How the players are performing in 2012…so far
When the Yankees were playing horrible baseball in the month of May, you would have thought Brett Gardner‘s prediction of the Yankees winning 100 games in the season was complete hogwash. Now as the Yankees are about to close the door on June, Gardner’s prediction seems a little more believable as the Yankees have now notched 41 wins this season. The ironic part of all this though is that Gardner has not played in a game since April 17 when he injured his arm while making a diving catch. With Gardner out of the lineup, more players have stepped up and some have…well…faltered.
Derek Jeter (COOL): When Derek Jeter first started the season he was getting base hit after base hit; he was even as far as .400 in the beginning of May. Since then, Jeter’s average has cooled down to where his average is close to .300. Derek Jeter’s baseball lately…he looks like the Derek Jeter in the beginning of the 2011 season (you know, before the 3,000 hits).
Curtis Granderson (HOT): Curtis Granderson’s batting average I admit isn’t the greatest average in the world, but he already has 20 HR’s and the first half of the season isn’t over yet! Granderson is on pace to hit 40 HR’s but he continues to consider himself a non home run hitter. Curtis, you’re not fooling us. That bat of yours is H-O-T!
Mark Teixeira (COOL): Mark Teixeira’s bat in the beginning of the season was…eh. Teixeira seems to be getting his bat together now and is getting key hits when the Yankees rely on it. Teixeira is still working on the RISP hitting, but he seems to have no trouble hitting the ball out of the park.
Alex Rodriguez (COOL): Alex Rodriguez’s bat has also been pretty cool to begin the first half of the season. In April, A-Rod had a .244 average which followed a .314 average in May. However in June A-Rod seems to have cooled down again, in which he’s only hitting .214. A-Rod’s bat better heat up soon or else…
Robinson Cano (HOT): Robinson Cano was off to an odd slow start for the Yankees but he seemed to have picked it up as he is now hitting close to.300. Cano’s power is still there since so far this season he has hit 14 HR’s. Hopefully Cano can show some more power towards July and August.
Nick Swisher (COOL): Nick Swisher has been on an up and down ride this season. In this case, he can’t seem to keep himself healthy. Swisher had 3 calf issues, the latter coming from last week in the Nationals series. Number wise, Swisher has been driving guys home. He has 42 RBI’s so far in the season.
Russell Martin (COLD): How do I put this nicely about a great defensive catcher that knows how to call games? Well, Russell Martin is struggling; BADLY! Russell Martin is BARELY above the Mendonza line with a .205 batting average, however lately he has been driving the ball for power. 3 HR’s in 3 games isn’t bad. He does however have to get his act together.
Raul Ibanez (WARM) : Raul Ibanez has done a great job for the Yankees so far this season. Ibanez wasn’t supposed to play a lot of left field this season but since Gardner got hurt, he had done great. Is he a defender in LF like Gardner? No. But his bat makes up for it.
Andruw Jones (COLD): When Andruw Jones platoons with Raul Ibanez, it drives me insane. With his bat…he has done very little. He like Russell Martin has a .206 average but we have to take into account that Martin has more at bats than Jones. But for a platoon power player on the bench…it seems Jones is either a hit it out or out kind of player.
Brett Gardner (MHP): MHP meaning missing his playing. Gardner only played 9 games this season for the Yankees but he had a hot bat coming into the season with a .321 average. I’m somewhat hoping that when he returns he does what A-Rod did in 2009; a first at bat, first pitch homer into the left field seats for 3 runs. What? I can dream can’t I?
It will be very interesting to see how the Yankees team will play out for the rest of the season but we all know that the work isn’t over until the Yankees reach the ultimate prize; a World Series ring.
Posted on June 23, 2012, in Personal Opinion and tagged Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeria, New York Yankees, Nick Swisher, Raul Ibanez, Robinson Cano, Russell Martin. Bookmark the permalink. 39 Comments.
Brian D.
fishjam25
jimmytoucan
Matthew B
Delia E.
Dan H.
Matthew S.
Michael P.
Mike D.
Hey Delia. This could be a monthly article. I like the concept.
Not sure I agree with your view on Jeter though. He was out of his mind to start the season no one would have thought he would keep that up. I would say Jeter is “Warm” but i’m not losing any sleep on how you rated it.
Does everyone remember in the off-season when Martin and his agent wanted a 3 or 4 year deal from the Yankees. Glad Cashman stuck to his guns.
In that case, I might have to do more articles like these every month.
They would be very well received by most of us, I am sure. Very good work again, Delia.
Gardner coming back healthy after the all star break will be a good thing for this team. Some stolen bases and getting in the opponents head when he is on 1st or 2nd is a good thing. Also his glove in the outfield is clutch.
Generally agree except for Ibanez. He got off to a promising start but he’s been invisible lately hitting .133 in June with 1 HR. Overall he is hitting .235 with a .294 OBP. Yanks need Gardner back badly and I have no idea why they haven’t given Mustelier a shot.
