How The Red Sox Have Done It

The Red Sox have had their fair share of injuries, whether it’s losing David Ortiz for a few months or JD Drew for the normal few days, Boston has come through this year and is right in the thick of it for AL East and WC supremacy. The Manny Ramirez trade was another blow that should have cost the Sox a few games, but his replacement, Jason Bay, is hitting .347 since joining the team. However, the biggest offensive threat that the Red Sox have had, at least for this year, is their often overlooked first baseman.

Kevin Youkilis has never been a flashy guy at first and he’s never hit for much power. Plus, his second half numbers have always been terrible, so he just doesn’t get a lot of press. However, for this season, all that doesn’t seem to apply as Kevin Youkilis is simply dominating pitchers (into the second half) and is having a career year. He’s hitting .321/.388/.577 and is in the top 10 for just about every major offensive category among AL players. Of course, as all good players do, Youkilis has risen to the challenge with men on (he’s worse with the bases empty) and has hit .358 with a 1.024 OPS with RISP (*sigh*). What’s worse for Yankee fans is that he’s only 29, so his numbers haven’t necessarily peaked yet.

Kevin Youkilis’ stellar second half could, in fact, be a product of the Manny trade, since he’s been hitting cleanup, behind Ortiz, and in front of Jason Bay, who is a better player (overall). Nonetheless, when the Yankees face the Red Sox, although Manny is gone, the team’s number 4 hitter is still delivering (and then some), so navigating through that lineup didn’t get a whole lot easier.

Closing Concert

According to PA, the Yankees are trying to get Bruce Springsteen or Paul McCartney (or maybe the two of them together?) to perform at Yankee Stadium’s final send-off. What, no love for Lil Wayne?

Yankees VS. NL East

From Ed Price:

The Yankees next year are scheduled to face the entire National League East in interleague play.

According to a major-league official who has seen the proposed 2009 schedule but asked not to be named because it is not yet finalized, the tentative schedule has the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals visiting the new Yankee Stadium with the Yankees playing at the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins.

There are also, of course, home-and-home series with the Mets.

Not since the 2003 World Series have the Yankees played the Marlins in Miami. The Yankees had regular-season games there in 1997, 1999 and 2001.

The Yankees last played in Atlanta in 2000. The only other time the Braves hosted the Yankees was a two-game set in 1998.

The Phillies have played the Yankees in New York twice before, in 1998 and 2000. The teams last met in 2006 at Philadelphia. The Nationals franchise visited Yankee Stadium in 1997, 1999 and 2001 (as the Montreal Expos), and the Yankees played in Washington in 2006.

I’m pretty excited about this. Of course, Mets-Yankees is always fun (until you’re trying to leave the stadiums after the game), but I like watching the Phillies play and it’ll be a lot of fun to watch the Yanks face off against the Marlins (revenge motherf*ckers) and the Braves. And, not to sound like an elitist Yankee fan, but hopefully we can pad whatever record we have with the Nationals series. This is still, however, a tentative report and is subject to change.

Power Outage

In 2006 and amongst 14 AL teams, the New York Yankees were ranked second in batting average (.285), first in on-base percentage (.363), and third in slugging percentage (.461). The team’s earned run average was 4.41, which was good enough for sixth best in the AL. In 2007, the pitching was actually worse as the team ranked eight in the league with a 4.49 ERA. However, the hitting was more than exceptional and the Yankees were first in BA (.290), OBP (.366) and SLG (.463). The hitting basically outweighed the many flaws in our pitching corps, whether it was the starting rotation or the bullpen.

In 2008, we have a slightly different story. Now, according to the ERA statistic, the Yankees have the best pitching they’ve had in 2 years. The team’s 4.29 ERA (a 0.20 difference from last year), however, still ranks in the eighth spot amongst the AL, and it demonstrates how much the league’s pitching has progressed in general. While our pitching has gotten better (marginally), other teams have also gotten better, and in some cases, much better (Tampa Bay, 14th place last year, 2nd this year). This, of course, could have been offset by our offensive output, yet that department has been the worst it’s been in 2 years.

In 2008, the offensive line (collectively) for the Yankees is as follows:

.285/.363/.461
.290/.366/.463
.272/.344/.422

Now, that doesn’t look too bad by itself, but it’s a dramatic downfall when you compare it to the numbers of the previous years. BA, OBP, SLG, all have fallen and now the Yankees rank fifth (BA), third (OBP), and sixth (SLG) in those respective categories. With the pitching gains in the AL, that can certainly explain some of the downward trend that we have witnessed offensively, although underperformance seems to be the biggest factor. As I see it, batting average isn’t necessarily the most important stat here but the bottom has dropped out on the team’s OBP and SLG. Robinson Cano can obviously be thanked for part of the drop, but this is a team line and there’s definitely a lot of blame to go around. This is why the Yankees are losing. While, their pitching has gotten better, the same can be said for others in the AL. Their hitting has helped them to overcome that issue in recent years, however, this year, the hitting has been their Achilles heal.

*Note–All data found via Baseball-Reference

No Choice

Here’s Johnny Damon on Carl Pavano (NY Times):

“He wants to be up here competing,” Damon said. “We’re all just hoping he comes and pitches well. He could be, well, he’s going to have to be, a key part for us to try and make that playoff run.”

The Yankees have no choice but to welcome Carl and accept that he’ll be pitching for them for the remainder of the season (barring injury). Who knew that at the end of the year, our rotation would go from Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, Moose, Kennedy to Moose, Pettitte, Rasner, Ponson, Pavano. If I told you that we’d be fighting for a playoff spot with that group, you probably would have said, “if that’s the case, then we would have no chance…”

Would You Bring Back Bobby?

Bobby Abreu will be a free agent for the first time ever once the season is completed (please, let’s end the misery). While Abreu is aging (he’ll turn 35 in March), he’s proven to be a solid force in the Yankee lineup and has been one of the best hitters with RISP. Now, Tyler Kepner informs us that the Yankees have, in fact, discussed Abreu’s impending free agency internally and don’t appear willing to bring him back at $16 million per (not for an aging player). If he’d be willing to take a slight pay cut, then the Yankees may be willing to work out a deal, especially since they don’t have any viable replacements waiting in the minors. However, with the Xavier Nady acquisition, resigning Abreu isn’t as important as it once was and there are other free agents, such as Pat Burrell or even Manny Ramirez, that may entice the club.

So, what would you do? Would you bring Abreu back for another year or would you slot Nady in RF? Or, maybe you’d like to see Pat “The Bat” Burrell in RF or even Manny Ramirez out there (bye bye defense, it was nice knowing you). For me, I’d like to see Abreu back only if he accepts a 2-year deal (a 3-year deal is pushing it, but I might be open to the idea). I used to be pretty frigid in relation to Abreu’s lack of power and declining eye, but he’s been a savior this season with men on. If he doesn’t take the 2-year deal, I would spend money on Mark Teixeira and put Nady in RF (with Gardner in CF and Damon in LF). Remember, by losing Abreu you’re losing a lefty bat. Tex can make up for that since he’s a switch-hitter and he can easily replace Abreu’s production (and then some).