Joel Sherman's Hardball

Joel Sherman's Hardball

3UP: Robertson, Hughes, Burnett

September 08, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

1. In Thursday’s Post I wrote this column saying that some similarities to Mariano Rivera’s cutter have moved David Robertson into all kinds of positive directions: 1) To Rivera’s main set-up man. 2)... Read on

1. In Thursday’s Post I wrote this
	 columnsaying that some similarities to Mariano Rivera’s cutter have moved David Robertson into all kinds of positive directions: 1) To Rivera’s main set-up man. 2) To a vital piece if the Yankees are going to win a championship this year. 3) To potentially be the successor for Rivera.
	 
Robertson acknowledged the obvious, that he does not have the mastery of the cutter of Rivera; noting in particular Rivera’s dynamic/unrelenting ability to stay on top of the baseball. Still, Robertson said that gaining better control of the pitch has been a key to his season. In his first 19 appearances, covering 16 2/3 innings, Robertson walked an unsightly 15. But in his 42 subsequent outings, covering 41 2/3 innings, Robertson has just 16.
	 
And his strikeouts – including three in three batters Wednesday – are just spectacular. He has fanned 89 in 58 1/3 innings, which translates to 13.73 per nine innings. That would be the 10th-highest total for anyone who has ever pitched that many innings in a season. But the only pitcher to ever strike out this many per nine inning and have a lower ERA than Robertson’s current 1.23 was Eric Gagne in his dynamic 2003 season when he averaged 14.98 strikeouts per nine innings with a 1.20 ERA.
	 
Just to give you an idea what both numbers mean for Robertson in context of the Yankees, his strikeout per-nine-inning total is the best in team history for this number of innings and by a wide margin. Ryne Duren currently holds the complete-season record at 11.22 strikeouts per nine innings in 1959. The next-highest figure actually comes from Jeff Nelson (11.02) in 1996. Rivera has the third-best total in Yankee history at 10.87 in 1996, and what makes that interesting is that it is the only time in his career he averaged in double figures and he did it – like Robertson – as a set-up man, not a closer. Joba Chamberlain is next at 10.58 in 2008 and Robertson’s 10.42 from last year ranks fifth.
	 
It is a reminder that Robertson has been a big-time strikeout pitcher since the moment he arrived to the Yankees. He has whiffed 259 in 193 2/3 innings, which translates to 12.04 strikeouts per nine innings. Among Yankee pitchers who have worked at least 190 innings in their career, Robertson’s mark is the best followed by Duren’s 11.17, Jeff Nelson’s 9.67, Joba Chamberlain’s 9.09, David Cone’s 8.67, Goose Gossage’s 8.65, Roger Clemens’ 8.27 and Rivera is eighth at 8.25.
	 
Obviously 192 2/3 innings is not a lot. But if you look in major-league history at those who have pitched at least that much, only Rob Dibble’s 12.17 strikeouts per nine innings is higher than Robertson’s. And the rest of the top five is kind of intriguing, as well: Brad Lidge (12.04), Billy Wagner (11.92) and John Rocker (11.70).
	 
2. The inclusion of Rocker on that list is a reminder that the burnout quickly rate is pretty high among relievers. Rivera’s career is a testament not only to great stuff, but unreal durability. And so when it comes to Robertson being an heir apparent, it is an enticing storyline now, but the Yankees have been teased before.
	 
Remember it was not too long ago that Chamberlain was seen as a potential heir to Rivera. And the way that Phil Hughes pitched in 2009 in relief – coincidentally with the heavy use of a cutter – made it feel like he, too, could be in line to be Rivera’s ultimate replacement. But, of course, this did not play out in a positive way, as we are left to wonder if the bouncing from starter to reliever – particularly for Joba – hurt both men.
	 
Chamberlain is now rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and Hughes still cannot maintain his best fastball with consistency. I would be curious if the Yankees switched him to the bullpen now if Hughes could actually get back to throwing 94-95 mph for 20-30 pitches and be a postseason factor in that role. It is one reason why you might ultimately see the end of the six-man rotation for the Yankees because they want to see if Hughes can still be a relief force.
	 
3. I get that A.J. Burnett has a lively curveball with the kind of bite that makes it dive with great spin into the dirt and, thus, cause wild pitches. But he has reached an absurd level.
	 
Burnett threw three more wild pitches Wednesday and now has 23 on the season. That is 10 more than anyone else in the majors. It is already the most anyone has thrown in the majors since Matt Clement also threw 23 in 1990. It ties the Yankee record Tim Leary set in 1990. It is six more wild pitches than the Philadelphia Phillies have thrown as a staff this year.
	 