Ibanez will continue to fade as someone his age is expected to. By October if we don’t have a real dh we’re screwed.
need gardner back in left hughes to the pen cut jones cut garcia add a bat at the break as well as garcia or mcharthy this equals 98 wins and a playoff date with texas
need gardner back in left hughes to the pen cut jones cut garcia add a bat at the break also could use garza or mcarthy this equals 98 wins and a date with texas in the playoffs
Hay, I like that advertisement with the shirt, because I have a trail hat (US Army) and a belt that date back to 1960. The hat is my good luck hat, only used (1962-2012) for things like when doctors want to cut and paste…14 and 0 (100%) now that’s a percentage I like.
Joe fragiglio…I’ll go with the first line, up to the word garcia. Add a bat from what we have (Mustelier) and a healthy Nunez, oh yes, I don’t think Phil to the pen is a good idea! We have Joba and Aardsma coming back soon.
not sold on hughes but i suppose as a fifth starter u cant go wrong any interests in kicking the tires on garza or mcharty from oakland?
For me, No. I want to go with what we have in house. We have about 4-5 guys that could become starters next year. No, none are #1 or even #2 type starters but then do we know that for sure? No, only information from what we hear. As far as the age of some of the pitchers we have, don’t go by that go by what they can do for us now and let them grow into it.
Hey youngyankee13 – you always want to go with what’s in house. If it was up to you the Yankees would have never signed CC or Tex and Jeter would be on the bench.
We would have never won in 2009.
Ha ha Wang would still be our ace.
twasp…
Another time you misunderstand me! I would have gone after CC and Tex because they were the best available game changers out there to be had.
When it comes to filling a hole or replacing a player, I would rather go for internal players rather than getting a so so player that is close to being washed up.
If Nunez were healthy, I would have him at SS about half the time and DH Jeter about 1/4 of the time the rest of the time he sits…not for any other reason than it gives him rest. He wears down as the season goes on if he has no rest.
Nunez and Gardner when healthy need to be back on this team.
yeah i see no need for Garza or others. Keep it in house. I am with fishjam. Mustelier should have been brought up weeks ago.
Garza is another “good metrics” guy whose metrics never seem to translate into much more than .500. I have no idea why we’d want him, especially since we need a bat.
I don’t want Garza at all but evaluating pitchers by W-L record is quite silly.W-L is a team record and tells very little about how a pitcher is actually doing
Garza’s a very good pitcher. And you can never have enough pitching. Look what happened with Pineda. What if Andy goes down ? How will he recover without HGH?
Matt B. You are right on the money as usual. Win loss records are not a good way to evaluate pitchers. I like TWASP’s QS% which I invented in 1994 at a NY Ranger playoff game.
It takes the # of Quality Starts a pitcher has and divides it by the # of starts he has. So it says of all the starts , how what % were good. A good start is 6 innings with 3 or less runs.
I also like WHIP.
Morning Twasp. Yeah you really cant judge a pitcher on W-L record. Look at a pitcher like King Felix. Imagine how many more wins he would have if he was on a better team.
Hey Matt – good example. Can’t penalize a guy for being on a mediocre team or not getting run support.
If we don’t get a bat I don’t like our chances in the postseason, and we are no cinch to make the postseason. I know Cashman hasn’t done big deadline deals, but now might be a good time to start.
Releasing Freddy at this point is dumb. He has done a good job as the long man and his velocity has been up to 91 lately.
Delia, as an ex pitcher I was wondering why the pitchers aren’t rated, it seems to me that the pitching and defense are the main reason the Yanks moved into first place.
I was going to do pitching at the end of June as a “Monthly Report Card”. At the very end of the month for the rest of the season, I’ll rate the pitchers & the offense.
Thank you, you are doing a good job!
When Gardner comes back we have plus hitting at 7 of 9 spots in the lineup. That’s as good as any of the competition. RISP hitting will of course have to be better ….but that should return towards each players normal BA.
We have fairly good defense and a very good bullpen.
The thing that would most guarantee success in the playoffs would be another power pitcher. But that’s not easy to find.
Arod and Jeter’s reflexes are going.
Jeter has never been able to stop his habit , when going to his left, of reaching with both his gloved hand and his RIGHT hand.
True….healways tries to use 2 hands which limits his reach.
If you like a good read on the Yankees…pick up the book DamnYankees……with a collection of 26 pieces from SI writers about the Yankees.
Garza’s a proven AL East stud. I’d rather have him on the mound in October than some nervous rookie peeing in his pull-ups.
TWASP NEWS FLASH :
From the Pittsburgh Chronicle
AJ Burnett has been placed on the 15 day disabled list after punching himself in the eye. The incident occurred when AJ’s request to get his own personal catcher (Jose Molina) was denied.
Fish ‘ – How much did we pick up of the AJ contract?
Ken – how did you like the two defensive plays by Cano last night? In your life have you ever seen anything like that?
Seventh game World Series ..tie game…man on third ….ground ball to short…..who do you want fielding it Jeter or Nunez?
Fish – Ibanez has contributed positively offensively to more wins this season than Jeter and Arod.
WPA
Ibanez .7
Jeter .4
Arod ( -.2)