Things we know so far:

After the first month, here's what we know (and what Torre doesn't):

1) Giambi should be batting third. If you bat him ahead of Arod, it pretty much guarantees that he (Arod) will come up to bat with at least one runner on 50% of the time. Also, it breaks up both the RRR and LL mess between 2-6.

2) Bernie Williams should not be playing. He's done. He's actually bad enough that I'm now questioning whether he even has value as a 5th OF / Pinch hitter.

3) Sturtz and Wright are done. Sturtz was lightning in a bottle when he didn't suck for that one brief period. Wright is the definition of a sunk cost.

4) Farnsworth is a slightly less wealthy man's version of Gordon. Pencil him in for the 8th, and just roll the dice.

5) "Uncle Teddy" proctor is good in medium leverage situations. Don't put him in the 9th, but don't waste him in blowouts either.

6)If you are going to play Bubba Crosby one day, and Andy Phillips the other, put Crosby in when the groundballer Wang is pitching, and Phillips in when the flyballer Chacon* is pitching, not the other way around.

Baltimore, TB and Blue Jays Series

This blog has proven a little more difficult than I originally thought. Failing to recap the Baltimore series isn't my fault, as my cable was being stolen from me that weekend, and the one game i saw (saturday), was in person and very drunk.

For the Tampa series, I only saw the game on mute at a bar for 2/3. But Torre's clearly running the Yankees out of innings. There's a funadmental flaw with having both Damon and Jeter at the top of the lineup. A lot of their value (moreso with Damon) is tied up in their ability to steal bases. But, the consequences of being caught stealing are even more profound when you have excellent hitters up after you. In one game, both Jeter and then Sheff got caught stealing. Arod gets on base, and then Giambi hits a home run. This should not be happening.

Also, Jeter's having the month of his life at the plate. And yet, he continues to attempt to bunt every once in awhile. I believe it was the TB game where the Yankees were down 1-0 in the first, and Jeter attempted to bunt after Damon walked ON THE FIRST FOUR PITCHES OF THE GAME.

Let's put this decision in perspective by examining what we know:

1) teams score about 5 runs a game.
2) the devil rays have already scored a run in the first inning.
3) the run expectancy for the rest of an inning if you have a runner on 2nd with one out is: .725
4) the run expectancy with 1st and no outs is: .953

and here are some things we should consider:

A) if the Yankees pitcher has given up a run in the first inning, it's possible he doesn't have his best stuff today.
B) the Devil Rays pitcher has thrown four pitches in the game so far, and none have been for a strike. He may not have his best stuff either.
C) Jeter has been one of the hottest hitters in the league for the first month of the season. His on base percentage is over .500. While we can't expect a 50% chance of him getting on base at this at bat, it's possible that he's "hot", and is better than his career averages at this moment.

So, with this information, Jeter has to make a decision. If his goal is for a big inning, he should attempt to get on base and/or drive the runner over/in. If his goal is to just play for one run, it would still be better to try to get on base than to just give up an out. Trying to bunt is the absolute worst decision.

Of course, he wound up fouling a bunt off, and then hitting a two run homer. Blind Squirrel --> acorn.



There was also a game where Sturtze came in in the 9th inning of a close game. Why?

Torre continues to use Myers against righties as well. I have a personal guarantee that he will come in against Ortiz one game, and Torre will leave him in against Manny hoping to have him face Nixon after that.

April 19th Yanks 3, Jays 1

I wasn't going to originally include this, b/c i assumed it was b/c of an injury, but...

Bernie Williams pinch hit for Giambi.

reason? b/c giambi struggles against bj ryan. or should i say, he's struggled against BJ in the few times he's faced him.

4/18/06 - Bluejays 10, Yanks 5

Mistake 1: Playing Bernie in left and having Matsui DH.
Mistake 2: Playing Stinnett over Posada.

Why are these mistakes especially bad? B/c the yankees have two off days this week. If they didn't, i could understand resting posada before the day game on wednesday, and getting bernie some at bats against a lefty, but this is just ridiculous.

