On the Yankees beat

I just don't get that guy. He comes up twice with the bags juiced and does nothing. Maybe he needs to be moved down in the order and have Nady and Pudge move up. I for one would like to see an RBI once in a while from the 5-hole. Yanks could have 3 out of 4 from that team.

Thank Darwin, that creepy 70's "adult movie" ( this site blocked the word p*rno for some reason ) stache was getting to me. For his next trick, Jason will grow out huge muttonchops and listen to 8 tracks of the Bee Gee's.

I TOLD YOU TO SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS MATTINGLY!!! ( Mr Burns )

Giambi has fallen back into the same habit he gets in when he is going bad - severe "upper-cut" swing. Mattingly used to help him with leveling off his swing a little - to get more plate coverage. He is missing too many pitches, and also is popping up to short left-field. He is dipping too much on his follow-through. Kat, will you please inform the Giambino these are the adjustments he needs to make.
This time the advice is free. Thanks.

Its Joba Time! Lets Go Yankees!

PS - I called X-Man having some O'Neill,Brosius,Tino in him, and it is starting to show. This guy is a gamer!

"Kat, will you please inform the Giambino these are the adjustments he needs to make."

And quit trying to pull every pitch on the outside part of the plate?
(I am tired of listening to Kay say...."There's a hard ground ball to 2nd....)
Jason, remember in Oakland when you were a gap to gap hitter?

( I KNOW that advice is gonna blocked by the hair in his ears. SHAVE THE EAR HAIR JASON!!)

Can somebody also help Melky at the plate?

I can't belive that no one has mentioned that A-Rod is up to his usual tricks. This gut can not hit with men in scoring postion. If Figgins didn't boot that ball yesterday, A-Rod would have hit into his patented double plays again. It is time to start booing A-Rod again. .233 with RISP doe not cut it. Get him out of here!

Re-posted from the previous regarding Christian:

.276 with 68 steals is VERY good, but that was at AA (years ago) and he hasn't performed near that well since as far as SBs go. It was an anamoly of a year. You need to get on base to steal bases and his OBP wasn't all that good in the minors. Figure that it'd be worse in the majors and that he's not going to get any better than he is right now and you have a bench player. Nothing more.

Hughes so then I guess Melky is in the same boat

243 8 35 9 sb's

is patethic numbers for a starting CF.

all I'm saying is at the rate melky is playing it;s worth the lighting in a bottle chance that Justin is inserted in the OF. In certain cases you can throw numbers out the window.

Just like Hughes who was lights out in the minors came up here and whatever. same with kennedy.

He looks to be an avg 280 hitter with high SB potential I would take that over a 243 junk hitter. Not saying melky is complete toast but rather saying he is expendable and dime in a dozen

Justin Christian is (or should be) to this team what Homer Bush was to the Yankees in his day. A guy who Joe can bring in to pinch run and get into scoring position. He'll get a start here and there against a left handed pitcher, come in for defense late, but that's it. And what's more, he's comfortable with his role.

I take any wins the Yankees get against the Angels as gravy. That team owns us and to split at home - however it was done - is perfect.

It also seems as if Rasner's days are numbered. Kennedy is pitching well and behind him, Hughes and - brace yourself - Pavano - are upping their pitch counts and could be back in a couple of weeks.

Maybe Kennedy and Hughes the former golden boys will do better now that fans take a 'whatever' attidude. Now can be who they are and if they end up being starting rotation material at all it will be welcome instead of a disappointment that they are not Joba.

Contrarian -

Kennedy is 2 years out of College ball

Hughes is 22 years old

There is nothing "former" about either of them. I question whether Kennedy will be a big time pitcher but there's no doubt in my mind that Phil Hughes will emerge as a #2 starter behind Joba.

Living up to the hype was impossible since to live up to it they would have to walk on water and turn water into wine. Did they have good starts - nope. But look at how Mike Pelfry pitched last year and look at how he's pitching this year. Not every story is an instant success.

The only hope for Melky is a demotion or trade. I vote for a demotion and split the time between Damon (when he is ready) and Christian. Can't hurt. Usually these one-hit wonders - like Small, Spencer, and Duncan have to be used early unitl the league catches up to them. Might be a chance to use a high energy guy like Justin on a part-time basis.

It could also light a fire under Melky's behind, and make him go back to the slash-to-all-fields style of hitting we all remember. I just wanna know, who told Melky he was auditioning for the homerun derby? Hughes is looking awesome and seems to have found the missing 3-4 mph on his fastball we all heard about. That would be the difference maker right there.

