Igawa to The Bullpen, Kennedy to Start Thursday

Ed Price from the Ledger has got the info:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees have taken Kei Igawa out the rotation and are expected to replace him in the Thursday with Ian Kennedy. Manager Joe Girardi said that Igawa has been sent to the bullpen and that Thursday’s starter is still undecided.

However, Kennedy seems the leading candidate to return to the majors Thursday against the Rays. Kennedy started the first game of tonight’s Scranton/Wilkes-Barre doubleheader at Indianapolis and was pulled after one inning and 12 pitches.

Darrell Rasner, Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang still start in the 3-game series verse the Mets. Even having Igawa in the pen is sort of scary.

Game 1: Yanks VS. Rays

Here’s the lineup (courtesy of PA):

YANKEES
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui DH
Giambi 1B
Cabrera CF
Cano 2B
Molina C
Gonzalez 3B
Pettitte LHP

The Rays have been red hot and the Yankees haven’t necessarily lit the world on fire. But, with that said, the Yankees will try to stifle the Rays lineup with the reliable Andy Pettitte. Tampa Bay will counter with the promising Matt Garza.

We also have an update on Alex Rodriguez and his rehab. Currently, Joe Girardi does not believe that A-Rod will be able to return this week. Girardi is likely referring to the MRI results A-Rod had done today (before he progresses with his quad). So we won’t see Rodriguez in the lineup this weekend against the Mets, and he’ll probably be back sometime next week.

BoSox & Kei Igawa? Huh?

Ken Davidoff from Newsday is actually reporting that the Red Sox are “hoping” that the Yankees give up Kei Igawa so that they can somehow acquire him. How this makes sense is beyond me. But hell, if they wanted him, they could have him (which would never happen, but still).

(Thanks to MLBTR).

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words$100,000

This original picture of Yankee greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig is currently being auctioned off by the Leland Organization. Lelands is a popular Sports Auction House that has been around for awhile now. Online bidding at Lelands.com has already begun and Josh Leland Evans, founder of the group, believes that the picture could fetch up to $100,000.

So, if you’ve got $100,000 laying around somewhere (your kids can use scholarships to pay for their education), feel free to stop in and place a bid. Or, if you’ve got some more dough, feel free to bid on an actual baseball cap worn by Lou Gehrig. It’s only being sold for around $30,000 (as of now).

Pitching Options

Mark Feinsand does a nice job of running down some of the minor league pitching options for the Yankees when they look for a starter on Thursday (or Friday even).

Scranton righthander Dan Giese (2-2, 1.13 ERA, nine games, six starts) could be a candidate, as he made his last start on Saturday and would be lined up to throw Thursday on regular rest. That would leave Rasner to open the Mets series.

Chase Wright (5-1, 2.54 ERA), who pitched for Trenton on Friday night, also could be given a shot, as could Dan McCutchen (4-2, 2.15), who was scheduled to be the Thunder’s starter yesterday.

Basically, the Yankees are trying their best not to give Kei Igawa a start. A minor leaguer could pitch on either Thursday or Friday. Darrell Rasner could likely pitch on Thursday which would mean that the random starter would start on Friday against the Mets. Or, the random starter could pitch Thursday, allowing Rasner to start on Friday. IPK will pitch today and could possibly return in time to pitch on Friday if he has a great outing. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, and it could tell us a lot about Kei Igawa’s future.

Maddux Mussina

K/BB is a well known statistic in baseball. It measures the number of strikeouts for a pitcher in relation to his walks (base on balls), providing a numerical figure (a ratio) that assesses their ability to not only strikeout the opposition, but also to control their pitches by limiting their free passes. Basically, it’s a good way of measuring someone’s ability to be successful in the big leagues. So, you obviously want to strikeout a lot of hitters while walking a few, keeping that figure (when converted from fraction to decimal form), higher rather than lower (a lower number typically means you walked more people).

Last year, C.C. Sabathia’s K/BB was the best in the Majors. He struck out 209 batters and walked only 37. That’s good for a 209/37 K/BB or a 5.65 K/B (strikeout-to-walk ratio). In 2006, Ben Sheets and Curt Schilling were tops in baseball, but Sheets season was injury laden, so Schilling threw roughly 100 more innings than Sheets (so we won’t count his figure). Schilling’s K/BB was 183/28 or 6.54 (higher than Sabathia’s).

