I'D RATHER HAVE CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG THAN CLIPPARD.....

So maybe that is a bit dramatic, but a this point I have had enough.

It's been awhile since I have reached my boiling point with the bullpen specifically. In fact, the last time I got this fired up over a reliever was back in the days of Chris Capuano. It got so bad that eventually called him Chris CRAPUANO. Thank goodness he is gone...but now I have someone new that has replaced him.

(June 19, 2017 - Source: Al Bello/Getty Images North America)

I don't understand how all of the wheels of this kick ass Yankees team have managed to all fall off at the same time. The Yankees looked lifeless on Tuesday night. The excitement over home runs by Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge (24th!!!) were completely deflated after Tyler Clippard's latest blunder.

I get that every once in a while guy are going to give up some runs or blow a lead. It happens, it's baseball and these guys are human. What I don't get is why Joe Girardi has so much faith in this guy. I watched him long before he was ever a Yankee and I wasn't a fan then either. Clippard is just a hot mess.

Source: Getty Images

This was the third time Clippard allowed the game-tying or go-ahead home run to the first batter he's pitched to in his last seven outings. Ummmm.....hi.....that's REALLY bad. If Girardi's binder doesn't tell him next time "HEY DON'T PUT CLIPPARD IN THIS ISN'T A GOOD MATCHUP FOR HIM" next time then we are screwed. If this doesn't make the Yankees completely lose faith in him I don't think anything will.

Clippard left a 78 mph meatball for Cameron Maybin in the 7th inning which turned into a tie game. But of course, the train wreck didn't end there he then gave up a double to Kole Calhoun and an RBI triple to Yunel Escobar in the same inning. When it was all said and done he was pulled (too late) to a loud exit of "boo" birds. Clippard wasn't the only reliever to implode and I won't say he is the ONLY one to blame but right now he is the only one I want to scream at.

Source: Getty Images

Oh, and the other thing I don't get? Girardi's refusal to use his best reliever for more than one inning! Dellin Betances is going to pitch one inning and one inning only. Forget the high pressure or game changing scenarios. Girardi won't use the best reliever with the best chance to preserve a lead before getting to Aroldis Chapman. NO! Let's just use meatball throwing Clippard!

(Source: Elsa/Getty Images North America)

This seven-game losing streak is their first in ten years and now the longest losing streak in the American League this season. Not a good stat to own. The Yankees really need to re-evaluate a lot of things including the bullpen and upgrading Clippard before it is too late. This is where we need a veteran to stand up, use some command presence and be a leader. It's time to right the ship. We need to start winning again. We need a Jorge Posada team meeting because we ARE better than this.

Oh and Clippard just needs to HIT THE ROAD JACK! And don't come back. At this point, I think Clifford the Big Red Dog is by far more entertaining and useful than Clippard is. That is another sad stat. At least he doesn't blow baseball games.

--Jeana Bellezza
BYB Managing Editor
Follow me on Twitter: @NYPrincessJ

THE WEAKEST SPOT ON THE LINEUP CARD IS THE GUY SIGNING IT

Joe Girardi's annual  long reliever competition is off and running, and so far it looks like a dead heat among the young contestants who all mistakenly believe they're  auditioning for a regular turn in the rotation. 

All but one, that is.

Adam Warren, who along with Bryan Mitchell, Luis Cessa, Luis Severino and Chad Green is hoping to win one of the team's two vacant rotation spots, nailed his two-inning spring starting debut Saturday; pounding the strike zone with his full complement of pitches, efficiently disposing of all six batters he faced and striking out the last two for a finale. 

Not surprising coming from the only Yankee besides ace Masahiro Tanaka with at least 17 starts in 2015 to finish with a sub-4.00 ERA. 

3.66 to be exact. That was  just .15 points higher  than Tanaka's on just seven fewer starts. But then he got kicked to the bullpen after Chris Capuano and Esmil Rogers showed they had nothing left in the tank and he got burned to a cinder  throwing the equivalent of nearly four more full games in intermittent spot relief the rest of the way until he had to be shut down. 

Our second best starting pitcher. What a rotten waste of a perfectly good hairy arm. That was just one season ago. Another Joba-cide in the first degree.

So wouldn't you  think after Saturday's stellar outing he'd be pumped up about this latest "competition" for a shot at the rotation?

Well, as it turns out, he knows better, and he told NJ Advance Media's Randy Miller so -- and in the process it appears he exposed a disconnect in the company line Joe and his pitching coach are supposed to be spreading regarding this circus masquerading as a rotation contest.