Torre also kept Randy in way too long. He shouldn't have started the 3rd, for sure.

Bernie started in Centerfield on sunday?

i didn't even notice that. that's bad.

4/14/06 - 4/16/06 Weekend series against the Twins

I'm going to be even briefer than usual, as I didn't have computer access this weekend.

On Friday, the game wasn't lost, per se, in the 7th, but the chances of coming back and winning were severely crushed when Bernie came up with 2 on and no outs and hit into a double play. Even though the run matrix says 1st and 2nd with no out is better than 2nd and 3rd and one out, with your weakest hitter, you have to attempt a bunt.

On Saturday, Phillips was the DH and Cairo played first. I almost died when I heard Kay say that the reason Cairo was playing first and not Phillips was b/c if Cairo was the DH, and an infielder got hurt, they'd be in trouble. I don't know if he was repeating something he heard from Torre, but that's scary. Under no circumstances should Cairo be dh'ing. The proper lineup against Johan would have been Phillips at first, and Cairo at 2nd (getting Cano his rest against a very tough lefty). Bernie in right, and Sheff at DH.

This is a stretch, but I think that Torre should have given as many starters as possible the day off against this game. Johan vs. Wright is pretty lopsided, so why not put bubba and stinnett in the lineup as well, and assume the inevitable loss.

Regardless, the top of the 9th speaks for itself. Apparently, it's unclear as to whether Jeter did this on his own. If he did, i still blame Torre for not telling him that he's too good to bunt. Jeter has been an onbase machine this year, and shoudln't be giving away outs.

Top of 9th
	Runs: 0 Hits: 0 Errors: 0	- Yankees ninth. - Kubel in as right fielder. - Damon walked. - Rincon pitching.Damon stole second. - Jeter sacrificed, pitcher Rincon to first baseman Morneau, Damon to third. - Sheffield struck out. - Rodriguez popped out to second baseman Castillo.

Sunday was a no brainer.

4/13/06 Yanks 9, KC 3

Bottom of 6th
	Runs: 0 Hits: 1 Errors: 0	- Yankees sixth. - Sisco pitching. - Giambi struck out. - H.Matsui walked on four pitches. - B.Williams singled to right, H.Matsui to second. - R.Cano grounded into fielder's choice, third baseman E.German to second baseman Grudzielanek, H.Matsui to third, R.Cano to first, B.Williams out. - Stinnett struck out.

Since the Yanks have three catchers, and one of them can actually hit, maybe Posada should have pinch hit for Stinnett there. Just maybe.

[i wrote the above while the game was happening, and now that i've had more time to think about it, Torre also could have pinch hit with andy phillips. If he gets a hit, the game is blown open and you can put the third catcher in for Giambi's spot. Now that Torre has refused to let Phillips hit, i actually forget that he's on the team].

In the 7th inning, Torre let Myers face a righty sandwiched in between two lefties. This is doubly funny b/c Myers sucks against righties AND this is the kind of thing we should be tricking dumb managers into doing by spacing out Giambi and Matsui.

In the 8th inning of a then 4-1 game, Torre didn't bring in Farnsworth. Instead, he went with Sturtze, who, for the 2nd time in three games, gave up a lead-off home run.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, with the score 6-2, Torre still had Mariano warming. He finally sat down when it was 9-2, but he started warming up again in the 9th when it was 9-3 (granted there were runners on base, but there was already 1 out). Seriously, if KC can score 6 runs before they make two outs, you tip your cap to them and just pack it in, b/c clearly the rest of the bulpen is terrible.

Three Catchers

Most teams don't carry three catchers. The reason for this is that the only time you'd need a third catcher is if your 2nd one was DH'ing and the first one got hurt, or if you pulled the starting catcher and the 2nd one got hurt. How many times does this happen in a season? Less than 5? Less than 2? and if it did happen, all you'd have to do is throw someone behind the plate for the rest of the game. It might be an ugly few innings, but that's all it would be.