This year’s K/BB race has been an interesting one. Here’s what we have so far (in order to establish a cutoff and to differentiate relievers from starters, the pitchers featured have 40 IP or more). These numbers do not count stats from today’s games.

1. Cliff Lee’s K/BB = 39/2 or 19.50 (otherworldly)
2. Josh Beckett’s K/BB = 42/8 or 5.25
3. Johnny Cueto’s K/BB = 41/8 or 5.13
4. Roy Halladay’s K/BB = 47/10 or 4.70
5. Javier Vasquez’s K/BB = 52/12 or 4.33
6. Ervin Santana’s K/BB = 38/9 or 4.22
7. Dan Haren’s K/BB = 41/10 or 4.10
8. Mike Mussina’s K/BB = 20/5 or 4.00
9. Johan Santana’s K/BB = 52/13 or 4.00

Now, the list is pretty interesting for a variety of reasons (it’s not really a perfect list since some of these guys have pitched more innings than others, etc.) . One, you wouldn’t expect to see some of those guys on there, not because of their skill level, but because they sort of came out of nowhere. Cliff Lee’s phenomenal figure is ridiculous and he’s an unexpected leader, but he has always had the skill set necessary to post some great numbers. Guys like Cueto and E. Santana are somewhat surprising, but knowing the talent that they possess and given their raw stuff, it’s not hard to believe that they’re up there.

Mike Mussina’s name definitely stands out though. Of course, it’s surprising to see him on any list pertaining to positive pitching statistics (to see him tied with Johan Santana is strange and entertaining) since we threw him under the bus after his miserable 2007 campaign (he earned that throw). But, the 20/4 K/BB and his subsequent place on this list is telling of his approach this year. Mike Mussina, whose stuff is in decline and has been for a while, is challenging hitters and he’s throwing them strikes. He’s not walking guys and he’s pretty much pitching to contact while mixing in a few strikeout numbers. He’s like Greg Maddux, except with better stuff (if Maddux was in the AL he’d get rocked). This approach can provide us with an explanation regarding his success as well. He’s not lighting up the radar gun, but he’s getting his breaking balls over for strikes and he’s challenging guys which is all you can really ask of him.

While we were quick to dismiss Mike Mussina’s chances this year (especially after those Boston debacles), he’s been very solid and is doing a great job. We were worried about him challenging Manny Ramirez in those games against Boston because they were bad moves (which can be attributed to Joe Girardi too). But, this is all Moose knows now and it’s actually encouraging. He’s going to live in the strike zone and try not to walk anyone, so I guess in that regard, a stubborn Moose is a good thing. He’s pitching smart and that’s good enough for a 5-3 record and a successful 2008 campaign (so far).

Rain Washes Away Finale

While the rain may have ended the Detroit series a bit prematurely, we still witnessed a noteworthy situation before the game even began. When Joe Girardi penciled in his lineup today, curiously, he placed Derek Jeter in the cleanup role, which is somewhat startling for those who think power is an absolute requirement when batting in that particular spot in the order. I actually thought it was a gutsy move on Girardi’s part. Hideki Matsui, while still hitting any and everything, did not deliver these past few games with RISP. In fact, Hideki Matsui, our current cleanup hitter while A-Rod continues to rehab (sports rehab, not Lindsey Lohan rehab), has not driven in a run since May 4th. Basically, he’s gone 2 series (Cleveland and Detroit) without driving in any runs but hitting a lot (he’s been like leadoff hitter). So, Girardi decided to give him a days rest and juggled things a bit so that the lefties weren’t all stacked up against each other.

Clearly, Shelley Duncan’s power hasn’t worked in the 4 spot, and Jeter is hitting .452 with RISP, so no complaints there. He’s actually hitting .455 with RISP and 2 outs. You can’t go wrong with a guy who knows how to drive them in in key situations (even if he hit his first homer of the season just yesterday).

Joe Girardi has juggled the lineup a seemingly endless amount of times, thus far. I’m not necessarily a big fan of his matchup style of ball. I mean, I like when he sits Giambi against lefties and the Yankee bench is very solid, indeed. However, sometimes you just have to leave guys in their usual spots and let them find their rhythm against righties and lefties. Then again, endless shuffling is also the result of no A-Rod and no Jorge Posada. I figured Girardi’s shuffling would have ended this month and that he was just trying to keep guys fresh throughout the season with off days early, but with them gone, it looks like he’s forced to continue with this National League, mix and match style.

