2013 AB4AR Season Review: The Rotation

(Courtesy of Reuters)

The Yankees got a pretty good collective effort from their starting rotation in 2012, and they appeared to be primed to at least repeat and hopefully improve upon that in 2013.  The same 5 faces were back for another run, giving the rotation a familiar blend of right and left handers, old and young guys, and plus stuff and plus command from multiple sources.  We thought the biggest issue surrounding this group coming into the season was injury concerns and how each of them would hold up physically.  We learned that the issues ran much deeper than that, and the rotation as a whole was unable to build on 2012's performance.

2013 Season Review: What We Thought We Knew & What We Learned (The Rotation)

(Courtesy of the AP)

There was a time in the mid-aughts when it felt like the major talking point every offseason was "the Yankees need more starting pitching" and there were always new faces being brought in to achieve that goal.  It even carried over into and after the 2009 season when they won the World Series.  In the past few seasons, however, that talk has quieted and the Yankees have established some consistency with their starting rotation.  They entered 2013 with the same projected starting 5 they had in 2012, and even added a little more younger depth behind it than they'd had in years past.

That all looked like a good sign for a club that was going to need to lean on its pitching to be successful this season, although there were still a few questions that needed to be answered.  Those answers turned out to be the ones the Yankees didn't want to hear and 2013 ended up being a tougher year for the rotation than they hoped for.

2013 Storylines Review: Shoring Up The 2014 Rotation

(Get out of there, Joba.  You're ruining the shot.  Courtesy of the AP)

Yesterday we officially kicked off the 2013 AB4AR "Season Review" series with a look back on how the team's plan to contend on a budget worked out.  If you missed the post yesterday and don't have the energy to click the link and catch up, here's a spoiler alert- it didn't.  The same could be said for the team's efforts to address the 2014 rotation.  To have any chance of contending this season, the Yankees were going to need a strong showing from their starting rotation, and they correctly focused most of their offseason efforts on building up that rotation.  But in addressing the needs of the 2013 rotation, they were also creating a bunch of questions about the 2014 version.  The hope was that a lot of those questions would be answered this year, but the end results have left the Yankees with even more issues to address.

Reassessing The Yankee Rotation At The Break

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

The All Star break has officially begun for the Yankees after the conclusion of yesterday afternoon's disaster show.  Rather than sit here and harp on how pathetic that game was, let's just focus on something positive and pick up where we left off last week with the bullpen.  After 95 games, the Yankee rotation is having another solid season.  A group that entered the season pretty much set in stone has collectively lived up to expectations, even if some of the individual performances getting there have been uneven and underwhelming.

At the break, the Yankee rotation sits top 15 in MLB in ERA (3.96), FIP (3.90), and K rates and 4th in fWAR (9.1).  That high WAR value can be attributed to this group's ability to pitch deep into games and limit walks.  They rank 7th in both BB/9 (2.35) and total IP (579.1).  Not surprising for a bunch of veterans who know how to pitch in YS3.  Moving into the second half, this is the one area that definitely doesn't need attention at the deadline.

2013 AB4AR Season Preview: The Rotation

(The Air Jordan cleats are never not badass.  Courtesy of The Daily News)

Continuing the trend that's become commonplace in the last few years, the Yankees enter the 2013 season with their starting rotation as their greatest strength.  Discontinuing what has also been a yearly trend, they won't enter 2013 with a lot of questions about new members or expected performance of returning members.  The five guys who will make up the starting rotation are all known commodities at this point in their careers, with the natural amount of wiggle room for production improvement or regression that comes with every new season applicable to each.  The biggest question that most of them will face this season will be health-related, and it's how each pitcher answers that question that will ultimately determine just how good this group will be this season.

2013 Season Preview: What We Know & What We Don't Know (The Rotation)

(One of these guys is not a starter.  Guess which one.  Courtesy of the AP)

For the first time in years, the Yankees won't enter the season with a bunch of questions to answer about their rotation.  They know who their starters are going to be and they've got a pretty good idea about what they can expect from those starters.  The big questions this year are whether or not the back end of the rotation can take a step up in performance and whether or not the top of the rotation is primed to regress.  Regardless of the answers to those questions, the rotation should be the greatest strength of this year's team and will be looked to to help keep the team competitive while they struggle to put their lineup back together.

