At long last, here is the "midseason report" for the everyday players on the Yankees.
Nick Swisher-"Swish" hits from both sides of the plate. He has power. He can take pitches, draw walks, and tire pitchers He can play right field. He'll bat a reliable .250. He can play first base. And he can even pitch. He's a spark on the team and seems to be making Johnny Damon happy with the old heavy metal gesturing during games. Taken together, these little things add up to a major impact on the team.
Melky Cabrera-Melky does not take pitches, work deep counts, tire pitches, or draw walks. He's an average situational hitter.
And that's about all we can say that isn't right with Melky. The fact is that Melky Cabrera, when you look beyond his lack of patience, could be a superstar. An outfielder with speed and a good arm. A switch hitter with power. Able to hit .280 or better. A clutch performer. Melky has the tools to be great. Let's hope he learns more patience and fulfills his potential.
Robinson Cano-He and Melky share a difficulty with taking pitches. It's a Dominican thing and I'm not sure what the politically correct analysis would be. The research says that, while Latin players tend to walk less, they make up for this downfall by hitting better than their colleagues from other parts of the world.
But this is not what's wrong with Cano. Though he's a very slick fielder at second base, Cano cannot hit well in spots. Sacrifices, bunts, hitting behind runners....these things Cano cannot do well. And when he can't even get on base to keep a rally going, the Yankees have a problem. Girardi waited forever to move him down from 5th the lineup (until after he had gone more than 0 for 20 with RISP). I'm sorry to say it, and we will miss his winning smile and talented hitting/fielding. But this is as good as Robinson Cano is going to get, and I think the Yankees can do better.
Hideki Matsui-Among hitters on the Yankees with 274 or more plate appearances, Matsui is second on the team with a 880+ OPS. His knees are getting worn down but at the plate he's still an elite hitter, capable of winning games, extending rallies, getting big hits, wearing down pitchers, and hitting righties or lefties equally well. He should be the Yankees' #5 hitter for the rest of the season, with Posada behind him and A-Rod in front. Matsui is the man, always has been.
Johnny Damon-Another elite hitter who just barely is able to play the outfield. Like Matsui, Damon's value is almost completely in his bat. And this year Damon's bat has been on fire. His numbers are very similar to Matsui's and he shares with him an ability to tire pitchers, hit in spots, and hit for power and average. Damon also brings some speed to the table, and a positive attitude that must rub off on the rest of the team. And Mr. Damon will perform in the clutch.
Nick Swisher-"Swish" hits from both sides of the plate. He has power. He can take pitches, draw walks, and tire pitchers He can play right field. He'll bat a reliable .250. He can play first base. And he can even pitch. He's a spark on the team and seems to be making Johnny Damon happy with the old heavy metal gesturing during games. Taken together, these little things add up to a major impact on the team.
Melky Cabrera-Melky does not take pitches, work deep counts, tire pitches, or draw walks. He's an average situational hitter.
And that's about all we can say that isn't right with Melky. The fact is that Melky Cabrera, when you look beyond his lack of patience, could be a superstar. An outfielder with speed and a good arm. A switch hitter with power. Able to hit .280 or better. A clutch performer. Melky has the tools to be great. Let's hope he learns more patience and fulfills his potential.
Robinson Cano-He and Melky share a difficulty with taking pitches. It's a Dominican thing and I'm not sure what the politically correct analysis would be. The research says that, while Latin players tend to walk less, they make up for this downfall by hitting better than their colleagues from other parts of the world.
But this is not what's wrong with Cano. Though he's a very slick fielder at second base, Cano cannot hit well in spots. Sacrifices, bunts, hitting behind runners....these things Cano cannot do well. And when he can't even get on base to keep a rally going, the Yankees have a problem. Girardi waited forever to move him down from 5th the lineup (until after he had gone more than 0 for 20 with RISP). I'm sorry to say it, and we will miss his winning smile and talented hitting/fielding. But this is as good as Robinson Cano is going to get, and I think the Yankees can do better.
Hideki Matsui-Among hitters on the Yankees with 274 or more plate appearances, Matsui is second on the team with a 880+ OPS. His knees are getting worn down but at the plate he's still an elite hitter, capable of winning games, extending rallies, getting big hits, wearing down pitchers, and hitting righties or lefties equally well. He should be the Yankees' #5 hitter for the rest of the season, with Posada behind him and A-Rod in front. Matsui is the man, always has been.
Johnny Damon-Another elite hitter who just barely is able to play the outfield. Like Matsui, Damon's value is almost completely in his bat. And this year Damon's bat has been on fire. His numbers are very similar to Matsui's and he shares with him an ability to tire pitchers, hit in spots, and hit for power and average. Damon also brings some speed to the table, and a positive attitude that must rub off on the rest of the team. And Mr. Damon will perform in the clutch.
Mark Teixeira-Tex started the season tearing things up...tearing up his reputation, that is. He batted .200 in April, and the boos rained down game after game, day after day. He was hitting the ball hard, but it always seemed to drop into someone's glove. And while he was drawing walks and making plays at first, when May rolled around and Teixeira seemed to be doing nothing, fans started wondering if Brian Cashman had finally made a fatal mistake with yet another fading superstar with a massive contract.
Wrong.
In May after A-Rod returned, Mark Teixeira's bat exploded. He now has a .275 batting average. He has hit 21 home runs. His OPS is in the top 10 in the American League. And he beat out Boston's Kevin Youkilis for the starting spot to represent the American League in the All Star game. Tex is one of the best first basemen in the game, a switch hitter with enormous power, able to draw walks and get on base, with a gold glove ability at first...and can win games with his bat and hit in the clutch, which he has done numerous times this year. Tex represents the best position player pickup the Yankees have made in a very long time, perhaps since the big pickups in the mid 90s (O'Neill, Martinez, Brosious) that brought the championship team together.
Derek Jeter-Jeter is hitting .321 this season, third in the AL behind Ichiro (one of the best players in baseball history) and Joe Mauer, who is having himself a career year. Jeter's OPS with RISP and 2 outs is 1.167, the best on the team, and in the top 5 in ALL OF BASEBALL (Jeter isn't even in the top 45 overall in OPS). What this means is that most of the time Jeter might be slightly bored, and only raises his game when it's needed. If he weren't bored all the time, he'd have not just hall of fame numbers (which he already has) but numbers that suggest he is, by far, the greatest shortstop of all time. He can take pitches, get on base, and steal (he has almost as many stolen bases as Ichiro, but has been caught far less frequently). He played such a slick shortstop that Peter King once called him "the best darn ballplayer I've ever seen." Jeter is one of the smartest veterans in the game, a clubhouse leader, the captain of the Yankees, a world series hero many times over, a clutch performer throughout his career, who doesn't just play well in the playoffs...but does amazing things when it matters most. Jeter is red hot right now, is surely planning on dominating down the stretch, raising his game against our biggest rivals. It has been a privilege to have had the opportunity to follow his career and be inspired by the amazing things he does in the biggest moments year after year, amazing things that give us all hope that we can follow in his footsteps in our own lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment