McCarthy Gets Back To Cutting As A Yankee

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

That's Brandon McCarthy's pitch location plot from yesterday's start.  You'll notice that there are 2 very distinct locations on either side of the plate for 2 different types of fastballs.  I knew McCarthy was a sinker guy when he came over from Arizona.  What I didn't know was that he used to be a much bigger cutter guy and had gotten away from it during his time as a D'back.  Via Chad Jennings, McCarthy talked about that transition and the transition back to throwing his cutter more since joining the Yankees:

“It wasn’t something I totally agreed with.  Now, coming here, and them going back over everything I’ve done and realizing that was a big part of my success, we decided to add that back in. It’s been a nice change.”

The disagreement McCarthy is referring to is with the D'backs, who requested that McCarthy not throw the cutter as much when they acquired him.  Why an organization would feel the need to tell a pitcher to stop throwing a pitch he likes to throw and throws well is beyond me, but I guess it makes sense that Arizona is where it is right now when those types of decisions are being made.

The Yankees have been home to some of the greatest cutters in baseball history, including the originator of the pitch.  If they're going to let, and even encourage, McCarthy to throw it more, that's a very good thing for him and them.  He showed what he can do when he's commanding it yesterday, and if he can keep throwing it like that and mixing his sinker in effectively, this trade could turn into a steal for the Yanks.

Shane Greene's Stock Rising As His Sinker Sinks

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

In Spring Training, Shane Greene drew some attention for how well he pitched.  While the overall SSS numbers weren't sparkling (4 ER, 8 H in 7.2 IP), Greene did strike out 10 batters and show the kind of stuff capable of getting Major League hitters out.  Working exclusively in a relief role and then getting shuttled between Triple-A and the Majors early in the regular season in that same role got him off kilter, as did an early injury, and his results once he returned to his regular starting role weren't that impressive.  He was consistently inconsistent at best and mildly disappointing at worst.

Since the middle of June, however, it's been a different story.  Greene allowed only 6 ER over 28 IP in his last 5 Triple-A starts with 23 strikeouts and 10 walks, and after Masahiro Tanaka went on the DL with his UCL tear it was Greene who got the call as his replacement in the Major League rotation.  All he did this past week in his first 2 Major League starts was throw 13.1 innings of 2-run ball with an 11/2 K/BB split and pick up the win in both starts.  Not bad for a guy who wasn't much of a thought as a legitimate organizational prospect before the start of last season.

Wednesday Morning Food For Thought: Nothing Like A Good Old Strikeout

Mashiro Tanaka: 113 K in 99.2 IP
Dellin Betances: 68 K in 40.2 IP
David Robertson: 43 K in 23.2 IP

The strikeout is the best possible outcome for any at-bat from the pitching side.  The Yankees have 3 of the best in the business when it comes to getting strikeouts and all 3 of them were in action last night.  Correction, they WERE the action last night.  15 combined Ks in 9 innings, 6 of those victims being Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion, the 3 best Toronto hitters.  Tanaka struck out all 3 for the side in the 5th inning, Betances nailed them twice in the 8th, and D-Rob ended the game with a K after a 2-out triple.

Betances and D-Rob's combined total of 111 strikeouts is the most by any relief duo in baseball.  By a lot.  The next closest is Andrew Miller and Koji Uehara with 88.  Tanaka is tied for 2nd most among all starters behind David Price.  When you're playing a lot of close games and not scoring a lot of runs, run prevention becomes even more important.  The best way to prevent runs is to prevent guys from putting the ball in play and these 3 have shown a tremendous knack for coming up with those big strikeouts in big moments.

Whitley Mixes It Up Against Lefties

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

When I was giving props to Chase Whitley earlier in the week, I made reference to the 2 approaches he's featured against right and left-handed hitters.  His changeup had been his biggest weapon against lefties and he was setting it up well with his 4-seam fastball.  Seattle stacked their lineup with lefty hitters for last night's series finale, putting them in the top 4 spots in the batting order as well as 6th, 7th, and 9th.  In response, Whitley mixed up his routine a little to counter them and keep them at bay.

Tanaka Faces His First Repeat Opponent Tonight

(Almost none of those were hit hard.  Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

The last time Masahiro Tanaka faced the Chicago Cubs was the first time he faced the Cubs.  It was his 3rd career Major League start and arguably his best one to date, even after his complete game shutout against the Mets last week.  He went 8 shutout innings on that day last month, allowing only a pair of infield singles with 1 walk and 10 strikeouts.

Tonight Tanaka makes his 9th career start and once again he'll be facing the Cubs.  This start will mark the first time that a team has gotten a second look at him, and with the way Tanaka has altered his approach from team to team and the way he worked against the Cubs on 4/16, it will be worth paying attention to how he changes things up this time.

