be a win. Tomorrow nights game is the one where we will struggle with. Hughes continues to look like a worse option than Nova (who I said at the time I would rather stick with)
And he is going against King Felix. Felix just lost to the Red Sox allowing 6 runs so we can beat him, but we will need Hughes to do his job to a team who just lost their 17th game in a row (I hope and expect).
BTW, there are a lot of names being bantered around. The Yanks focus needs to be on EXCELLENT starters and nobody else. Getting a decent guy doesn’t help us at all because I think we have that already. We either go after a stud like King Felix or we stand pat with our starters. Nova is in the minors and can do what any of the White Sox pitchers could do (as an example). When you are the Yanks you go after the stars and you fill in the rest with your young guys and a few fill in guys.
Garrison, a young lefty starter in the minors was called up and pitched the final 2 outs last night, but I didn’t see how he looked. His minor league numbers are not impressive, but my hopes are that he is great against lefties and is awful against righties and he will be a one out or 2 of 3 lefty type of guy…otherwise, not sure why he is here. Then again, I have not watched him pitch so just looking at the numbers may be a little short sighted.
Boston lost and I have removed TB from my standings on the right side of the blog because they are 9.5 out. 60-40 isn’t great, but it is good for 3rd overall and 2nd in the AL. I think if our offense were playing up to their potential we would be in 1st place. The good thing is that we should get a Soriano and another lefty back in the pen as well as ARod and that helps the team a lot. We also will need to make a decision about DH very soon. If Posada does not get going soon, we need to look for a DH or a guy like Beltran to put in RF and move Swisher to DH.
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Bringing in a new DH would mean no room for Posada on the squad. In terms of winning games, it would probably be right to replace Posada. His season record is terrible. And, recently he's been even worse. In his last 21 games, he's hitting .197 .254 .311 .565. Furthermore, he's an awful base-runner.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read, he's a real team leader in the clubhouse. Dumping him in the middle of the season would be ugly. My fantasy is that Posada gets some non-permanent injury, the Yanks bring up Montero to replace him, and Montero hits so well that he keeps the DH job.
David, I am a little less a believer in leadership for baseball at the pro level. I am not saying there isn't some small value, but in general, I believe it is really overblown. Winning creates a better environment. I thought Posada would be a little better, but he simply is not getting it done and at some point we need to make a move. I thought Montero would be up hitting as well, but he has not had a good year; hopefully he can get hot and we bring him up.
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