Anyway, the Yankees carry three catchers. And stinnett is catching today b/c Randy needs a personal catcher. So Posada is DH'ing. No wait, Bernie is DH'ing. Nevermind.

4/12/06 Yanks 12, KC 5

Bottom of the 5th, runners on 2nd and 3rd, and Cairo is up. Sitting Cano against tough lefties is a decent idea; playing "Cairo once a week to keep him fresh" is not a good idea. Regardless, with the score 6-5, this game is still very much in doubt. Clearly, Cano should have pinch hit for Cairo (there was now a righty on the mound).

Just b/c Cairo wound up getting the hit (and the game wound up being a blow out) does not mean Torre did not make a mistake.

4/11/06 Yanks 9, KC 7

One of these plays is not like the other, one of these plays doesn't belong.

New York - Bottom of 4th	Score
Mike Wood pitching for Kansas City	KAN	NYY
R Cano reached on infield single to pitcher.	4	4
B Williams singled to right, R Cano to second.	4	4
J Damon sacrificed to third, R Cano to third, B Williams to second.	4	4
D Jeter walked.	4	4
G Sheffield popped into double play, shortstop to second, B Williams doubled off second.	4	4
0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors

04/09/06 Yanks 10, Angels 1

Torre used Farnsworth in this game (or so i have read, i fell asleep). Probably would have made more sense not to use him, and guarantee that he will pitch 2 out of 3 against KC.

Who would be your backup 1st baseman?

Giambi is going to need a lot of time at DH because of his shaky health and even shakier defense. In fact, I would imagine (hope) that Giambi DHs at least during Wang's starts. But, the question is, who do you put at first base when Giambi is DH'ing?

A) Andy Phillips - 29 years old. Has been respectable in the minors.

B) Miguel Cairo - 32 years old. -6 VORP last year, with a 40% collapse rate according to Pecota.


Extra Credit: Apply the cliche that "if your DH is batting 9th, then you have the wrong guy dh'ing" theorm to 1st basemen in 200 words or less.


If Torre knows Cairo sucks enough to bat him 9th, why can't he take the next logical step and realize he shouldn't be playing at all? A 200 million payroll should not have their DH or 1st baseman batting 9th.

Pulling Giambi

There will be many games in which this happens, so I'm just going to mention it once to get it out of the way.

In a close game, Torre will pull Giambi for a pinch runner as early as the 6th or 7th inning. He has done this even w/ two outs in the inning. Often, his spot in the order will come up again in the 8th or 9th inning, but instead of one of the better hitters on the team, the Yankees will be forced to bat Cairo.

Lineup Construction: Lefties and Righties

Torre should go back and watch the Simpsons episode where Monty Burns was a manager.

So far, the general lineup for the Yankees has looked like this: L, L, R, R, R, L, L, S, S.

Granted, there is some slight propaganda here in that I'm putting #9 Cano in front of #1 Damon, but that's just for emphasis.

04/05/06 A's 9, Yankees 4 (i'm not watching the top of the 9th)

The game is 4-4 in the bottom of the 8th. Which pitcher do you use?


A) Farnsworth - pitched yesterday, but only 10 pitches.

B) Mo - still waiting to make his season debut.

C) Wright for his third inning.

Mind you, there is an off day tomm.

If you answered "wright first, but after he gives up two runs, THEN bring in Farnsworth" congratulations, you are Joe Torre.


Extra credit, please explain why Villone had to be rushed in his warmups even though everyone knew that lefty Dan Johnson was due up.

04/04/06 A's 4 - Yankees 3

Farnsworth pitches decently in the 8th inning (and throws only 10 pitches). The game is tied going into the bottom of the 9th.

Do you

A) Leave Farnsworth in to pitch the 9th

B) Bring Mo in.

C) Bring in a guy who's been across the country tending to his sick infant and who hasn't been on a mound in over a week?

Extra Credit:

Does your answer change after Proctor walks the first batter on four pitches? Why or why not?



Torre has now cost us 1 game, and the season is only two days old.