D-Rob: The Best Reliever Who Never Pitches

David Robertson was activated from the DL on April 22nd.  He pitched in his first game since going on the DL on April 24th, the first of 3 games he pitched in 4 days before the off-day on April 28th.

Since then, D-Rob has appeared in 3 games.  3 games in the last 15 days.  Prior to his appearance against the Brewers on Friday, he pitched only once in a week.  Joe had chances to use him when it made sense in the 9th inning on Sunday and in the 8th inning last night and he chose not to do so.  He explained last night's decision by saying he was planning on using D-Rob for 4 outs if Matt Thornton had been able to retire Lucas Duda.

I get not wanting to overuse a guy when he's coming back from a leg injury and I certainly don't want Joe to burn D-Rob out in May, but to use D-Rob as little as he's been used since he was activated is crazy.  If he's available to get 4 outs, he should be available to get 5 and he should have been in the game after Thornton couldn't retire the righty last night.  Giving up runs and losing games late because you don't use your best relief pitcher is unacceptable, especially when he's as well rested as D-Rob is.

Maybe It's Time For A New Strategy, CC

The curse of the one bad inning continued for CC Sabathia yesterday.  This one was particularly bad because of the Brendan Ryan error that allowed the inning to continue and the back-to-back jacks that followe.  After the game, CC talked about what he was trying to do in the at-bat against Jonathan Lucroy:

“Just trying to throw a comeback sinker.  Ended up middle, didn't get in enough, and he put a good swing on it. Just a mistake."

Far be it for me to question a guy who's pitched for as long as CC has, but maybe throwing a sinker in an 0-2 count wasn't the best decision.  He's been so inconsistent with command of both of his fastballs this year and at 89-90 MPH, they aren't swing-and-miss pitches anymore.  In that situation, I would have rather seen another slider to try to get the strikeout.  Hell, waste one way down in the dirt and see if you can get Lucroy to chase.  That's way better than throwing a hittable fastball anywhere in the strike zone, regardless of whether you hit your spot or not.

I don't know, maybe I'm off base here.  It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me to throw your weakest pitches in a pitcher's count.  If the sinker was 92-93 with consistent movement, it'd be a different story.  But it's not and CC's not locating where he wants to, so why throw it and give the hitter a chance when you've already got him in an 0-2 hole?

The Good And Bad Of Tanaka In Four At-Bats

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

You wouldn't be wrong to call last night the worst of Masahiro Tanaka's 4 outings thus far.  He was uneven with his command at times, he gave up a few 2-out hits, and he gave up back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the 4th on 2 badly missed fastballs.  You would be wrong, however,  if you called last night's outing a bad one.  Despite the inconsistencies and homers, Tanaka was efficient with his pitch count and worked into the 8th, allowing only those 2 runs, striking out 7 while walking nobody, and picking up his 3rd win of the year.

The Red Sox got their first look at Tanaka and they had to walk away impressed.  He showcased all his pitches again, mixing them up at all different times in the count, he threw a lot of early strikes to work from ahead or even in the count and keep the guessing game going on their end, and he registered double digit swinging strikes again with an even dozen.  Tanaka was very, very good again, and I thought he showed what makes him special and legitimate and also what things he still has to learn about facing MLB hitters in his first 4 encounters with Boston's 2 best hitters.

Adam Warren, Shutdown Reliever

Gas face... Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

I guess that's what we get for being on the right side of the injury luck coin in Spring Training, huh?  After making it through March almost completely unscathed, the Yankees have now lost 2 key players as a result of last weekend's series in Toronto.  On Friday night, it was Mark Teixeira straining his hamstring and heading to the 15-day DL.  On Sunday night, David Robertson joined him when he strained his groin.  The team officially announced his DL trip yesterday afternoon, creating more stir in an already very new and unsettled bullpen and giving the Yanks another early-season obstacle to overcome.

A Reason To Not Be Concerned About CC's Start Yesterday

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Besides the simple and obvious one that he's had a poor Opening Day track record, of course.  CC Sabathia was bad in his first 2 innings last night, giving up all 6 of his runs in those frames before settling down and making it through 6 without further damage.  He and Joe said his early struggles were due to his pitches cutting, and after the game CC had an explanation as to why:

“I wanted to try to back off and not overthrow.  When I do that, I tend to cut myself short and that’s when the balls cut. My changeup cuts, my fastball was cutting. It’s just me not really getting extended and letting the ball go out in front. It’s just cutting it off and that’s what makes it cut.”

