Hank: “The national media is filled with Yankee haters”

From the NY Post:

Now it’s the media’s fault.

Hank Steinbrenner, who has gone out of his way to emphasize how much injuries have hurt the Yankees this season, told the new Sporting News magazine that he had to do it because, “Most of the national media is full of Yankee haters.”

“That’s why I have to point out the injuries,” Steinbrenner writes in his column in the magazine’s relauch issue, dated Sept. 1. “Because the media sweep that under the rug and say we’re playing poorly.

“But next year, in a new stadium, we’ll be much better.”

To be perfectly honest, the Yankees should be able to sustain themselves despite the injuries. The team spends so much money and so they should be fully capable of providing adequate backups and replacement players in the event of an injury. Cashman has even done a good job of filling in holes, adding Nady, Marte and Pudge and the pitching has been decent. Hank’s statement, albeit somewhat true (hi ESPN), bothers me because it totally sidesteps the issues we’re having with the offense. The Red Sox are having their share of injuries too (Ortiz, Lowell, Drew, Lugo, Wakefield, Beckett, Schilling, Dice-K, etc.), but they’re playing pretty well, right? Tampa Bay is playing well too, despite losing Longoria, Crawford, Percival, Kazmir and others to the disabled list.

It’s time for us (that includes Hank) to stop blaming injuries and blame the production from the team, a team that should be better with RISP. The Yankees’ line with RISP is .259/.346/.384. That’s absolutely terrible, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better. You can blame A-Rod and Giambi, since they’re supposed to be the main RBI guys and you can also blame Joe Girardi. Despite all of his crazy lineups, he has still stuck with Giambi in that 5-spot and hasn’t gotten creative with it despite additions to the roster (insert Nady, try switching Abreu and Nady, at least do something). Maybe that’s why the Red Sox are hitting .273/.366/.432 with RISP, because they figure out what works and what doesn’t and change it accordingly. A lot of the issues really do stem from that 5-hole ever since Matsui has been gone (and ever since Giambi forgot how to hit a baseball).

That’s why when Hank says something like this:

“I think it’s very simple, we’ve been devastated by injuries. No team I’ve ever seen in baseball has been decimated like this. It would kill any team.”

It’s damn near laughable.

Mechanical Joba

Here’s an interesting read at Baseball-Intellect, where the author breaks down Joba’s throwing mechanics and analyzes the probability of injury in relation to those mechanics. I would think that those adrenaline-induced fist pumps and celebratory spins are probably the biggest mechanical issues for Joba (…), although throwing 100 mph may, in fact, be worse for his body (…). For whatever reason, I read the article yesterday, sent it to my little brother (he’s a pitcher), and then totally forgot about it (sorry guys). Either way, it’s been floating around the internet, but I saw it first at WW.

The Biggest Burden

Jason Giambi’s numbers this year are respectable. His current line (before facing Roy Halladay later today) is .246/.384/.501. While the batting average leaves something to be desired, the OPS is great .885. However, Jason’s numbers, particularly his SLG and OBP, are somewhat misleading figures.

In April, Jason Giambi hit .164/.315/.411. He was pretty terrible and we were all wondering whether or not Joe Girardi would simply cut the old first baseman. Then, in May, the power of the ’stache (or of the, uh, gold thong…) took over and Jason hit .315/.446/.644. He was looking great and it seemed as though Girardi was finally being rewarded for the confidence that he had in Jason’s bat. The nice hitting continued into June, although the numbers tapered off a bit (.305/.430/.585). Jason Giambi was looking like a legit AS (and we all voted for him). Then, of course, July came and went and Giambi was only hitting .234/.375/.391. Now, this month, Giambi is hitting .184/.328/.429. So, what, exactly, do we make of all this?