Lets Go Joba! Time to make the doughnuts!

Giambi's statistics would be even worse if a few of his pop-ups to left hadn't fallen in recently. A-Rod is back to 2006 - only hitting HR's when they don't count. Melky looks so bad I'd be willing to try Sexson in center - or Molina. Rivera can't pitch if it's not a save situation. Rasner is terrible. It's amazing we are still in this race - and help in starting pitching is on its way!

I think you could still see two trades (before 8/31) Washburn being one and, if Melky continues to struggle, Randy Winn being the other.

Another, slightly outlandish possibility, is that the Dodgers will put the struggling Andruw Jones on waivers and the Yankees could put in a claim on him and the Dodgers would let him go rather than pulling him back. Jones has been awful, but he can still catch the ball and I wouldn't be shocked if the switch went off and he returned to the player he was at any time.

Chip--

Being former is not always bad. Former golden boy is like former child star. For them to grow up they had to lose that unreal shine. They may both be good ML pitchers some day, but not what the dreamers thought.

Contrarian - Then again they might be EXACTLY what they were hyped to be. It might just take them a little longer than expected.

when is the next live chat with kat?

Mike at 12:20...you are the MAN!!!! Finally, someone else thats sees the REALITY that I see. This Winfield clone cannot handle pressure.

shouldn't kevin Long have to answer to the struggles of some of the yankee hitters? what is he doing with melky? or others?

George -

Kevin Long isn't going to make an average player a star.

Who other than Melky is really struggling at the plate anymore? Molina? Sexson? Betemit? Well maybe they just aren't good hitters.

Giambi has been struggling longer than Kevin Long has been hitting coach and even struggling he's second on the team in HR.

Abreu and Damon are hitting well, as is Alex.

Jeter is scuffling but I think that's more him getting older than anything else.

Rick -

I look forward to ten more years of you whining about Alex Rodriguez.

Couple of items worth mentioning:

Jarrod Washburn pitched like crap the other day so let's not put all our faith in the Yanks getting him and him saving the season, I think that is entirely up to Mr. Hughes at this point, even if IPK comes up first, it is Hughes who could be the factor for the Yanks chances of making the playoffs.

I liked Doug M. while he was a Yank and I think I like him even more now that he went off on Randy Johnson after Johnson was getting mad at him for calling time during an at-bat in June and said something like "if I was mad he would be on a stretcher or out of the game" and our boy Doug said "as far as I'm concerned, he's been out of the game for three years. He is mentally weak and he couldn't handle New York".
I know that's old news, but they face each other this week so it might be worth watching and you gotta love Doug for letting the Unit know he's a piece of crap.

Optimists are happier, pessimists are more often correct.

Re: glden boys,
Chip is for sure the happier man.

time will tell who is correct

Anyone hear anything about Jorgie? How did the surgery go and how is he doing? Other than that, time for the Devil Rays and Bosox to lose a game. We gotta start picking up some ground on these guys. Devil Rays pitching will become arm-weary beginning September and Bosox will go in an extended slump once the AL figures out how to pitch to Bay-watch.

We can catch these guys!

Lets Go Yankees!!! They are hearing Yankee footsteps......

Jim A - I think Hughes deserves a 2nd chance. Maybe as Viper was saying, Washburn is not worth taking a chance on.

No thanks on Washburn. He can continue to suck wearing the M's uniform instead of the Yankee uniform.

Here's a few points that I thought were worth mentioning.

As others have already stated, it is time to give Ian Kennedy another shot with the big club. After another excellent performance today for Scranton, Kennedy has been lights out over his last 4 starts (27.0 IP, 14 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 20 K -- 1.33 ERA, 0.70 WHIP).

Obviously, Kennedy is going to be the first one called up whenever the Yankee brass decides it's had enough of Darrell Rasner or Sidney Ponson - whomever comes first. The only question is whether his return will be this Friday against the Angels in Anaheim or the following week in MIN or at the Stadium against KC.

I could see this one go down either way. Kennedy really had some significant mental-confidence-attitude issues early in the season and got rattled fairly easily. They may decide to hold off one more start and put him in a better position to win his first game back not having to face the best team in baseball in their own backyard.

However, after watching Rasner's dismal performance on Sunday - there's simply no reason to believe that he'll be able to get these same Angels' hitters out on Friday. So Cashman may decide to finally put the dying dog down and give Kennedy the opportunity to re-establish himself in front of his hometown folks and alma mater.