Speaking of shuffling and juggling players, the Yankees will reshuffle their rotation for the Tampa series, with Andy Pettitte getting the start tomorrow (followed by Wang and Mussina). The final starter for Thursday’s game has yet to be announced, but the candidates are Kei Igawa (yuck), Darrell Rasner (hey) or maybe even a minor leaguer (IPK probably won’t be able to due to his start being rained out today, so his pitching schedule won’t permit it, but the Yanks can always work something out with a side session or an abbreviated start, allowing him to possibly pitch on Friday). Whatever happens with Thursday will dictate who pitches on Friday (that starter is still in the air as well until Thursday is squared off). Confusing, yes.

Visiting Safeco

Hey everyone. So, with the Yanks rained out, we’re in the midst of a slow news day. In order to provide you with some entertainment on these non-baseball days, here are some pictures of me and my girlfriend from our recent trip to Seattle’s Safeco Field, home of Mariner baseball. These pictures were taken a few weeks ago (vs. Oakland) and it was just a tremendously fun experience. Safeco is a beautiful place and seeing a “modern” stadium, really got me excited about the project the Yankees are working on.

So, without further ado, the pictures.

I believe that’s the human giant, Richie Sexson (my girlfriend was taking the pictures and does not think his nickname, Big Sexy, is suitable at all).

We were really close. Tickets for this game were so cheap in comparison to Yankee Stadium (especially when you think about where we were in relation to the field).

I have no idea who that man is, but the Mariners are so bad offensively, maybe he should grab a jersey and a bat.

That’s me and my lady, Erika. We were debating whether or not we should wear another team’s jersey (she’s a Sox fan, I’m a Yankee fan, obviously) but we felt it wasn’t right to go to a game and to badger another team’s fans by wearing a jersey that isn’t even relevant to the game being played. Don’t worry, we’re going to Yankee-Mariner and Sox-Mariner games in a few weeks and we’ll wear the appropriate attire.

A picture of Adrian Beltre (post steroids).

Picture of the Safeco Field sign (like you needed an explanation). The place is great.

That’s the closing monster that is J.J. Putz. He was trying to lock up the game after Erik Bedard pitched a gem. It was a bumpy ride for Putz though, although he did get the job done. He has one of the coolest entrances I’ve ever seen for a closer. Mariano’s entrance is built upon years of success, mystique and nostalgia. Whenever Enter Sandman hits, you get a wash of emotions that relate to those things. Putz’s entrance is built on a mesmerizing video montage that features the adrenaline pumping sounds of AC/DC and clips of him striking out dozens of big names (his fastball is digitally modified to have a flame coming out of it, how cool is that?).

Here’s a picture of the scoreboard. I actually met the guy who works on the scoreboard at a bar one night (long story, and no, it wasn’t a pickup line… sadly… okay I’ll stop now).

To wrap it all up, Safeco is a great place. If you’re a Yankee fan and have the chance to catch a game while in Seattle, I definitely recommend it (good tickets are cheap). The experience is very different when compared to being at Yankee Stadium (or Fenway, for you Boston fans). I mean, the fans are slightly reserved in Seattle and they don’t get as loud as we do, but you’ll still enjoy your time spent at the field. We actually just caught another game last night (vs. Chicago) and it was a lot of fun.

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day everyone. The final game of the Detroit series has been rained out. No news yet on when the two teams will make up the affair.

DL Party

PA at LoHud has the news on Betemit and Albalaelbow:

Wilson Betemit will be placed on the 15-day disabled list tomorrow. Alberto Gonzalez has been summoned from Scranton.

Jon Albaladejo has a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament and a strain of the posterial capsule. It is not expected he will need surgery, but he won’t be back any time soon.

Betemit’s injury isn’t a big concern. Alberto Gonzalez will be back and he’ll do a fine job while Betemit rehabs a bit. But, Albalaelbow’s situation doesn’t look good at all. Anytime you’re dealing with a ligament, let alone ulnar ligament worries, you’re bound to be out for a while. Ask Josh Johnson (Hi Joe Girardi) or John Patterson who is now with the Rangers (had an ulnar nerve situation) but will likely be out for the rest of the year. Those injuries are serious and could really hamper a pitcher’s career.

Hopefully, for Albaladejo’s sake, his injury isn’t as serious.

Girardi Nixes Boomer

Here’s Joe Girardi’s take on a David Wells return to NY.

