{"id":7830,"date":"2010-09-04T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2010-09-04T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=7830"},"modified":"2010-09-06T09:36:48","modified_gmt":"2010-09-06T16:36:48","slug":"late-summer-concerns-of-a-yankee-fan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/04\/late-summer-concerns-of-a-yankee-fan\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Summer Concerns of a Yankee Fan"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve finished up a master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s degree and changed my relationship status to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153married.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a ton of time to watch my beloved Yankees, but I have observed as they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve compiled the best record in the majors, along with the best run-differential in the league.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in first place in the AL East and are aiming towards another postseason berth.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t relax.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Lieutenant Chekhov from Wrath of Khan<\/em>, I feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little bug in my ear, gnawing at my brain.\u00c2\u00a0 What is it about this 2010 season that has me looking towards October uneasily?<\/p>\n

Speaking of the calendar,<\/strong> around this time of year, I always find myself in awe of the chronology of the baseball season.\u00c2\u00a0 As an experienced baseball fan, I know you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not supposed to get bogged down in every detail of every game.\u00c2\u00a0 However, just like removing Entourage <\/em>from my DVR queue, avoiding this is easier said than done.<\/p>\n

A week ago, the Yankees were stumbling out of a stretch in the schedule that should have been a breeze.\u00c2\u00a0 Between the 12th<\/sup> and 25th<\/sup> of August, the Yankees played thirteen games against Kansas City, Detroit, Seattle, and Toronto, who were a combined 41 games below .500.\u00c2\u00a0 (Note: Toronto was actually 6 games above .500).\u00c2\u00a0 In that time, the Yankees went 8-6, hit .266 with an .814 OPS, and averaged 7.3 men left on base per game.\u00c2\u00a0 They were able to put zero space between themselves and the Tampa Bay Rays, and looked like they were ready to wilt in the heat of August.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I was this close to pulling a Goose and Maverick and hitting the eject button.<\/p>\n

Then the Yankees rattled off seven straight wins.\u00c2\u00a0 In that time, the bats have come alive.\u00c2\u00a0 New York is hitting .314, with a .406 OBP, and a .966 OPS.\u00c2\u00a0 C.C. Sabathia has continued his consistent dominance of the American League, and spot-starters Dustin Moseley and Ivan Nova have contributed admirably.\u00c2\u00a0 The Yanks have re-taken sole possession of first place in the AL East, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sleeping a little sounder at night.<\/p>\n

However, due to a few major concerns, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not ready to start ordering my 2011 World Series t-shirts just yet.<\/p>\n

Concern 1: Curtis Granderson, Javier Vazquez, and Nick Johnson<\/strong>
\nThe cast from Jersey Shore<\/em> has MVP (Mike, Vinny, and Paulie); Brian Cashman has the three-headed monster of JVC (Johnson, Vazquez, and Curtis).\u00c2\u00a0 These were the three big name pick-ups made by Cashman at the beginning of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 Each \"\"<\/a>acquisition came with his own caveat.\u00c2\u00a0 Yankee fans from all over could be heard muttering, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If only Granderson could hit lefties,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If only Johnson can stay healthy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If only Vazquez could be consistently good like he was last year with the Braves.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The problem with that type of wishful thinking is that it effectively ignores the past performances and career numbers of three pretty established professional baseball players.\u00c2\u00a0 When I watch True Blood <\/em>on Sunday nights, I know what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to get: Southern accents, sex, violence, a whole lot of blood, and maybe Anna Paquin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nipples.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not looking for political commentary or a well-researched presentation of post-Katrina Louisiana.<\/p>\n

The same should be said about JVC.\u00c2\u00a0 During his first tour in pinstripes in 2004, Javier Vazquez went from being the first pitcher in the league to win 10 games to spending much of October in the bullpen.\u00c2\u00a0 In the nine seasons Nick Johnson has played in the big leagues, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been able to play in an average of 88 games per season.\u00c2\u00a0 And in his seven seasons, Curtis Granderson has hit a paltry .217 against left-handed pitchers.\u00c2\u00a0 At this point, is it really any surprise that Johnson will spend the rest of the season on the DL, Vazquez is battling Moseley and Nova for his starting job, and Granderson has hit only .250 against lefties?\u00c2\u00a0 There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reason why we keep these statistics.<\/p>\n

