Updated AL All-Star Ballot: Jeter and Cano Still Ahead

Balloting for the American League All-Star team is not over, not until July 1st, and the Yankees currently have two players with the most amount of votes for their positions, SS Derek Jeter and 2B Robinson Cano.

Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada are all in second place at their respective positions, but only Teixeira is close enough to still have a chance. In the outfield the Yankees don’t have anybody in the top three or four, but they are currently holding down spots five, six, and eight with Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Brett Gardner in those spots respectively.

Swisher has been putting together a great season so until the voting is over and done with I’m not going to count him out. He’s even campaigning for it using his Twitter account.

Here are the most recent numbers:

2010 MLB All-Star Balloting : American League
1st Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Justin Morneau	Twins	1,752,276
2.	Mark Teixeira	Yankees	1,507,769
3.	Miguel Cabrera	Tigers	1,426,973
4.	Kevin Youkilis	Red Sox	805,244
5.	Carlos Pena	Rays	620,001
2nd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Robinson Cano	Yankees	2,330,278
2.	Dustin Pedroia	Red Sox	1,227,495
3.	Ian Kinsler	Rangers	1,075,296
4.	Orlando Hudson	Twins	848,402
5.	Ben Zobrist	Rays	648,641
3rd Base
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Evan Longoria	Rays	2,534,967
2.	Alex Rodriguez	Yankees	1,571,831
3.	Michael Young	Rangers	1,007,165
4.	Adrian Beltre	Red Sox	608,447
5.	Brandon Inge	Tigers	530,882
Shortstop
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Derek Jeter	Yankees	2,692,418
2.	Elvis Andrus	Rangers	1,319,827
3.	J.J. Hardy	Twins	770,373
4.	Jason Bartlett	Rays	639,244
5.	Alex Gonzalez	Blue Jays	556,965
Catcher
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Joe Mauer	Twins	3,280,565
2.	Jorge Posada	Yankees	1,043,748
3.	Victor Martinez	Red Sox	689,568
4.	Taylor Teagarden	Rangers	433,413
5.	Gerald Laird	Tigers	366,922
Designated Hitter
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Vladimir Guerrero	Rangers	2,316,229
2.	Hideki Matsui	Angels	1,009,648
3.	David Ortiz	Red Sox	746,316
4.	Ken Griffey Jr.	Mariners	736,918
5.	Jason Kubel	Twins	654,269
Outfield
RANK	PLAYER NAME	AL TEAM	TOTAL VOTES
1.	Ichiro Suzuki	Mariners	1,567,788
2.	Carl Crawford	Rays	1,445,615
3.	Josh Hamilton	Rangers	1,431,013
4.	Nelson Cruz	Rangers	1,377,399
5.	Nick Swisher	Yankees	1,049,047
6.	Curtis Granderson	Yankees	967,003
7.	Torii Hunter	Angels	943,814
8.	Brett Gardner	Yankees	942,338
9.	Magglio Ordonez	Tigers	869,231
10.	B.J. Upton	Rays	831,580
11.	Vernon Wells	Blue Jays	820,377
12.	Michael Cuddyer	Twins	774,088
13.	Austin Jackson	Tigers	764,488
14.	Bobby Abreu	Angels	703,134
15.	Denard Span	Twins	691,164
Results updated: Monday, June 21, 2010

Yankees Notes: Sabathia, Teixeira, A-Rod, Posada, Moeller, and Father's Day

Mark Teixeira hit a 3rd inning grand slam and CC Sabathia pitched eight shutout innings as the Yankees beat the Mets 4-0 to win the weekend series two games to one.

Here are some notes:

• The Yankees are now in sole possession of 1st place and they alone have the best record in all of baseball.
• Sabathia is now 8-3 with a 3.68 ERA this year. His last two wins came against Roy Halladay and Johan Santana.
• Teixeira is 13-for-43 (.302), with 3 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 8 BB, 6 SO, .434 OBP over his last 12 games.
• The Yankees next six games will be played in NL parks with no DH. This leaves Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada as day-to-day players.
• The Yankees may make a roster change this week, but without the DH don’t expect backup catcher Chad Moeller to be sent down for another week.
• My dad does not read this blog, but I’d still like to wish him a happy Father’s Day. Zell’s Pinstripe Blog had a great post today to honor the Yankee dads.

So the Yankees and the Mets split the season Subway Series this season. I’m not surprised, the match-up was in the Mets favor the first time around and in the Yankees favor the second time around. I’ve been high on the Mets probably since they recalled Ike Davis, if they can add a big name pitcher, like Cliff Lee, it is possible that this isn’t the last time these two teams will face each other this season. Although you could probably say the same thing about every team in the NL East. Talk about parity, the National League has it this year.

Yankees Offensive Rankings

People have been bemoaning the Yankees offense for the past couple of days and even weeks. It’s true that their offense has been inconsistent of late, but with two of their biggest pieces Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez missing time that his to be expected. Overall though, their numbers look pretty good.

Tm	BatAge	R/G	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS ▾	OPS+
BOS	31.4	5.54	388	173	7	93	371	24	7	275	463	.279	.354	.469	.823	115
NYY	30.3	5.47	372	118	17	77	354	42	13	283	441	.276	.360	.440	.801	118
CIN	29.3	4.88	337	125	17	83	327	50	22	226	508	.276	.342	.449	.790	109
DET	29.7	4.57	306	143	11	60	287	27	8	235	447	.274	.343	.425	.768	104
MIL	28.6	4.82	328	131	15	83	311	40	10	248	502	.260	.336	.431	.767	107
MIN	28.6	4.78	325	132	15	59	305	30	7	271	388	.272	.348	.417	.766	106
	29.2	4.48	9181	3750	373	1907	8759	1284	481	6948	14210	.259	.330	.406	.735	97

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/20/2010.

These are the MLB offensive rankings entering today. As you can see the Yankees are second in runs scored, runs per game, and OPS slightly behind the Red Sox in every category. Their numbers are a deccent amount better than the rest of the league though. It is a little scary to see the Red Sox doing so well offensively being as that was supposed to be their weak point this season.

These numbers don’t tell the entire story though. Over the last 30 days these numbers have taken a hit. They have scored 135 runs (8th in MLB), 4.82 R/G, with an OPS of .774 (7th in MLB). Getting Posada and A-Rod back will help those numbers. If Mark Teixeira can stay hot (he’s hitting .300 with a 1.029 OPS over the past 11 games) that will also be a big boast.

They could add a bat to help sustain these numbers, but unfortunately they don’t really have an opening in the lineup. Their DH spot is open, but they may want to leave that open for Posada and they are still counting on Nick Johnson to return. Realistically their best avenue to add another bat will be on the bench where an upgrade over Ramiro Pena and Kevin Russo may be necessary.

Keep Your Faith in Mark Teixeira

When the Yankees signed Mark Teixeira about a year and a half ago one of the first things we were told about him was that he is a very slow starter and then he showed it by putting up a .738 OPS last April. Then we saw him rebound by putting up a 1.138 OPS in May and we never looked back.

So this season when Teixeira only managed a .559 OPS in the first month nobody was really concerned. Why should we be, most of us thought, he’ll rebound in May. That’s partially true, he did improve his OPS by almost .300 points to .840 for the month.

The problem is that his April 2010 was definitely worse than his April 2009 and his rebound in May was not nearly as impressive. To top that off he’s slumping again during the first five days in June (He’s 3-for-20 good for a .150 AVG and .427 OPS this month). At a certain point a slow start becomes a bad year and maybe we haven’t gotten to that point just yet, but we are inching uncomfortably close to it.

For those fans who are starting to sweat when Teixeira comes to the plate, there are reasons to expect that he’ll turn it around soon. All of his peripheral numbers are at or close to his career averages, even with five strikeouts yesterday, and this is a good sign that his approach hasn’t changed. He just seems to be running into an extraordinary amount of bad luck.

The first things to look at are his BABIP and his LD% (batting average on balls in play and line drive percentage for those unfamiliar with those stats). His BABIP is .235 right now down from his career average of .304. This shows us that he’s getting incredibly unlucky as even poor hitters usually average around .300 BABIP. At some point there should be a correction here and his average will go way up along with it. His LD% is also at 20.1% right now compared to his career average of 20.4%. This means that he is hitting the ball with the same authority as he has his entire career. He’s just not finding spots.

There are also his walk and strikeout rates to consider. Teixeira has a BB% of 12.9 and a K% of 20.5 this season. Those numbers are almost identical to his career averages of 11.4 and 20.5, if anything he’s actually walking slightly more than he has in his career. This shows that he hasn’t changed his approach at the plate or expanded his strike zone.

Finally another good thing to look at is his home run to fly ball rate or HR/FB. This number is at 11.3% right now meaning that 11.3 percent of his fly balls turn into home runs. This number is down from his career mark of 18.5%. This statistic relies heavily on luck so the fact that his fly balls are leaving the ballparks at a less frequent rate this year shows that he is getting incredibly unlucky.

The point of this post is to point out that fans should not give up on Teixeira. He’s taking the same approach at the plate and not making it easier for pitchers to get him out by expanding his strike zone. His BABIP and HR/FB ratio show that up to this point he is getting incredibly unlucky. Five strikeout games sound bad, but his K% is still the same as its ever been.

Be patient, he’ll come around.