2013 Storylines: Shoring Up The 2014 Rotation

(Two important parts to this year's rotation.  But what about next year?  Courtesy of the AP)

To say the starting rotation is critically important for the Yankees in 2013 is an understatement.  The front office willingly took a step back offensively to make filling out the 2013 rotation the priority this past offseason, and so far in camp things are coming together nicely.  Ivan Nova has had two strong starts, Hiroki Kuroda looked outstanding yesterday striking out 6 over 4 scoreless IP, David Phelps has been steady and consistent as the 6th starter, and the rest of the projected starting five are scheduled to make their 2013 debuts in the very near future.

The rotation should be the biggest strength of this year's team, but on a parallel path of importance this season will be how this year's results influence the plans for next year's rotation.  The Yankees will have a lot more work to do building next year's rotation under the payroll crunch and will be using this season's performances to gauge how and if their current collection of young starters factor into next year's plans.

Rotation Starting To Take Shape This Week

(Courtesy of the AP)

The bulk of the early ST focus has been on the lineup and its shrinking number of healthy, productive players, but the rotation hasn't exactly been running at full song so far either.  Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda have each made a pair of starts, David Phelps has made four, and that's it as far as projected Major League starters are concerned.  In the last few days, however, the picture has cleared up considerably with the rest of the rotation.

Phil Hughes graduated to a mound over the weekend, and per Chad Jennings threw a 26-pitch bullpen session this morning with no reported back issues.  He's graduating to facing live hitters later this week and could end up on track to start the season.  The other big news to come out of the weekend was the upcoming rotation schedule, which has Andy Pettitte penciled in to make his spring debut on Wednesday and CC Sabathia on Friday.  Sabathia threw a 50-pitch sim game yesterday morning rather than face the Blue Jays, and this has been about as quiet a spring for Pettitte as I can remember.

The level of concern about those three was low, so it's not like this is huge unexpected news.  But it's always good to see your starting rotation all pitching.  The rotation is going to have to carry this team early, and they should take the first big step towards doing that this week.

The Effects Of Phil Hughes Missing The Start Of The Season

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

It's gotten overshadowed by the Mark Teixeira injury and yesterday's report of Mo's retirement announcement, but there's still a pretty important injury situation happening with Phil Hughes.  Last weekend Hughes ended his week-long battle with shrinkage in the pool and got back on the field to start throwing again after almost two weeks off to recover from the bulging disk in his back.  He's been on a flat ground throwing program this week, and yesterday actually threw pitches from a full windup on flat ground, but that still puts him a while away from pitching in a game.  The possibility of Hughes not being ready for the start of the season was mentioned almost as soon as the bulging disk was, and if he isn't back on the mound pitching in a game by this time next week he more than likely won't be ready.  It's not the biggest deal in the world, as long as his back is healthy, but there are a few things that will change as a result.

Nova Confident He'll Be In The Rotation

The always confident Ivan Nova doesn't seem to have lost any of his edge after his disastrous 2012 season.  In an article in the Daily News earlier in the week, Nova told Anthony McCarron he absolutely believes he's going to be in the starting rotation this season.

“I’m going to be there.  Just do my work. It doesn't cross my mind that I’m going to be in the minor leagues. I’m going to be in the rotation, that’s what I’m working for."

“I know what I've got in my hand,” “I know what I've got and I know what I can do and I just have to do it."

Strong words from the guy who, in the same story, admitted to forcing pitches and throwing certain pitches that he couldn't control at times last year, but that's Nova.  And as bad as his 2012 was, there are still reasons to be optimistic about Nova rebounding in 2013.  His BB and K rates trended in the right direction last year, his fastball velocity improved, and he's still just 26 years old.  It's way too early to write off Nova, and although I don't think it's a guaranteed lock that he'll beat out David Phelps for the 5th spot in the rotation, I do think he, like other 5th starter competitors before him, will have the deck stacked in his favor heading into ST.

Any Innings Concerns For 2013?

The 2013 New York Yankees starting rotation is set right now after yesterday's re-signing of Andy Pettitte was made official.  At worst, the rotation should be pretty good again next season and at best it could be very good if everybody stays healthy and a few things rebound from 2012.  Not to rain on anybody's parade or start to poke holes in this group, but it is worth pointing out that there will be a lot of workload questions tied to next year's rotation.

CC Sabathia- Coming off a season in which he had 2 separate stints on the DL, and already has plans being made to limit his innings/pitch count next season.

Hiroki Kuroda- Coming off a career high 235.2 IP between the regular and postseasons in 2012 at age 37.  Unknown how that extra work will carry over and affect him in 2013.