"I think in 2015 I really figured out that I really wanted to start," Warren said. "I really enjoyed seeing hitters multiple times, working through a game, throwing 100 pitches and going deep I still love pitching in general, so it's not like I'm unhappy in the bullpen. I just like starting a little bit more and that's where I'd like to be."

But ...

"I talked to (pitching coach) Larry (Rothschild) about that the other day. He's like, 'It's probably going to hurt you that you're good out of the bullpen and you're flexible too.' I was like, 'I know.'"

Girardi was asked about Rothschild's comment during his post-game interview.

"I didn't say that," Girardi said, referring to Warren's strong bullpen resume possibly sabotaging his bid to start. "Some people might view it that way. I don't necessarily view it that way because you know that he's been successful in both places where some of these other guys you're not sure. But I think you have to take a long look at it and decide what's best in the long run. For this year, who gives us the best chance to win?"

Yep, some people might view it that way, Joe. Like your own pitching coach and de facto number two starting pitcher from 2015, apparently. What must young starting pitchers up and down  our system think and say about their career path ending up playing in the Bronx, I wonder. 

There's other signs to believe this contest is just the usual pre-season lipstick on  Joe's  and Larry Rothschild's juggling act that bounces  young starters between the rotation, bullpen and the Scranton Shuttle to keep the cost of relievers and starters under budget -- and in the process can infamously delay (and in some cases has been known to outright reverse) years of progress made in their development. 

Speaking to NJ Advance Media's Brendan Kuty on Saturday, Joe casually but firmly dismissed Brian Cashman's offseason assertion that Severino wouldn't be a candidate for Joe's revolving door of young bullpen swing men and  that he would either be a starter in the Bronx on Opening Day or a starter down in the minors working to come back as one. 

"We really haven't talked but I think you have to look at him both ways, too, because he did a good job in that role," Girardi said.

So Severino, like Warren,  is also already being told he's likely not auditioning for a starting spot with the big club but more of a sometimes starter/most times bullpen role because of his "good job" in that latter role. This in spite of what Joe's boss publicly said after being informed by more informed baseball people in the organization  it was this very role that ruined him last year and isn't likely to be conducive to his -- or anybody's -- development as a future MLB starter.

In Joe's eyes, if Tanaka was still on his rookie contract or any kind of  team-friendly deal he  would be a prime candidate  for a trip on the Joba-cide Express too. 

In Joe's binder, if you're a starter who has proven talent and a team-friendly contract, you're available for anything, any day, anytime and your future is unimportant. But if you're overpaid to be a starter, your place in the rotation is secure.

What kind of ridiculous junior GM fantasy baseball logic is it that would prompt the manager of a team desperately in need of major league-caliber  starting pitching -- the most precious hard-to-find commodity in the game -- to be considering Warren and Severino, his only two rotation candidates with any solid proven starting experience, for the role of middle relievers, arguably the least valuable, cheapest commodity available in the game. 

Brian's done a masterful job of restocking the farm, reloading the lineup with youth and re-balancing the budget while struggling under  a tight-fisted boss above him, an impatient fan base surrounding him and push back from a skipper below him who -- like the one he replaced -- has his own way of doing things and declines to yield to even the most obvious conclusions easily.

Joe's annual fake news about spring rotation battles isn't anything new. But in this crucial season where the youth movement is finally about to come of age as the rotation reaches critical mass,  Joe's resistance to change is looking more and more like the biggest weakness on the Yankees lineup card.

 --Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore
  

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THE YANKEES & BYB GIVE ME REASON TO SMILE

Let’s take a time out this off season from the serious speculations and prognostications about the Yankees and briefly inject some light-heartedness into our lives.  All too often I find myself cringing at the arrogance of GM Brian Cashman and the cluelessness of Manager Joe Girardi, but that can grow old – not only to me, but to you my readers and BYB fans.  So, in light of our founder Robert Casey’s recent article titled: CAPUANO SIGNS & SKINNER POPPED CHAMPAGNE SOMEWHERE, I can’t help but smile and start my day with a better outlook.

I admit, last season I completely ragged on Cashman’s re-signing of both Chris Capuano and Stephen Drew.  Not a week went by when I had something to say about those two “mannequins” on our roster.  I grew frustrated at the continued attempts of our GM to make lemonade with those two old, dry lemons.  Yes, I’d have to say that my irritation had become an obsession (as the esteemed Mr. Casey points out in his article).  I wanted to grab their supporters by the shoulders and shake them to wake them out of their stupor. 