From CBS Sports:

“You know what?” Girardi said. “It’s hard not to play this game. I’m sure he wants to pitch again. He did well in New York. The passion people have in New York. … I’m sure all of us would love to still play in New York.

“I don’t know if he’s capable of pitching, still.”

At least he’s honest.

Playing Darrell’s Advocate

Darrell Rasner with some help from the bullpen just pitched a beauty for the Yankees against the Detroit Tigers and it got me thinking about the offseason. As of right now, Rasner looks like he’s really helped his career by learning that cutter in the minors. In fact, he looks like a strong #4-5 big league starter.

Now, knowing what we know now, I’ll pose a question about the rotation. Would you have traded Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy for Johan Santana in the offseason (you knew it was coming)? If that trade had occurred and if Rasner performed well in ST (assuming that he would have learned the cutter already), our current rotation would have been Santana, Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Rasner.

Would you have taken that?

It’s really an unfair question to ask now, in retrospect, but I’m sure Yankee fans are wondering about what could have been while Hughes sits on the DL and Kennedy dominates Triple-A ballclubs. I’m still happy that we didn’t make the trade but if the depth in the Yankee minor league system forces us to rethink that decision, it could become one of those big “what ifs” Yankee fans wonder about for years.

Game 2: Yanks VS. Tigers

NY @ DET. Darrell Rasner is on the mound.

2-0 Yankees right now thanks to Bonderman’s wildness and a DJ homer.

Here’s the current box/lineup through the top of the 1st:

	NY Yankees
	J. Damon LF	0-1
	D. Jeter SS	1-1
	B. Abreu RF	1-1
	H. Matsui DH	1-1
	J. Giambi 1B	0-0
	M. Cabrera CF	0-0
	R. Cano 2B	0-0
	W. Betemit 3B	0-0
	C. Moeller C	0-

Padres Pick Up Henn

Sean Henn, a guy who just could not pitch with any success in NY, was DFA’d and has now been claimed by the San Diego Padres. The Padres are pros at retooling a bullpen with unknowns and the open terrain of Petco Park definitely help a lot of pitchers. I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes over their setup guy role if Hoffman dies out this season (with Heath Bell moving into the closer role).

Pitcher Problems: Igawa & Albaladejo

“The plan is for him to start again in five days, but sometimes … I mean, that’s the plan,” Girardi said.

Hmm, words of confidence from Kei Igawa’s manager.

So the Yankees tried something new, giving Kei Igawa a shot against the Tigers, only to see him give up 6 ER in 3 IP. Igawa looked awful as the Tigers tee’d off against him and you could tell from the get go that it was going to be brutal. Anyone who gives up 11 hard hits in 3 IP isn’t going to do well now and they probably won’t do well later. I think the Yankees know that and after watching tonight’s game, I doubt they’ll have Igawa start next week. In fact, I’ll be surprised if he isn’t traded in the next month or so (to the San Diego Padres). The Yankees will likely ship him back to Triple-A and recall another. Hopefully, with a few good starts in the minors the team will be able to build Igawa’s trade value so that they could at least get a bag of balls for him (or maybe some towels for the clubhouse).

I was all for bringing Igawa up, not for him to get a chance to pitch, but for him to give the bullpen a break after it was abused by rookie ineffectiveness and he couldn’t even do that. In fact, Jonathan Albaladejo who has been fairly solid this year when the Yanks needed him, actually injured himself after relieving Igawa and he’ll be placed on the 15-day DL (Chris Britton will finally get a chance to pitch for an extended period of time). So, in the end, the Kei Igawa experiment (much like the Carl Pavano, Jared Wright, Randy Johnson, Jeff Weaver, Javier Vasquez, Kevin Brown, etc., experiments) looks like it’s coming to an end in the not too distant future.

There’s really nothing left to say other than good riddance.

Game 1: Yanks VS. Tigers

NY @ DETROIT.

Here’s the lineup (via PA):

YANKEES
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui LF
Duncan 1B
Giambi DH
Betemit 3B
Cano 2B
Moeller C
Igawa LHP

Igawa on the mound and he’ll be opposed by Kenny Rogers. Believe it or not, I’m pretty excited about today’s game. I like to root for the underdog and Kei Igawa can definitely be seen as an underachiever of sorts. Plus, it’s a beautiful day in Seattle and non-Mariner baseball just seems very appropriate.