Pettitte- Pitched just 89 total Major League innings last season, and has pitched just 106 total innings in the last 2 calendar years.  Unknown how many innings he can pitch over a full season.

Phil Hughes- Coming off a career high 201 total IP between regular and postseasons in 2012 a year after pitching just 91 total innings and 2 years after pitching 192 total innings, and after years of being shuttled between starter and reliever.

The only guy in this group without innings concerns is Ivan Nova, who was the least effective starting pitcher in the rotation last season.  It's not time to raise the red flag on this or anything, just something to keep in mind going in ST next year.

BREAKING NEWS: Yankees Re-Sign Andy Pettitte

(One more year of the stare)

After an acceleration to the re-signing process earlier this week, and multiple reports that a new deal was imminent yesterday, the Yankees officially re-signed Andy Pettitte this afternoon, completing part 2 of their offseason checklist.

According to multiple reporters, the deal is of the 1-year variety and will be for $12 million next season, with another $2.5 mil available in awards bonuses.  It's a hefty raise from the non-guaranteed $2.5 million Andy signed for when he came back this past season, but after the way he pitched a big hike in salary was to be expected.

With this move, the Yankees now have a rotation set for 2013- CC, Kuroda, Andy, Hughes, Nova- with a couple other arms outside that top 5 as insurance and the always-lingering possibility of them signing a cheap veteran arm here or there.  Andy coming back does give Cash the flexibility to include Hughes or Nova in a trade package if he pursues that route to fill the right field void, but even if nothing else happens with the rotation this offseason, the Yankees can go into Opening Day confident that their rotation is set.

**UPDATE- 3:29PM- Eli Whiteside has been DFA'd to clear a 40-man roster spot for Andy.  So that's why they signed Whitesite to a split-contract.  Smart move. **

Andy Starts Offseason Workouts

The next, and possibly final, piece of the 2013 rotation puzzle may be starting to get put into place.  At least that's how a positive-thinking person would take Mark Feinsand's report Sunday about Andy Pettitte starting his offseason workout program as a test to see how his body responds and see if he thinks it will hold up for another season.  After the earlier report that Pettitte would make his decision sometime this week, this latest news makes it look more like we're going to see the lefty back in pinstripes for one more season.  There's no guarantee, but there are 2 big things to take away from this:

Pineda Continuing To Progress

(When is somebody going to get a shot of one of Pineda's flat ground sessions?  Courtesy of the AP)

Michael Pineda still has a long uphill battle to fight to get back on the field, back to full or as close to full game shape as he can be after his labrum injury, and back into the good graces of the Yankee fan base, but the updates on his comeback progress continue to be positive.  Brian Heyman of LoHud had the latest details on Friday, including information on Pineda's latest follow-up visit with team doctors, confirmation that he's been on his flat ground throwing program for about 2 months now, and a quote from Brian Cashman on Pineda's arm action in the throwing session looking good and that "he’s in great physical shape in terms of body weight."

All of those are positives for Pineda, who got himself in trouble early in ST last season for reportedly coming into camp in less-than-ideal physical condition.  But has this latest round of updates changed the planned return timetable for him?

BREAKING NEWS: Yankees Re-Sign Hiroki Kuroda

There aren't any details on the money yet, but the Yankees and Hiroki Kuroda have reportedly agreed to a new 1-year deal.  Normally I'd wait to get a few more details before posting, but when the tweet confirming the deal is coming from Buster Olney, that's good enough for me.

Kuroda was always the top priority this offseason, and it's good that this has now been resolved.  There's still a lot of work to do, but at least there's one space we can fill in on the open roster card for next season.  More details to come...

** UPDATE- 6:43PM- The deal is worth $15 million for next season, with a little less than $1 mil worth of incentives.  Sounds like a good deal for both sides.  Yanks and Kuroda both get the 1-year deal they wanted, and Hirok gets the raise he deserved and earned with his 2012 performance. **

Time Is Of The Essence With The Rotation

The latest in the Hiroki Kuroda sweepstakes is making the rounds on the blogosphere today, a report that Kuroda now prefers to play back in California to be closer to his children.  If that's true, then it takes the Yankees out of the driver's seat in the race to sign Kuroda, but like some of the previous reports on Hiroki this offseason the story cites friends close to him, hence my hesitancy to link to it.

