What To Do With Joe

After tonight’s outcome, you really have to wonder about Joe Girardi’s managerial moves. There has been a steady string of strange and questionable moves made by General Joe, and I’m starting to doubt my first post on this blog, where I essentially advocated for his hiring. Is this really the great strategist that we all heard about, or has Joe been something entirely different? Watching Melky Cabrera handle the bat in the 9th was pretty significant on a variety of levels.

More on this later, so stay tuned.

Oh No You Didn’t

Peter Abraham just did the unthinkable. He questioned Melky Cabrera’s status as a starting center fielder. Melky Cabrera is a fan favorite, but our stubborn Yankee loyalties have to be called into question on this one. Now, I’m a huge Melky fan and love seeing him play everyday, however, we need to face the facts about our favorite Melk Man. Here are some key points made by PA:

He is at .223/.284/.290 since May 1 with two homers, 20 RBI and 12 runs scored over 213 plate appearances. 12 runs scored in 53 games? That is tough to do.

June (.206/.289/.255) was even worse and for the season he’s hitting .222 with runners in scoring position.

Yet Cabrera has played in 81 games and is a lineup constant, even against left-handers despite his atrocious performance (.198/.289/.255) as a right-handed hitter.

The solution? I think the Yankees HAVE to try and play Gardner. His OBP alone gives him more value and his ability to run is also something the Yankees can use at the bottom of the order, especially with Johnny Damon’s current output (he can nab a few more RBI’s). The only reason I can see the Yankees playing Melky even after his terrible performance could be that they’re hoping he gets hot so that they can trade him (Gardner will likely stick around). However, Melky’s value has been declining ever since his torrid start, so, using him in a trade for an ace (no Sabathia) is likely out of the question (Seattle is pretty bad though, maybe they could use him).

Ken Rosenthal does offer up a trade scenario with Melky going to the Arizona Diamondbacks (they need a left-handed hitter in the OF), although he doesn’t speculate as to who the Yankees would acquire in return (probably not Micah Owings). We have to figure that Melky is nearing the finish line, whether it’s with the Yankees or in the majors (demotion?). Sometimes, these things just don’t work out and right now, no matter how much we all like the guy, that’s how it looks for Melky Cabrera.

All A-Rod, All The Time

Three things about A-Rod have hit the newsstands today:

1) A-Rod has declined an invitation to participate in the HR Derby during the AS break. While many Yankee fans want to see him in there, Rodriguez notes that the derby could cause him to tweak his swing which would be problematic for the Yankees in the second half. Basically, when trying to hit home runs, your swing is a bit different from when you hit a liner or slap one the other way. A-Rod doesn’t want his swing to become an uppercut sort of swing and says, “I’ve worked hard for my swing and I definitely don’t want to let anything get in the way of it. My only responsibility this year is to the New York Yankees.” I think most fans are fine with that reasoning. Jason Giambi (his swing is an uppercut swing, so it doesn’t matter) has expressed an interest to be in the derby but most of the other invites have been kept under wraps. However, I have heard that Josh Hamilton has agreed to be in the derby (I’ve got money on that guy).

2) Next, A-Rod has been nominated for Best Male Athlete at the ESPY Awards (ESPN’s award show). Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant will also contend for the honor. If you’re interested, the program will be aired on July 20th (the Red Sox are nominated for Best Team, so you can always watch and then turn it off at that segment or even just kick the nearest Red Sox fan).

2) Finally, some totally non-baseball rumormongering has hit a variety of media outlets. Apparently, A-Rod has been visiting Madonna’s home “late at night” and now we’re supposed to believe Alex and Madonna are now having an affair (they say they’re just friends). At the end of the featured article, it cites A-Rod’s strippergate situation from last year and says at least A-Rod is moving up in his taste in women. Frankly, that’s a poor statement. Madonna looks like Skeletor and that stripper looked pretty good to me (sorry Mrs. A-Rod!).

Surgery Not Necessary?

Some notes from the NY Times:

Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui, who was put on the 15-day disabled list on Friday because of inflammation in his left knee, looked so good after a full weekend off that Manager Joe Girardi said he was thinking about having Matsui take batting practice in a couple of days. … Mike Mussina’s start on Monday meant that Joba Chamberlain would start Tuesday on five days’ rest. “It gives him more of a chance to recover, especially in this building-up stage,” Girardi said. Chamberlain threw 114 pitches in a 10-0 victory Wednesday over Pittsburgh.

That’s good news about Hideki. He’s maybe our most consistent threat with runners on base. He can do a lot of things with the bat in order to get those runners moving around the bags. His bat was sorely missed in today’s game, although Gardner, if he catches on, could give us some similar production (slap hits, get on base, etc.) sans the power (but with plus speed).