While there’s been some power in August (4 HR), the trend in his numbers seems to indicate that he may have just had a 2-month hot streak that began to wear down into the second month, even if that second month was still very good. With each month that has passed since May’s offensive peak, Jason’s numbers have really tapered off. It could be that Giambi is maintaining his traditional figures and is simply regressing to the norm, but it’s not like he’s hitting .250 since his peak (or anything close to that) or that he hit .180 in July and then .250 now. The numbers have just gotten a lot worse with every month. He’s hit well under the expected .250 BA (or thereabout) in July and August. He’s hitting well under .200 this month and while his OPS on the year is .885, he can thank that number to his extremely hot May and June, because in no other month has he had an OPS over .766. When you think about it, it really does seem like his May and June weren’t just aberrations (we all knew Giambi wasn’t going to hit over .300 forever), they were extreme aberrations, which Jason hasn’t come close to ever since. This leads me to believe that Jason Giambi, who is, sadly, our number 5 hitter and our protection for Alex Rodriguez, could just be a player who doesn’t have it anymore and got lucky for 2 months.

It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Giambi for a variety of reasons, but the numbers for this season don’t lie and it’s pretty clear that age has finally set in on Jason. What’s funny for us, but not for Alex Rodriguez is that A-Rod had a poor April (when Giambi was terrible), and then had a good May although he missed most of it to injury (Giambi’s best month), and then he had a phenomenal June, hitting .366/.455/.693 (Giambi’s second best month). Alex’s numbers have really fluctuated with Giambi’s and now that Giambi is hitting the way he did in April, so is A-Rod (Giambi offers him no protection). Giambi doesn’t look like he deserves another contract next year and it’s time for the Yankees to move on. If the Yankees do resign him, their basically signing a guy based on the finality of his numbers instead of looking at them, month-to-month. At the end of the day, it’s time for a new number 5 hitter (I mean, now and for next year).

Pavano Confirmed

Well, the confirmation is still “unofficial” (Girardi hasn’t confirmed it), but Pavano’s agent, Tom O’Connell, says that Pavano has been informed that he will pitch against Baltimore on Saturday. Does anyone else think Carl will throw one pitch, only to spontaneously combust a moment later?

Hughes’ Arm The Real Reason Pavano Will Start

From the same George King article that I just quoted in regards to Pavano:

Two, Phil Hughes isn’t believed to be ready for big league action yet after five minor league starts. There were unconfirmed whispers that Hughes is suffering from a tired arm, but some believe it’s the lingering effects of the flu, which he battled in his last start Sunday.

Aha! I wondered about this the other day since there were some conflicting reports in relation to Hughes’ subpar rehab outing. Hughes himself said that he was suffering from a dead arm so I’ll take his word for it. I don’t think Pavano would have gotten the start if Hughes’ arm was ready and rearing to go.

Pavano Good To Go

From George King III (NY Post):

Though manager Joe Girardi wouldn’t divulge the identity of Saturday’s starter, there were strong indications it will be Pavano, perhaps the biggest bust in Yankees’ franchise history considering he has worked 19 games for the $40 million bestowed on him before the 2005 season.

First, according to Trenton (Double-A) pitching coach Scott Aldred, Pavano looked strong in a bullpen session yesterday.

“He was perfect,” Aldred told the Trenton Times. “It was the best I have seen him.”

King also spoke with Giambi and A-Rod and both of them seem ready to welcome Carl Pavano back to the Yankees. At this point, who cares who’ll pitch on Saturday. The team just needs to win, period. Good think Pavano will start in Baltimore. Imagine if he had the start at Yankee Stadium and got shelled? The verbal bloodbath that would then ensue would certainly be a scary one.

Draft Picks Galore

According to this Detroit Tigers blog, the Yankees’ Ivan Rodriguez is a Type-B free agent (Elias Rankings). That means that if the Yankees offer Pudge arbitration and he instead signs with another team, then the Yankees will get a first round pick in next year’s draft (a supplemental pick). A few folks out there would like to see Pudge return next year (he could accept arbitration) and are worried about Jorge Posada’s ability to catch, given the serious nature of his recent surgery. However, I’d still let Pudge walk (for the picks) and feel comfortable having Jose Molina start the year as our everyday catcher if Jorge isn’t ready. Before this injury, Jorge was an absolute horse, and he should be able to regroup and get behind the plate for the better part of 2009.