Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Yankees Amazing With Half a Minor League Lineup

The Good

AJ Burnett was ridiculous. 7.1 innings with 1 unearned run and 8 strikeouts gave him his 4th win of the season, and simply did not allow the Orioles any hope, dream, or aspiration. Burnett's batterymate, Francisco Cervelli proved why Cashman was a genius by going 3-3 with a triple and 2-runs scored. Cano had a pair of hits, but no one seemed to care.

Gardner stole a base, which puts him in 2nd place in the majors for stolen bases with 12. 1st in the AL.

The Bad

The bottom portion of our lineup was Marcus Thames, Brett Gardner, Francisco Cervelli, and Ramiro Pena. After taking the loss, the Orioles wept.

The Ugly

The weeping continued throughout the night, turning into wailing at times, and even escalating to gnashing of teeth. Jorge Posada happened upon the weeping Orioles, and offered them these consoling words: "You guys suck." The weeping continued.

The RJG Blog's Redemption

The RJG blog is donating one American dollar for every homerun hit by the Yankees this season to the Children's Health Fund. If you are interested in this cause, see the links to the CHF on the top right hand corner of this page.

Last night, Yankees manager Joe Girardi fielded a team that was half the triple A lineup and half the big league lineup. "I just looked at the triple A roster and was looking at mine and I came up with a brilliant idea. What if I just meshed these two lineups together, you know? What if I came up with a hybrid team of mercenary ninjas to protect the world from communism?" Explained Girardi. Though we did not understand the logic it did result in a win. However, it also resulted in zero homeruns, and will now start the rumors of Girardi's disdain for sick children.

Posada 5hr = $5
Granderson 2hr = $2
Cano 9hr = $9
Swisher 3hr = $3
Jeter 4hr = $4
Johnson 1hr = $1
Rodriguez 2hr = $2
Teixeira 2hr = $2
Thames 1hr = $1
Gardner 1hr = $1
Winn 1hr = $1
Total = $31

5 comments:

Jon Roberts said...

What's the deal with Cervelli? Can he be an everyday player? He certainly seems good enough behind the plate. Given the Yankees' depth at catcher he would seem to be pretty good trade bait if he looks to be a starter. I really want him to stick with the Yankees though. He is fun to watch play. He reminds me of Jeter early in his career. Just a guy who looks thrilled to be playing, with a lot of energy, with good instincts. I'm not saying he's a future hall of famer, but he seems like a good ballplayer. Plus the Yankees just look right with a little Italianish guy behind the plate.

If Cervellli keeps hitting, at what point do you want him in the lineup over NJ?

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

At this point I want just about anybody in the line-up over NJ.

Cervelli is a lot of fun to watch, and he may very well be capable of being an everyday catcher. I don't think the Yanks would trade him though until they are sure that either A: Jesus Montero can competently field the position; or B: Romine can competently hit at the Major League level. As much depth as the Yanks have at catcher, Cervelli is the only guy who has shown an ability to succeed, in whatever limited capacity, at this level. I suspect he'll be around through at least next season.

Could we see him in a regular DH role when he's not catching if NJ doesn't pick it up? Possibly. But I suspect Girardi would go with Thames or Winn in such a situation before he gave a kid with much less experience an every day job.

Jon Roberts said...

I was thinking that he would catch and Posada would DH. Jorge is a much better hitter than anybody on the bench. I think Cervelli is better behind the plate at this point though. My thoughts on trading him are basically if he proves to be capable every day and the Yankees only have a backup role for him, he could bring back more than his role will let him contribute. Would Chad Moeller plus a back of the bullpen guy be worth more than Cervelli?

The Mariners jump out as a team that really needs offense from somewhere and are getting none from their catchers and have a deep bullpen. They are also getting none from DH and maybe NJ could walk for them. I don't see much for needs on the Yankees, so I was really more wondering if Cervelli could play himself out of a clear role on the Yankees.

Cervelli and Vazquez for Lee and Gutierrez. Sounds like a win win to me. ;)

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Ah, Posada as the DH. It sounds great, but would never happen. At least not this year (unless Posada really starts playing exceptionally bad defense, and I mean exceptionally). Granted, during this run of calf-tightness, it might be worth considering (though Johnson hit a home run today; he seems to show just enough life to make people think he may be turning it around soon and thus that he should be kept in the line-up).

I do think the Yankees would consider trading Cervelli, but not this year. Moehler can't hit like Cervelli can, so you'd be trading not only a better offensive player (and that in the AL East) but a guy that the pitchers genuinely love (and who's cheap).

While the Lee deal would be tempting for Seattle, I think they'd ultimately worry that they would be seen as trading with their old buddy Kevin Towers's new team, so the price would have to be steep.

Anonymous said...

Trade Cevelli?
Are you nuts? We gt the Next Great Yankee Catcher here. Hell, Jorge spent a couple years backing up Girardi when he was good enough to play every day. It won't hurt anybody. Especially since Jorge is in the old-catcher-made-of-glass phase.
We can get another 2-3 years out of Jorge using him at catcher/DH/1st base.
Trading off Austin Jackson doesn't look near as smart as it did at the time.

Joe