Mike Axisa of RAB posted his quick take on these developments earlier today, and I agree with Mike on both of the key points.  One, the citing of anonymous friends brings into question the validity of the claim and it sounds more like Kuroda and his agent playing all angles to drive up his price for the teams interested.  If that's what they're doing, good for them.  Coming off the season he had, I'd be doing the exact same thing and that still puts the Yankees in the best position to land him.

Second, and more importantly, was Mike's statement that whatever the truth is, it's to the Yankees' benefit to have the Kuroda deal put to bed quickly one way or the other.  My list of free agent pitching targets didn't include many starters, for the simple reason that it's almost certain the Yankees aren't going to get involved in the bidding for guys like Zack Greinke and Anibal Sanchez, and they've already lost one potential 1-year backup option this week in Scott Baker.  If, that's IF, they lose out on Kuroda, they're going to have to scramble to find another starter willing to take a 1-year deal to build enough depth.  He's the key to their offseason rotation rebuilding, and the quicker they get that resolved the quicker they can move on to finishing the process and audibling if they need to.

Larry Rothschild May Have Just Killed The Pineda Trade

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there aren't a whole lot of times when Larry Rothschild is speaking in great detail about his pitching staff.  So when he does, I tend to pay a little more attention to it than I normally would.  Yesterday, Chad Jennings of LoHud posted some highlight quotes from an interview Rothschild did on Sirius talking about his pitchers, and his comments on Michael Pineda were troubling:

"With shoulders, really, I think you take him off the radar screen, bring him back as the injury allows. But I don’t think we can count on him for next year at all. And hopefully he comes back and it’s a great addition, but if you count on him and think he’s going to be back by a certain point, you have a pretty high percentage of being disappointed with that. So I think you’re better off just approaching it that he’s not going to be back next year."

Recently, we were told Pineda was looking at a June 2013 return, something that would limit his innings and basically be more about preparation for 2014 than anything but would still get him back on the mound pitching in games.  But if there is weight to what Rothschild is saying, and 2013 is going to be another completely lost season for Pineda, that trade officially becomes a complete loss for the Yankees.

Musing On Dan Haren

(Might have to trim that hair, guy.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

While we're on the topic of current/former Angels who may be a good fit for the Yankees, let's talk about Dan Haren.  The Angels made some waves yesterday announcing that they were "interested" in trading both Ervin Santana and Haren, 2 members of their rotation with expensive 2013 contract options who both experienced some serious decline in their performance in 2012.  Santana has already been shipped to Kansas City in a deal, which is just fine with me because he absolutely sucks, but Haren is a much more interesting case.  And the more I've let the idea of Haren in pinstripes simmer in my head for the last day or so, the more I think the Yankees pursuing a trade for him makes sense.

Kuroda's Desires And How They Benefit The Yankees

(Courtesy of Anthony Gruppuso, US Presswire)

With 2012 serving as the latest example of why you can never ever have too much starting pitching, and the current group of young starters bringing more questions than answers to the table right now, re-signing Hiroki Kuroda has to be near the top, if not at the top, of the Yankees' to-do list this offseason.  He ended up being a bargain at $10 million for 219.2 IP of 3.32/3.86/3.67 ball, plus 16 stellar innings in 2 postseason starts, and was the most important pitcher on a staff that was beset by injury and performance issues from day 1.

Normally a season like the one Kuroda had would have teams with a need for pitching lining up to throw a ton of money at him for a 2 or possibly 3-year deal, Yankees included.  But with teams continuing to shift their thinking away from high-dollar, multi-year deals for older players, and a report from Nick Cafardo stating that Kuroda is "content signing a one-year deal at this stage in his career," the chances of that happening are significantly reduced.  Kuroda's declaration that he is only seeking a 1-year deal also turns whatever happens with him this offseason into a positive for the Yankees.

Pineda Still A Long While Away



Hey, remember that big trade the Yankees made in January?  They sent their best prospect to Seattle for a couple of young pitchers.  One of them was supposed to be this 22-year-old stud who the Yanks could pair up with CC Sabathia to form a top flight 1-2 punch for the next 4-5 years.  I think his name was Pineda?  Michael Pineda?  That's him, right?  Yeah, well if you remember him you probably also remember that he had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder and missed the entire 2012 season.  Reports from Brian Cashman this past weekend have Pineda missing at least the first couple months of next season as well, so don't expect to see him as an option for the 2013 rotation, at least not right off the bat.