I got sick of hearing how Drew was going to be so much better because he’d finally have a full Spring Training under his belt, and that Capuano was an “innings eater”.  Did I want to gloat at the end of the season when what I had been saying all along proved correct?  No.  It just made me angry that those at the top of the Yankees food chain were either too arrogant or too clueless to see that Capuano and Drew weren’t worth roster spots for an entire season.

Reading Robert’s piece did my heart good on two fronts.  One, it meant that, like Drew, Capuano couldn’t return to the Yankees.  That’s instant relief.  Two, it meant that there is no one on the current roster that I can’t root for with all of my Yankee-loving soul.  Sure, I might not agree with some decisions that are made by Girardi (or Cashman), but I can genuinely get behind any player in the lineup and hope for the best with every at-bat and every pitch.  I’m not sure I could say that for Drew or Capuano.  To me, neither had the “fire” in them to ever be true Yankees.  Both merely represented attempts by our GM to rehabilitate careers long since deemed unrecoverable, and they were occupying two roster spots better suited for baby Bombers more capable of contributing to our success.

Now, Cashman has finally given us some youngsters, and with them, a future full of promise.  Players like Luis Severino, Starlin Castro, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, and Slade Heathcott represent the future of the franchise.  That makes me smile. 

Each of those, as well as other up-and-coming minor leaguers like Aaron Judge, Rob Refsnyder and Bryan Mitchell who might see action in the Bronx this season, make up what our team will look like once ARod, Tex, CC, and Carlos roll off the payroll.  It’s a bright road that lies ahead if we can hang on to those young stars, I am sure of it.

I deserved Casey’s “poke”, but at the same time I don’t regret my laments.  If I see roster injustice being done to my beloved Yankees, I’m gonna point it out – repeatedly – until it has been eliminated.  I only want what’s best for the team I’ve rooted for since birth.

Thank you to both Brian Cashman and Robert Casey.  Today you have both given me cause to smile and hope.  Now, Robert, about that champagne…


    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1

 




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CAPUANO SIGNS & SKINNER POPPED CHAMPAGNE SOMEWHERE

Big news is you are NOT a fan of Chris Capuano like BYB Senior writer Steve Skinner.  Cap just signed a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers.  According to several sources, but we'll go with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"It was a blast from the past Monday when the Brewers announced they signed veteran left-hander Chris Capuano to a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training.

Capuano, 37, pitched for the Brewers from 2004 through 2007 before injuring his arm and missing two seasons. He returned to Milwaukee in 2010 before becoming a free agent and signing with the New York Mets. 

Capuano went on to pitch for the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees. He went 0-4 with a 7.97 ERA in 22 games (four starts) with New York last season and is 76-91 with a 4.39 ERA in 300 major league games, including 225 starts."

Right now, somewhere in New York, Steve Skinner has popped a bottle of champagne.  That's because both Capuano and his friend Stephen Drew (read DREW SIGNS WITH NATIONALS & SKINNER IS HAPPY) are no longer under Yankee control, or as Skinner would say... they're not our problem anymore.

Geez... who the hell is Skinner gonna obsess over now?

Good luck to Cap.  You did what you could in New York.  It just didn't work out.

 










 
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WHY INDEED, MR. CASHMAN?

Recently my colleague Mike O’Hara wrote an article titled “WHY?” (you can see it here).  In it, he questions the wisdom of naming players to certain roles prior to any competition happening in Spring Training.  In particular, Mike writes about GM Brian Cashman naming recently acquired flame-thrower Aroldis Chapman the closer for 2016.  Later, figurehead Manager Joe Girardi would confirm his supreme leader’s proclamation.

Mike’s point, in the perfectly explained piece, is that the Yankees already had the American League closer of the Year Andrew Miller, and closer-in-waiting Dellin Betances on the roster.  Why not let the three more-than-capable stoppers compete for the ninth inning role during Spring Training, and let those hired to coach and manage the day-to-day performance of the team decide which they’d rather place their confidence in?  It’s a perfectly valid question, and one that I ask annually.

Unfortunately, the Yankees have a General Manager who has made it a habit of determining who will be starting in the Bronx come Opening Day.  One only need to look at the past two off-seasons to realize that perhaps our GM needs an intervention.  Just last winter, December 16th to be exact, Cashman stated “He’s coming in as one of our starters” in reference to the signing of aging pitcher Chris Capuano.

Without so much as a word from Girardi, a new (old) member of the squad was named to the rotation.  How did that work out?  It didn’t.  The 36-year-old who had an ERA under 4 just three times in his career, the last one coming in 2012, lasted just three starts before being removed from the rotation.  Apparently the baseball people on the ground convinced his highness that a guy who couldn’t make it out of the sixth inning and held a 6.39 ERA wasn’t going to be the answer for the five-hole in the rotation.  Capuano would go on to finish the season with a 7.97 ERA (he made one more appearance as a starter where he gave up five earned runs in 2/3 of an inning), and hopefully out of the Bronx in a pinstripe uniform forever more.

If the Capuano decree wasn’t enough, then there’s my favorite (no, not really) topic: Stephen Drew.  A little over a month after the starting pitcher’s (trying not to throw up writing that) signing and starting role announcement, the Yankees GM re-signed lifeless infielder Stephen Drew to a $5 million contract – in spite of fact that Drew hit just .150 over 31 starts for the team in 2014.

On Jan 29th, just a few weeks after saying that Baby Bombers Jose Pirela and Rob Refsnyder would be competing – or sharing – for the starting second base job (something Girardi confirmed), Cashman again exercised his self-validation technique and bestowed the starting role upon Drew (the figurehead manager wouldn’t confirm it until March – even after Drew was thoroughly outplayed during Spring Training).   The result I have written about on numerous occasions: 131 games, .201 average.  If not for an injury that shortened his season, we might have witnessed the shortstop-turned-Cashman-second baseman finish with an average under .200 for the second consecutive year.  As it was, his anemic numbers officially qualified him as the worst hitting second baseman in Yankees history.  Like Capuano, it’s a good bet that Drew will no longer be our burden to bear, as the Nationals decided to take on the ballast this winter; ensuring us of having a productive bottom of the order.

Don’t for a second think that Cashman will stop his filling out of the lineup card during winter press conferences.  Just today – January 19th – he announced that Starlin Castro, recently brought on board to play second base, could also see some games at third.  His quote:

“We might do some non-roster invites, but we also think (Starlin) Castro can swing over (to third base) and plug a hole there.”

Yeah, it’s a position he HAS NEVER PLAYED.  But, what the hell, he’s the GM and he can do whatever he damn well pleases – even if it: A. immediately alienates returning third baseman Chase Headley, and B. once again circumvents the coaching staff’s decision-making.

I’m not sure what types of decisions that Brian Cashman thinks a GM is supposed to be making, but I’m pretty sure his coaching staff would rather he left the on-field calls to them.

In the meantime, all I, and others like Mike O’Hara can do is just keep asking “Why?”



    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1

 




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WOULD DOUG FISTER MAKE SENSE?

I'm not saying the Yankees need Doug Fister.  I'm asking you.  He's a free agent and yes, he had a down year, but now think about what the Yankees need... 1 starting pitcher.  Fister has a nice little career behind him, he's 31 and I assume he'd be relatively cheap.

Buster Olney tweeted this of Fister:

Source: Doug Fister said to have offers of 1 and 2 years from multiple teams.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 4, 2016

Now 1 to 2 years is something the Yankees can get on board with, although, and I'm being honest here... I have no idea if the Yankees have even looked Fister's way. I suspect they have.

Hardball Talk writes this:

"...he’s reportedly been linked to teams like the Marlins, Phillies, and Tigers this winter. After finishing fourth in the NL with a 2.41 ERA during his first season with the Nationals in 2014, Fister had a 4.19 ERA in 15 starts and 10 relief appearances last season. Along with showing diminished velocity, he missed some time with a forearm issue and was eventually demoted to the bullpen in August."

Is it worth it if the money and time is to a minimum? I wouldn't mind rolling the dice on Fister.  It's something Cashman has done in the past.  Look at Chris Capuano.  OK, bad example, but you know what I mean.

Look, unless the Yankees flip someone like Andrew Miller or Brett Gardner, or both, I'm not sure we're getting a top starter.  Cashman will have to find the right deal for that top starter, and if not, he won't make a deal.  In which case, is a guy like Fister smart, or do we go at it with what we have? We have many question marks in our starting rotation, then Luis Severino, and a long reliever bridge...

We shall see.

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ARE THE YANKEES REALLY IN ON JOSE FERNANDEZ?

A lot of chatter today, and everything I see has the word "Yankees" attached to it, but who the hell knows what's true or what's not.

The latest tweet comes from Jayson Stark of ESPN about the Yankees and perhaps Jose Fernandez:

Sources say Yankees have also been in touch with Marlins about Jose Fernandez. And Yanks, Dodgers & Dbacks all doing background work on him

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) December 7, 2015

Now let's not forget... the whole Jose Fernandez being traded rumor originated from Craig Mish of Sirius XM.  I mean, give credit where credit is due here.