Not only has Jason Giambi's stache vanished, but so has his productivity. Since July 3, Giambi is hitting just .182 / .325 / .280 in 66 at-bats and has been a huge liability in the #5 slot protecting the game's best player in Alex Rodriguez.

After going hitless in this first seven at-bats as a Yankee, Nady is now 10-for-26 (.385 / .467 / .846) with three homers, three doubles, 10 RBI, and 8 runs scored since coming over from the Pirates and is really in a groove. I realize this is a small sample, but Giambi's play the last month is a much larger sample and it's quite clear that he is really hurting this team right now. A lineup change is needed. Badly.

I know Girardi likes to alternate his righty and lefty bats to balance the lineup, but that strategy doesn't work too well when you have a black hole of productivity behind your best hitter and continues to fail in big spots.

Here's some comparative numbers w/ RISP:

Jason Giambi: .202 / .341 / .303 in 99 AB

Hideki Matsui: .338 / .449 / .462 in 65 AB

Xavier Nady: .316 / .382 / .442 in 95 AB

As you can see, losing Matsui has really hurt this ball club a lot more than people realize. The guy is certainly not flashy, but he's one of the most clutch hitters on the team and he was having a fantastic season driving in big runs hitting behind A-Rod.

But Nady is having an outstanding season as well. And you can see his numbers w/ RISP have also been excellent.

Make the change, Joe. Put Nady in the #5 slot and move Giambi out of there. Now.

Here are my thoughts on the back of the rotation.

Ponson has been good. He's been good enough at any rate that you can live with him. What you can't live with is the combination of him and Rasner eating 40% of the starts.

I agree that Kennedy deserves another shot, but the thing is, if you're going to do it, you have to do it soon so that you can see if you can get through 8/31 without picking up either Washburn or Arroyo or any of these other guys who might make it through waivers.

Viper - I don't think Girardi is going to flip Nady and Giambi. I think he wants it to be Left, Right, L, R, L, R, L, R, S

Glad to see that you're warming to the idea of CC in pinstripes - want to know something funny? I'm cooling on the idea. I don't know that I like the idea of him coming here having pitched so many innings (3 or 4 complete games I think) it sets him up for a break down.

I agree Viper.....

Whoever is hitting the ball the best out of Nady, Giambi, Cano, Pudge should be in the 5 spot. It may change from time to time but you can't have someone behind Arod who isn't hitting. It will make it that much easier for a pitcher to pitch around the best hitter in baseball.

If Melky continues to be such a liability at the plate, Christian needs to start seeing more time. He has been very solid so far and having someone who can run is a weapon the Yanks need to start utilizing.

Give Kennedy the ball Friday against the A's. I can't stand to watch Rasner hand games over anymore. Send him down to AAA and have him work on his location. He is not able to locate the way he was when he first came up.

McCarthy -

I agree that Melky should see some pine but I disagree on who should be replacing him. As I said above, Christian is what he is, a latter day Homer Bush - a sparkplug to put on the bases late in a close game - not a starter. I think if Melky continues to struggle you could see the Yankees add Randy Winn later this month.

Chip -

Thats fine, if we somehow get Randy Winn then he obviously is more proven than any options we already have.

But we don't have Randy Winn right now and Justin Christian is batting close to .300 with a .367 OPB. And when he gets on base he is a threat to steal.

The way it looks right now, he is an improvement over Melky in just about everything except throwing arm. So give him a shot.

Melky has been terrible.

You guys keep it interesting on the blog without any assistance from Newsday folks interjecting. As far as Kennedy and Hughes, there should be no determination by the Yankees until they have 35+ starts. These young guys have not even recieved their first go at it. Forget Washburn! If Winn could give us some heads up play. He would be worth considering in a trade with Melky. Melky hitting .248 instead of .270 is not such a big deal. The difference in hits a week is quite minor. But the big leagues as you all know is about productive AB's. Moving runners over, scoring runners from third, bunting when asked to, making solid contact. Do not try to be a HR hitter when your not. Melky has played two full seasons in the majors what has he learned. It appears little or nothing. Oh, how to dive into firstbase, run to first watching the ball, the ball behind him on a bunt. Frustrating. I can't believe the coaches have not spoke to him about these issues.

Giambi has lost his swing but is still big in the lineup but should be moved down behind Cano with Nady in front of Cano. Forget Righty/lefty at this time in the year, get as many AB's for the productive hitters in the lineup.

Jeter has been swinging better of late. His age is not at the plate but can be noticed in the field ever so slightly, IMHO. He's still one of the best just look around the league. Taking all considerations for a player in the highly skilled position at SS.