Breakin’ Bats in Baseball

Jeff Passan has another fantastic read up at Yahoo Sports (what else is new, the guy writes some great features). This time, this one is about baseball bats, which seem to be breaking and snapping at an alarming rate this year (remember Andy Pettitte’s near-miss a few days ago?). This could be a potentially dangerous situation for players, fans or umpires, and Passan outlines a sad story about Don Long, whose face was impaled by a broken piece of bat in 2005 (Long still can’t smile the way he used to). I also remember hearing a White Sox announcer echo such sentiments while the Yanks were in Chicago just recently.

Passan’s article talks about maple bats, which have gained tremendous popularity over the years (about 50% of players now use them). Their popularity skyrocketed after Barry Bonds started using them exclusively in 1999 (bats, steroids, Barry Bonds is a trend setter). Essentially, some ballplayers think that the maple bats hit the ball harder and are themselves, harder than the alternative–ash bats. However, a 2005 study, paid for by the MLB because they were worried about the number of shattered bats, indicated that ash bats actually don’t break as often or as severely as maple bats (ash bats crack, maple bats shatter).

However, players still use them more than ever and feel as if it provides them with a competitive and psychological edge (the study also showed that maple bats and ash bats are basically the same in terms of hitting the ball). Nevertheless, some players are tired of having their bats explode on a regular basis and therefore are making the switch back to ash bats in order to protect themselves and those around them.

Here’s some text on Jorge Posada and ex-Yankee, Doug Mientkiewicz:

All last season, Jorge Posada encouraged New York Yankees teammate Doug Mientkiewicz to switch from maple to ash. Mientkiewicz was tired of his bats breaking.

“They blow up constantly,” said Mientkiewicz, a first baseman now with the Pirates.

I encourage you to the check out the rest of the article. It’s very interesting and sheds light on an aspect of baseball that we often see yet hardly wonder about after it has happened. Passan also discusses baseball’s position on the bats and whether or not they will eventually rule in favor of one bat (the safer ash) over the other (the more dangerous maple). I guess we’ll have to wait until Josh Beckett has to have the splintered remains of a maple bat, surgically removed from his forearm (baseball tends to be a little late with some of its policies).

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not

According to Mike Puma, David Wells, the rotund left-hander and former Yankee, is very interested in returning to NY. In fact, Hank Steinbrenner is even entertaining the idea. Now, I like David Wells, but I don’t see how he can help us a this time (maybe as a long-man). It would make for a fun story, but the Yanks have quality arms that they could go to before bringing this guy back.

Farnsworth Suspension Reduced

The MLB has reduced Kyle Farnsworth’s 3-game suspension to 1 game (for throwing at Manny). He’ll serve the suspension tonight and get it over with. This is actually good news for Yankee fans (who knew?). You know what I think is funny, the way Manny reacted to Kyle Farnsworth after the ball flew past his head. He had a sheepish grin on his face instead of charging the mound (like Richie Sexson did last night), which he has done before in a heated situation.

Maybe it’s because everyone in baseball is scared of “Big Farns”?

Here’s Paul Wilson, a victim of a patented Farnsworth beatdown:

Oh, and let’s not forget this gem that had Kyle Farnsworth tackling Jeremy Affeldt (who Steve Phillips apparently likes a lot):

I guess Manny didn’t want to be the third picture in this post.

Joba Controversy Continues

For whatever reason, the Joba fist pump controversy continues. Joba Chamberlain struck David Dellucci out in yesterday’s ballgame and then proceeded to pump his fist 3 times to demonstrate how amped he was. Don’t forget that Joba had been taken to the woodshed by Dellucci in the second game of the series, blowing the lead and the win. Dellucci hit a 3-run homer off of a less than stellar Joba and last night, Joba was happy to send him back to the dugout with a K.

However, Dellucci didn’t exactly get the celebration:

“If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout and dance around, I guess that gets him going,” Dellucci said. “My home run was in a much bigger situation, more a key part of the game and I didn’t dance around and scream.”

At least Dellucci brings context into the situation. I actually agree with him somewhat and think that it wasn’t necessarily appropriate for a little celebration after striking him out. That would be the case under normal circumstances. However, this guy also hit a 3-run bomb of Joba in Joba’s last appearance which was also the first time Joba had given up an ER at Yankee Stadium. So, with that stuff in mind (context), I don’t really mind Joba’s antics at all. The kid gets amped, let him have his fun.

I mean, if Frank Thomas, a future HOF player, doesn’t mind when Joba does that, then why should anyone care about what David Dellucci has to say?