Growing sentiment around Baseball and internally with the @marlins is Jose Fernandez will be traded this offseason.

— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) November 17, 2015

Bottom line, when Mish came out with his nugget back in November, I wasn't so sure I believed it and I am still not sure, just because the Yankees track record in the off season has been full of "reinforcements" and no superstar.  Chris Capuano comes to mind.  So, pardon me for being underwhelmed.

That being said, Fernandez is a name I will definitely get on board with.  He's young, he can be lights out and the Yankees have been trade partners with the Marlins before... I can see something happening again. 

But keep in mind, the Dodgers, the team with unlimited funds is in the mix.  And so... we wait and see inf the Yankees can even come up with a significant offer to make it a reality for the Bronx faithful.

That's all I have on this ladies and gents.  I don't want to try to convince you it's happening.... it's just a rumor, but an interesting one at that.

Stay tuned...

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SURPRISE AT CASHMAN'S SURPRISE

In the past Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman has shown a brazen self-confidence when it comes to his ability to judge a player’s talent.  Just this past off-season he spent $11 million on pitcher Chris Capuano and second baseman Stephen Drew, and declared each to be a starter at their respective positions without so much as a Spring Training game being played. 

He was certain that he’d be able to breathe life into each simply by foregoing Manager Joe Girardi’s role in determining who’d take the field on a regular basis in the Bronx, and just write them into the regular season lineup cards for 2015 - this in spite of Drew batting just .150 over 42 games, and Capuano yielding 7 HR (with a 4.25 ERA) in just 12 games in 2014.  He’s the “great savior of careers” in MLB, just ask him.

With such great insight and knowledge as to every one of his players’ talents, I was shocked to read a YES Network “Exit Interview” where the Great One expressed surprise (he called it a “head scratcher”) at the sudden downturn his team made offensively in the second half of 2015.  Surely he had done all that his “recipe for success” called for.  The lineup’s drop-off after the peak of summer had to be just a blip on the radar screen – a fluke – a glitch.

Only, if our all-knowing GM had done his homework, he’d have realized it was to be expected.

(In Photo: THE Mario Mendoza)
Excluding “Mr. Mendoza” Stephen Drew, the Yankees lineup primarily consisted of veterans Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, Chase Headley, Mark Teixeira (until he was hurt), and Alex Rodriguez. 

Of those 30-somethings, only one – Chase Headley – has had a recent history of improving after the All-Star break.  In fact, the others on average see their productivity at the plate drop by over 22 points.  Below is a table of the aforementioned players and their three-year batting averages – pre, and post All-Star break.

Click on it. As you can see, the sudden lack of production in the second half of this season’s campaign was far from a fluke.  It was a known “feature” for the group of veterans Mr. Cashman has selected.

Often a manager can get around trends like this by shaking things up – moving people around in the order.  Only, that’s not a characteristic of Joe Girardi.  Even when things are at their worst, he stays with his order – damn the results. 

So, even though Brett Gardner put on his “Stephen Drew” shoes as the season wore down, the outfielder batted first or second in the lineup for all but NINE at-bats in 2015.  Ellsbury hit .220 after the break (.318 before it) but did our manager make any changes?  No, damn the torpedoes and full-speed ahead!  He put Ellsbury at the top of the order for all but SIX of his at-bats.  Consistency is a great thing in baseball, but only when it’s a good consistency.

I could go on with each of our veterans in the same manner, but this article isn’t about the Yankees unimaginative manager with the lack of “feel” and sense of momentum.  That’s for another article on another day. Instead it’s about the General Manager who supposedly understood the team he put together.

How can Cashman possibly be surprised at the decline in 2015 when the majority of his veterans have historically trended downward?  Gardner in particular has done it his entire career. 

Cashman certainly has shown that he has the power to call the shots when it comes to who plays and who doesn’t, so why didn’t he inject some life via “Baby Bombers” like Bird, Heathcott and Refsnyder earlier in the season, rather than waiting for injury or illness to force the issue?  After all, he knows the club’s talent better than anyone, right?

Yes, the Yankees won three to five games more this season than they were expected (depending on who you ask), but ultimately the second half showed exactly what all the prognosticators had said it would – that this team was old and would wear down.

We didn’t need big deals to be made at the break - we had answers to our problems in-house.  Unfortunately, neither our manager nor GM could see that in time to save us from the inevitable.

Perhaps next season our management will be a little wiser now that they’ve watched a promising season follow down a familiar path.  Maybe, just maybe, Brian Cashman will change his business model and not have to scratch his head so much.


    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1


    

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