Yankees Notes: Holding onto Rivera, Thames, Winn, and the Draft

The Yankees lost to the Blue Jays 3-2 yesterday in the 14th inning. Chad Gaudin was on the mound when they lost with Mariano Rivera fully rested and waiting in the bullpen. I’ll never understand why you would ever use such an inferior reliever with Mo waiting. Play for the win, not the statistic. I get it that the idea is that you want to extend the game, but you do that with your setup men and not your mop-up guy.

Here are some notes:

• Joe Girardi’s excuse for not using Rivera was that he wasn’t willing to use him for two innings.
• Mark Teixeira got the old “Titanium Sombrero” by striking out 5 times.
• Andy Pettitte struggled in the middle innings, but still managed 7.2 IP and only 2 ER. His ERA is 2.47.
• Marcus Thames was a last minute scratch because of a stiff neck. It doesn’t sound like anything serious.
• Recently released outfielder Randy Winn signed with the Cardinals.
• The amateur draft starts on Monday, here is a draft preview courtesy of MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.

I hate the save statistic. I can’t imagine that if there is no such stat that managers would wait to use their best reliever until last while on the road. That would just be stupid.

Yankees Notes: Vazquez, Joba, Teixeira, Posada

Behind a strong performance from Javier Vazquez (4-5, 6.06) the Yankees beat the Orioles 3-1 thanks to a costly two-run error by Miguel Tejada late in the game.

Here are some notes:

• Vazquez was most impressive getting out of trouble in his final inning. His line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR.
• Joba Chamberlain pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning with good velocity and good movement.
• Mark Teixeira left the game yesterday in the 3rd inning after he took a foul ball off his foot. X-rays were negative. Expect him to be day-to-day.
• Jorge Posada expected to be activated yesterday and was upset when he wasn’t. Now he’s expected to return as the DH against the Blue Jays this weekend.

Here is how I see the Joba/Vazquez situation right now. If Vazquez is pitching well than there is no situation. If he isn’t and Joba isn’t clearly better in the bullpen than in the rotation, and he hasn’t been, than the Yankees focus should be on his future in the rotation. So right now this situation is moot, the Yankees need Joba in the pen and Vazquez is going OK. If Vazquez were struggling or the Yankees had more bullpen depth I’d hope he was in the minors.

That’s not the situation though so for now I’ll drop the Joba talk and deal with his inconsistencies in the pen.

This weekend’s lineup should be a good one if Posada is back. Not if Teixeira doesn’t play though. Look at this lineup though:

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Easily their best since Curtis Granderson went on the DL.

Stats: Mark Teixeira Heating Up in May

I don’t know what the deal with this guy is as this is something that is very hard to explain, but Mark Teixeira goes from one of the worst hitters in April to one of the best hitters in the entire league from May 1st on.

Here are his pathetic April numbers: 22 G, 81 AB, 11 R, 11 H, 2 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 17 BB, 18 SO, .136 BA, .300 OBP, .259 SLG, .559 OPS.

Here are his gaudy May numbers: 12 G, 50 AB, 8 R, 15 H, 2 2B, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 6 BB, 8 SO, .300 BA, .375 OBP, .580 SLG, .955 OPS.

I just don’t get it. How can somebody who is generally so consistent throughout his career just suck so badly in April. Whatever the reason, I guess it is better that he gets it over with and he doesn’t just randomly suck for a month during the stretch run.

Yankees Notes: The What Did I Miss? Edition

Hey BBD readers, if you haven’t noticed I have been gone since Sunday, I was off getting engaged, so I haven’t paid any attention whatsoever to the Bombers. The crew here has done a great job keeping you updated on the daily ins-and-outs and what-have-yous, but for my own sake, and the sake of anyone else who might have missed the last couple of days, I figured I’d run down some of the recent happenings.

• First of all, we had our Free Ticket Giveaway officially end Thursday/Friday night. We had close to 300 people enter the contest which I think is pretty good for my first attempt at a contest like that. Give me a couple of days and I promise I’ll officially announce the winner by this Friday.
• Curtis Granderson landed himself on the DL and could miss a month or more with a strained groin. Mark Melancon was called up in his place which is odd considering that the Yankees are short an outfielder now and are carrying 13 pitchers with the least used bullpen in all of baseball.
• It’s also odd since Jorge Posada left Monday’s game with a calf strain. It doesn’t look like he’s DL bound, but as long as they’re calling people up it would make sense to call catcher Chad Moeller up.
• Although, according to Donnie Collins of the Scranton Times-Tribune, the Yankees are actually expected to make a roster move soon, but it won’t be for Moeller. Instead outfielder Greg Golson is expected to get the call.
• When reading about Golson getting the call up I came across another interesting bit, infielder Kevin Russo is actually filling in for him at center field. He’s never played there before, but I really like to hear that potential bench parts give themselves more options like this. The Yankees don’t have a lot of outfield depth in the minors and if Russo can pick up a new position he could have an easier path to the Bronx.
• Mariano Rivera also sat last night as Joba Chamberlain picked up his first save of the season. We were not aware of this until after the game, but apparently he was sitting last night thanks to some tightness on his left side.
• Of course there is also Javier Vazquez getting his next start skipped and Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira received their gold gloves. So don’t miss those stories.