Whatever mechanical adjustment he made to counteract the early cutting problem worked for him over the next 4 innings, as did the addition of the cutter to his pitch mix in the 4th.  While it's never good to see the big guy struggling, it's reassuring to read that he knew what was wrong and made a change to correct it.  That's way better than the lack of answers he had for most of last season and should provide confidence that Sabathia will be fine going forward.

What To Do With Hughes Now?

(Courtesy of the AP)

Thanks to his gross ineffectiveness in his 9 previous starts, the Yankees elected to push Phil Hughes back to yesterday, preventing him from pitching in a meaningful game against an AL Wild Card competitor over the weekend.  Strategically it was a smart decision, although the same argument could be made for CC Sabathia, and it almost paid off in spades when the Yankees came within 9 outs of sweeping the Orioles.

Now they face the same dilemma with Hughes heading into this weekend's big series with Baahhhhhston and yesterday's rain-shortened outing did nothing to move the confidence needle in either direction.  Yes, it was Hughes' first scoreless outing since May and we should all be very proud of him for that, but his overall body of work this summer still isn't nearly good enough to trust him with the ball in an important game.  If he wasn't good enough to pitch against the O's, why would he be good enough to pitch against a team 8 games better than the O's?

Yankee Rotation Out Of The Break Says Something

When the Yankees start up play tonight, they'll do it with some ASB-aided adjustments to the rotation.  They've lined up Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda, and CC Sabathia to pitch the 3 games in Boston, in that order.  Despite what Joe says, there's definitely more to that decision than just making sure guys get extra days off.

Simply, it shows that the Yankees still don't trust their young pitching.  Big series out of the break, against the team they're chasing in the AL East who also happens to be their blood rival, and Joe doesn't want Phil or Ivan anywhere near that situation.  Nova's been the best starter in the rotation the last 3 turns through and Phil is at least as likely to give the Yanks a better start than Pettitte will if not more likely.  But once again, the Yanks are making the statement that they're going to ride their veterans to the promised land.

Which is not to say it's a bad strategy.  CC and Hirok are the team's top 2 starters, and Andy has more of a big game reputation than Hughes or Nova.  And maybe there's a bit of trade strategy mixed in there too, like not wanting Hughes to get shelled in a nationally-televised game to hurt his market value.  We've seen it happen before against Boston.  Hughes would be tagged to pitch one of the next 2 games in the Texas series and he's a much better pitcher out there in Arlington than he is in Fenway.

Good strategy, bad strategy?  Guess we'll find out in 3 days.

Yanks Continue To Shuffle The Rotation

Today is the Yankees' first scheduled off-day in over 2 weeks.  They've played 16 games in 16 days and get a chance to catch their breath before a weekend series in Tampa that kicks off another stretch of 17 games in as many days.  With that extra day to play with and an open spot in the rotation, Joe has decided to juggle the order again for the next turn through.

David Phelps will get the start on Friday night against the Rays, with Vidal Nuno slotting into Andy Pettitte's spot on Saturday.  This pushes CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, and Hiroki Kuroda all back and gives each an extra day of rest before their next starts.  For Sabathia and Kuroda this is a safe move and a smart move, especially for Kuroda, who sounded determined to make his next start after leaving last night's game early.  For Hughes, who's been struggling with his fastball command lately, who knows what kind of impact the extra day will have?

There's still no word on when Pettitte will be ready to return to the rotation.  Per Chad Jennings, he's scheduled to throw either today or tomorrow and is eligible to come off the DL on July 1st.  The Yankees will wait to see how he comes through the throwing session before making any plans, but in the meantime it's a wise move on their part to give their other 2 veteran starters a little extra rest when they can.

What Phelps Needs To Work On

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Yesterday, in anticipation of Ivan Nova's likely return (temporary at least) to the rotation, I looked at what he needed to change and improve to stick in the rotation should he get his spot back.  I honestly just assumed that if he was healthy he would be given the spot back upon his return based on the "you shouldn't lose your job for getting hurt" rule, but yesterday's results may have muddied the waters a bit. Nova struggled mightily with his command in his ExST outing, walking 4 batters in 5 IP, while David Phelps looked very good tossing 6 innings of 2-run ball against the Rockies, both runs coming on one mistake pitch. Phelps has performed admirably in his 2 spot starts, better than Nova was, and if there are questions about Nova's command, that could be enough to keep the door open for Phelps.  If the 5th starter competition is unofficially back on, here's what Phelps needs to do to lock it down.