Lets Go Yanks.

Does anyone find it funny that Homer Bush has attended and played in the last couple of Old Timer's games? I mean....Yogi! Goose! Reggie! Willie! Gator! Tino! Paulie!.....Homer?

Chip,

I guess my position changed on Sabathia because all signs are pointing to the Yanks going really hard after him this winter. Whether they ink him or not, who knows, but there's no question in my mind that they are going to go hard after him.

And you are making the very same arguments against signing Sabathia that I made earlier in the season (ie: his big frame and the innings on his arm).

I agree with all of that. He will be a big health risk long term.

But the one thing that really changed my position is watching the offense this season. They really need to let these old guys walk at the end of the season (Giambi, Abreu, and now Pudge) and it will inevitably create some holes in the offense.

I think stacking the rotation will offset some of the offensive shortcomings and signing Sabathia allows them to use some of their young arms as trade bait to get what they need in terms of offense.

Plus, the Rays' pitching is only going to get better over the next couple of years with Price and Wade, so the Yanks really need an equalizer and stacking the rotation with as many studs as possible is the only way to do it.

My feelings on Melky are well known on this board; he is probably not going to develop into even a solid ML player because he can't or won't learn the strike zone. THat said, since we upgraded in LF & C offensively, why not just keep Melky's above avg glove and strong arm in center? Do we really need to have a dominate offensive force 1-9 in the lineup? Bat him 9th and just realize that his contribution is defense at this point. Maybe batting him 9th will get his attention, maybe not.

Chip, your boneheaded suggestion of the day is claiming Andrew Jones. Doesn't he have 2 years left on his deal at something like 15 mil per? Are you even paying attention to what Cash is doing? Even assuming he returned to say 70% of what he was 3 years ago, do you think cash is going to lock up that much Cash to a fat player with declining skills? Dude, I don't know if you play fantasy baseball, but you'd love it. You can make senseless trades and waiver wire pickups all year long just for the hell of it. It's nothing like what Cashman and the Yanks are trying to do however....

All i can say about Giambi is I told you so.Even in 2005 and 2006 when he had 2 minor comeback 1/2 seasons he was only good for 2 decent months per.
I will be glad the day he's gone.See ya!

Chip,

Yes, I understand that Girardi likes to alternate his righty and lefty bats - but it becomes counterproductive when your #5 hitter is killing rallies every day and your #6 hitter is far more productive in critical opportunities.

This wasn’t a problem when Matsui was raking behind A-Rod, but Giambi simple isn’t hitting. At all.

Not only is Giambi hitting .202. / 341 / .303 on the season w/ RISP, but he’s also hitting an NL pitcher-esque .198 / .355 / .317 from the #5 slot in 167 ABs.

Think about that for a second. Your #5 hitter is hitting under .200 in that slot over a two-month period and the guy hitting in front of him is leading the AL in batting average.

That doesn’t make a lot of sense when the next guy in the lineup is hitting .330+ on the season and .316 w/ RISP.

That ain’t gonna cut it. Whatever Girardi gains by having alternate bats in the lineup is not worth having such a black hole of production behind your best hitter.

Michaelz: I believe that the only reason that Melky is playing steady in CF is because the Yanks have not been able to work a deal with him in it.

Viper: I call it a day with Jason but might hold onto to Pudge for a year if possible because Jorge may not be catching in the immediate future such as 2009.

Abreu can hit. You need to replace his bat (presently your number 3 hitter) plus average fielder with a VG arm. One year deal plus options may keep him here if no replacement is found.

C.C. without a doubt but Kennedy and Hughes need to be in the roation at least one of them.

Viper -

I'm thinking Pudge might return next season. Unlike Abreu, they will be able to get him on a 1 year deal and if so, and if Jorge's arm is in doubt - it makes all the sense in the world to bring him back, and, as you've suggested, start phasing Jorge into a 1st base/DH role.

The alternative is going with Cervelli and Molina - both of which would be a black hole in the lineup.

I still believe that this offseason Kennedy will be moved for a bat - more specifically at this point a center fielder. Someone who can play there for a year and then slide to left to replace Damon when Austin Jackson comes up.

Ideally, the trade I would like to see happen would be Kennedy, Melky, Betances for Hunter Pence but I don't see Houston giving up on the young face of their franchise. Short of that - I go back to the Yankees trying to work something out for David DeJesus.

Thanks for the data Viper. You and HYD are always good at that stuff and DRU follows our minor leaguers pretty well. You guys RULE!