I think that’s all of it. Was there anything else I missed?

Game 25: Yanks Dominate Orioles; Jeter and Tex Receive Gold Gloves

Dear Curtis, we’re doing fine without you. Love, your fellow outfielders.

In probably the fastest game of the season, the Yankees beat the Orioles 4-1 quite easily, on the day where Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter finally received their Gold Gloves.

Matt Wieters gave the O’s a 1-0 lead in the second with a rocket over the wall in right. In the fourth, Nick Swisher drove in Alex Rodriguez with a two-out single. After a Brett Gardner single, Randy Winn hit his first home run since April 25 of last season (numbers 11, 22, 33 all scored on the play). The Yanks took a 4-1 lead and never looked back. Jorge Posada, however, left in the fifth with a tight right calf. CC Sabathia cruised right along for 8 innings and the win, and Joba Chamberlain recorded his first save since September 23, 2007. Although Joba only walked one batter, he didn’t look to fit the role (I don’t know if you’ll agree with me).

Final Score: Yankees 4, Orioles 1.

Notes:

• Swisher: 3-3, RBI  R (9 for last 13)
• Winn: 1-3, HR  3 RBI
• Gardner: 1-2, BB  R
• Sabathia: 8 IP  6 H  1 ER  2 K  2 BB  1 HR
• Chamberlain: 1 IP  1 K  1 BB
• Guthrie: 7 IP  6 H  4 ER  2 K  2 BB
• Time of Game: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Yankees Record: 17-8 (8-2 home)

Around the AL East:

– Red Sox: 17, Angels: 8

– Toronto: 5, Cleveland: 1

– Tampa Bay: off

What Do Early Struggles/Success Mean for Teixeira and Cano?

Early in the Yankees season the two biggest stories in the Bronx have been the April struggles of Mark Teixeira, again, and the hot start by the Yankees new number five hitter in the order, Robinson Cano. Last season both players had similar starts to their seasons but what do these starts mean for them this year?

Mark Teixeira

April 2010: 20 GP 10 hits 2 HR 9 RBI 15 BB 18 K .133 AVG

April 2009: 19 GP 14 hits 3 HR 10 RBI 17 BBs 12 K .200 AVG

May 2009: 28 GP 38 hits 13 HR 34 RBI 10 BB 24 K .330 AVG

What this means: Last April was the worst opening month of Teixeira’s career, and then this season started. Teixeira’s ’09 April is a MVP month compared to this April as Teixeira’s average is 67 points lower this April. Yes his HR and RBI numbers will likely still be at the norm for Tex come September, but his average it seems like may suffer due to his start. If Mark has a May identical to the one he had last season his average will be at .252 (after May last season his average went up to .281). If Mark wants to get to at least where he was last year he will probably have to have three months like his 2009 September (when he hit .343). Some people don’t care to much about average but would you be OK with Teixeira putting up 2006 Jason Giambi numbers (37 HR 113 RBI .253 AVG)? In my opinion as long as Mark’s situational numbers  are up at the end of the season the Yankees can survive a steep dip in his average.

Robinson Cano

April 2010: 20 GP 30 hits 6 HR 15 RBI 6 BB 10 K .390 AVG

April 2009: 22 GP 34 hits 5 HR 16 RBI 6 BBs 9 K .366 AVG

May 2009: 28 GP 31 hits 4 HR 15 RBI 4 BB 6 K .272 AVG

What this means: Last April with A-Rod out the Yankees struggled, but they stayed afloat due to some guys, like Cano, having hot starts to the season. Then coming into this year people saw the potential for even bigger things from Cano, because of the departure of Hideki Matsui he would get a chance to bat fifth and he hasn’t disappointed. Cano early on has done the impossible by topping his April 2009 with a monstrous start to the 2010 season. When he comes up no one watching expects him to get out, and his .390 average through 20 games leads the entire MLB. The only trips in Cano’s step last season were his May/June numbers where he hit a still very respectable .272 and .270 respectively. Cano in his career has always warmed up with the weather, hitting 37 points higher post all star game then pre-all star game and those pre numbers will be the key to his season. If Cano can keep his “bad” months to one instead of two he will likely have a season just like his 2006 where he hit .342. It is hard to imagine Cano slowing down looking very comfortable in his new spot in the order. My guess is Cano will compete with his 2006 numbers and likely even make a strong case for AL MVP.

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