What Nova Needs To Work On

(Courtesy of Reuters)

With his 15-day DL stint winding down and the make-up doubleheader against Cleveland scheduled for Monday, the prevailing thought is that Ivan Nova will be activated to pitch one of those games.  Joe didn't fully commit to it before last night's game, acknowledging that the team would first want to make sure Nova came through today's ExST outing without issue before making the decision.  Assuming the reports from that outing all come back positive, however, the combination of timing and situation makes too much sense for it not to happen.

Nova wasn't pitching particularly well prior to hitting the DL.  Joe's short leash was a clear indication that he had lost confidence in Nova, and rumblings had already started about the security of Ivan's rotation spot.  A return to pitch in a situation of need like a doubleheader is not a guarantee that Nova will get his rotation spot back, especially if he pitches poorly, but assuming he will be back and David Phelps is heading back to the bullpen here's what Nova needs to do to nail down that spot.

So How Was Phil's Pitch Location Last Night?

(Fierce!  Courtesy of the AP)

After I opened this box last Monday, you knew I wasn't going to let it just be a one-off piece.  Phil Hughes made positive strides in his pitch location last Thursday, and not surprisingly it resulted in his best start of the year to date.  He had another strong start last night, going mano-y-mano with David Price, so it would make sense for his pitch location to be good again, wouldn't it?

A Shift In Approach Against Cano

(Courtesy of the AP)

One of the biggest takeaways from Opening Day was the over-exaggerated defensive shift that John Farrell employed against Robinson Cano and the associated "pound him away" pitching strategy that accompanied it.  Both strategic moves were effective, as Cano managed just a measly single up the middle in the series, and I for one was interested to see what Detroit would do against him in the second series of the season.  Cano had a tough finish to his 2012 season, especially against left-handers, and in a league that's becoming increasingly copy cat-ish as more and more variations of statistical analysis become available, perhaps the Fraud Sawx had laid the groundwork for how to handle the one big bat in the current Yankee lineup.

Slowed Down Spring For CC Continues, And It's Downright Brilliant

(No, that's not CC reacting to pain in his left elbow.  And that's a good thing)

I jumped on the "reducing CC Sabathia's workload" bandwagon early, like as soon as the Yankees announced plans to do that this season.  I became a card-carrying member of the "I Support Reducing CC's Workload Club" two weeks ago when he threw his first bullpen of the spring, a signal that the Yankees were taking the efforts to reduce his workload seriously.  And I'm putting down money for the official club t-shirt after finding out last Thursday that the Yankees have pushed CC's first spring start back to March 15th.  Chad Jennings had the details last week, which included Joe's desire to not have CC face the Blue Jays as scheduled on March 10th.  As a result, Sabathia will throw another simulated game on the 10th, make his first official ST start on the 15th, and end up with only three total ST outings under his belt before taking the hill on Opening Day.

Scaled Back Spring For CC Could Be A Positive

(Always good to see the big fella on the mound.  Courtesy of the AP)

After what the team called a "scheduling error," CC Sabathia threw his first bullpen session of the spring on Saturday, really testing out his left elbow for the first time since offseason surgery to remove bone chips.  Sabathia said he felt good after the 29-pitch session, which was all fastballs and changeups, and commented on his desire to stay healthy for the full season this year, something that becomes a new goal for all players as they journey into their mid-30s.  Joe was also happy with CC's performance and gave a little bit of insight into what might be a more cautious team approach with CC this season when he announced that CC will be skipped the first time through the spring rotation.  This might come as a surprise and cause for concern for some, but if this is handled correctly it could be the perfect way to keep CC fresh.

Nova's Thinking About It All Wrong

(Courtesy of The AP)

I like that Ivan Nova recognizes that he has to change something about his approach with the way he's getting beat right now.  And I appreciate that he has a plan in mind based off of what type of pitcher he is and what he knows he has to do to be successful.  It's encouraging to see a pitcher this young be so upfront about his performance.  But I question whether this change in approach would be the right change to make.

“It doesn’t matter if I get a strikeout or not.  I used to pitch with a lot of ground balls. This year I haven’t. I guess I’ve just got to go back and do exactly the same thing as last year, getting my ground balls and a strikeout when you need it.” (Nova after yesterday's game)

I see what you're trying to do there, Ivan.  You're trying to go back to what's given you the most success in the past.  But what you're forgetting is that strikeouts do matter and they're way better than groundouts.  Any time you're getting an out without giving the hitter a chance to put the ball in play, that's a good thing.  The strides you've made over the past year to improve your stuff and your control to get more strikeouts (career-high 9.55 K/9 this season) and cut down on your walks (career-low 2.94 BB/9 this season) are both positive strides.  That's what has raised your ceiling from a back-of-the-rotation depth arm to a potential above-average #3 starter.  You want to keep doing that.