Kennedy has earned the right to take his place back in the rotation. Time to end the Rasner experiment. Plus, Hughes is coming fast. Only a matter of time before he comes back as well. If Mo is hurting, maybe Hughes could offer some bullpen help similiar to what Joba gave us last year. Might be worth looking at, but we are all in agreement - Melky MUST GO SOMEWHERE! He is killing us. He doesn't need to be an offensive force, but he must be a situational hitter, move runners over, bunt as necessary, stop swinging for the fences, etc. Winn might be the solution in the 9 hole. Could be at least as productive as Brosius was in that spot.

Its Joba Time! Go get 'em, Joba!

As an aside - Billy Beane gets credit for being a genius of a GM - it's fair, I suppose, that with a shoestring budget he puts a team on the field that is competative most of the time. But here's something to consider. The really good A's teams of the late 90s had the following players:

Zito
Mulder
Hudson
Tejada
Giambi
Damon
Dye
Chavez

of all of those - the one he decided to keep was Eric Chavez who has been an injury plagued nightmare. I guess it just goes to prove, whether you're Cashman, Theo, or the Genius himself, every GM makes mistakes.

So I don't usually make it a point to acknowledge the trolls - but since this Fairness in Baseball clown refuses to go away. Allow me to address the misconceptions about your points.

First and foremost - The United States is not based on economic fairness. It is based on earn what you can and what you deserve without the government getting in your way. In point of fact, it is the direct opposite of what you propose. The American Way allows persons, and in this case baseball teams, to generate and maintain revenue in whatever LEGAL means necessary. For teams like the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and other big market teams that means using their financial might to put a better product on the field then that of their competition and thus draw more fans and thus, more revenue.

Second - in an effort to promote parity among franchises the league has already instituted revenue sharing which penalizes the more financially successful teams in an effort to aid those teams that are not making as much money. It is not the fault of the big market owners that those other owners are pocketing the money rather than investing it back into their teams. Think of it as if Home Depot was compelled to give a share of their proceeds to every mom and pop hardware store in each town where a Home Depot is located - it's asinine.

Third - these same small market teams that take money out of the pockets of their more financially successful competition see their greatest profits when these teams come to town. That, to a degree, is why interleague play will never go away - every team wants the Yankees and Red Sox to come to their town.

Fourth - and most importantly - Anyone can spend money - it is a whole other thing to spend it wisely. Money doesn't win championships.

CHIP...

When Homer Bush was here there were options. o nthis occasion Justin has more upside on alot of vital aspacts than the starting CF. If it was Bernie out there your arugment is valid but when your CF is batting 243 with no power numbers something is wrong.

VIPER!!!

I agree with you on the lineup mess. I always felt that Arod and jeter should be the one two punch, in fact eventhough it was crazy in 04 AROD batted number two for awhile and tore it up , I am not saying bat him 2nd but the fact that Jeter and Arod shoul bat behind each other. Mattingly and Paulie was good. Belle and thomas was good.

Anon,

I'm not wholly disagreeing with your premise. And I think that if Brett Gardner had shown even some ability to hit at this level, or if Johnny Damon could play the field Melky would be on the bench. What the Yankees are telling you by continuing to run Melky out there is that they obviously don't view Justin Christian as an upgrade over him.

There are lots of players who look good in spot duty - play them too often and you start to see the reasons why they're bench players. Darrell Rasner for example. For a few starts he looked very good, but then recently he has reminded us why he's always been thought of as a Spot Starter. Could you get a game or two out of Christian, sure, and he might look good and add something, but if you use him out of his role then you're more likely to find out why he's a 28 year old career minor leaguer.

Let me ask you guys a question.
I just went over to the Yanks website and read the Mailbag. Someone asked a question about Hughes and Bryan Hochner (sic) mentioned that Pavano is throwing well and he may make one appearance for the Yanks.
Given this guy's track record with the Yanks and the fact that he's going to be a FA after the season, who the hell is going to sign this guy?

John G,

To a major league contract - probably no one. But someone will give him an invite to spring training with the chance to make the roster - and don't be entirely shocked if that someone is Cashman.

Look at what he's done over the last couple of months, signing Milton and Victor Zambrano, and it's clear that he's planning to go into next season with some veteran arms that he can stockpile in case injury strikes again so he doesn't have to scramble and hope for a Sidney Ponson to get released.

Thanks Chip.
If he gets into some games for the Yanks and helps them get to the post season, then by all means extend an invite to him.