To quote Dennis Green<\/a>, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are who we thought they were!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Concern 2: A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte
\n<\/strong>A.J. Burnett has been downright bad.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m talking Two and a Half Men<\/em> bad.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been almost as bad at pitching as Sasha Grey has been at acting in this season of Entourage<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performed so poorly, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made Adrian Grenier look like Marlon Brando.\u00c2\u00a0 Burnett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performed so poorly, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made C.C. Sabathia look like Bob Gibson.\u00c2\u00a0 A portly Bob Gibson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Before going on the DL with a strained groin, Pettitte was having one of his best statistical years as a major league pitcher.\u00c2\u00a0 He had a 2.88 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 2.37 K\/BB ratio, and an 11-2 record.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s integral to the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 postseason success, and he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t thrown a major league pitch in 47 days and counting.<\/p>\n

So, going into September, the Yankees have a rotation of Sabathia, Phil Hughes who is up against a strict innings cap, a self-destructing A.J. Burnett, an injured Andy Pettitte, and the question marks of Vazquez, Moseley, and Nova.<\/p>\n

(Wandering over to the corner of the living room, assuming the fetal position, and rocking back and forth.)<\/p>\n

Concern 3: Derek Jeter
\n<\/strong>This is the one that stands out over the long term.\u00c2\u00a0 Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contract is up at the end of the season.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 36 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 Remember, age 36 in 2010 is not the same as 36 may have been during the steroid era.\u00c2\u00a0 Players are aging naturally again.\u00c2\u00a0 No more Benjamin Button-like power numbers at forty years old.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, Shortstops just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t age gracefully.\u00c2\u00a0 Few have been productive offensively and defensively in their late thirties without moving to another position.<\/p>\n

By 37, Barry Larkin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offensive productivity had severely dropped.\u00c2\u00a0 After he turned thirty, Robin Yount made the transition to the outfield.\u00c2\u00a0 By his mid-thirties, Cal Ripken Jr. was primarily a third baseman.\u00c2\u00a0 Even Phil Rizzuto was splitting time between short and second in his final years.<\/p>\n

After a tremendous 2009 season, Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s showing his age a little more this year.\u00c2\u00a0 His batting average has dropped from .334 to .266, so has his OBP, falling from .465 to .373.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite his struggles, Jeter remains the face of the organization.\u00c2\u00a0 If the Yankees did not sign Jeter at the end of the year, there are not enough spin-doctors in the world to be able to help them recover from the PR nightmare that would envelope the Bronx.<\/p>\n

However, the Yankees have invested the GDP of a few small countries in Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira at first and third.\u00c2\u00a0 Brett Gardner (LF\/CF) and Robinson Cano (2B) aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going anywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 Jeter also seems reluctant to move from his home at short.\u00c2\u00a0 This could all come to a head at the negotiating table this winter.<\/p>\n

It could also lead to Jeter pressing in big spots in October to try to prove his worth to the club.\u00c2\u00a0 If that happens, he could lose his ability to come through in the clutch.<\/p>\n

In case you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a little nervous for the coming months.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll watch an episode of True Blood<\/em> to calm my nerves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve finished up a master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s degree and changed my relationship status to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153married.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a ton of time to watch my beloved Yankees, but I have observed as they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve compiled the best record in the majors, along with the best run-differential in the league.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in first place in the AL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,9,4235],"tags":[273,514,3145,10542,10544,3716,10543,10545,10541,10549,10548,1692,2369,10540,7761,2257,4532,10539,8825,6531],"class_list":["post-7830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-general","category-top-stories","tag-baseball-fan","tag-baseball-season","tag-c-c-sabathia","tag-chekhov","tag-chronology","tag-dominance","tag-entourage","tag-lieutenant","tag-little-bug","tag-maverick","tag-moseley","tag-obp","tag-postseason-berth","tag-relationship-status","tag-sole-possession","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-time-of-year","tag-wrath-of-khan","tag-yankee-fan","tag-yanks"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}