And you would have to say that Burnett has established himself historically as a Yankees wild man. With the three wild pitches Wednesday, Burnett – in under three years with the team – reached 56 wild pitches as a Yankee, which moved him by Andy Pettitte (54) and into a tie with Ron Guidry for third all-time behind only Mel Stottlemyre (57) and Whitey Ford (75). Of course, Ford, Stottlemyre, Pettitte and Guidry rank, respectively, first, third, fourth and seventh all-time in Yankees innings pitched.
	 
Burnett ranks 76th all-time in Yankees innings.

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3UP: Rain delays, Cano, Strasburg

September 07, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

1. I feel obligated to start here: I feel I am an advocate for the fans. I want to get correct information out to you accurately, quickly and with as much entertainment value as possible. I want to do my job with you in mind because, really, there is no job without your passion and interest.
	 
But I have to also say this, though it seemingly runs counter to being your advocate: If you bought a ticket to last night’s Yankee game, I do not feel bad for you. I think at this point if you are hoping for the goodwill of a team or a league then you are fool. The precedent has been set and set again, and set pretty much infinitum. The teams and leagues will talk about acting in your best interest, but they will not. They are going to behave in a way that is most financially prudent and convenient for them. You are, at best, an afterthought.
	 
So it is up to you decide if you are willing to put yourself at their mercy and, if you do, well, sorry, but I do not want to hear the complaining. My advice would be to stop buying the tickets, as self-defeating as that is to my job. But, again, if you buy it, you have to hope for benevolence that is essentially not going to come. The prices will be too expensive for a large contingent of the most avid fans. The games will start when they start. They will last as long as they will last. You will get lip service that this is all for you, but it is for the people thickening their wallets. Which is not you.
	 
I wish this were not true. I remember what a joy it was for my dad to take me to games when I was young. It is an experience I would hope is available to anyone who wants it. But the price is higher now – both in dollars and in expense to your soul. It is a lottery and if you buy a ticket on the wrong day then it is possible that game will start four hours after the listed time, end at 2:15 in the morning and the rain will soak you throughout – unless you hide away at one of those indoor restaurants or bars that will be just another place in which the team has its hand in your pocket.
	 
These are the rules of engagement now. Buyer beware. The teams and the leagues cannot be shamed into putting you first, and so it is up to you to strike back. If you don’t, if you decide to roll those dice that all will go well on the date of purchase then what can I say? The warnings are pretty established now. Good luck.
	 
2. The ending time of Tuesday’s game – or should it be Wednesday’s game, since it ended at 2:15 a.m. – motivated Yankees manager Joe Girardi to construct a lineup Wednesday that had as much to do with Triple-A Scranton as the Yankees. But still it was a surprise not to see Robinson Cano’s name listed.
	 
Since the beginning of the 2007 season, Cano has played in 779 games. The only two players to appear in more were Prince Fielder (783) and Adrian Gonzalez (782). And both are first basemen not enduring the rigors of the middle infield.
	 
I believe that durability is the most underappreciated tool in the game because none of the five traditional tools – hitting, hitting with power, fielding, throwing and baserunning – mean anything if you can’t get on the field. I remember when I covered the Yankees as a beat writer and Danny Tartabull used to mention all the time how special his numbers were if you pro-rated them over 162 games. He did it as a brag. But it merely underscored how unreliable Tartabull was in getting on the field. He lacked the passion and/or sturdiness to be on the field daily.
	 
This was the crux, by the way, of GM Brian Cashman’s reasoning on calling Cano, not Jose Reyes, the best player in New York during the second series of this year’s Subway Series. Yes, Reyes was in the midst – at the moment – of an MVP-type season. But Cashman thought the title of best player in New York should be about more than just one good half season, but a reflection of a larger body of work and Cano wins there because his excellence is expressed day after day, month after month, year after year. Of course, to underscore the point, Reyes has broken down in the second half while Cano has kept playing and playing.
	 
It is one of the keys to the Yankees’ long-term success: They have been blessed by having superb players who also have been among the games most durable such as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte just to name several of the many key, sturdy players.
	 
3. Stephen Strasburg delivered a rousing 2011 debut Tuesday in his return from Tommy John surgery. He hit 99 mph with his fastball, threw his changeup at 90 mph, pitched five shutout innings and actually had his control, throwing 40 of 56 pitches for strikes and walking no Dodgers.
	 
It is a calling card for what is possible moving forward, and a particularly strong signal to the Mets. For as they are figuring out how to climb the NL East mountain, the Mets’ eyes cannot be exclusively on the Phillies and Braves. The Nationals are a potential, burgeoning power. They have an interesting mix of young players, have shown a willingness to spend big (though maybe not wisely on Jayson Werth), and in Strasburg and Bryce Harper they just might have the two most dynamic youngsters in the division – and perhaps the sport (apologies to Mike Stanton and, perhaps, Jason Heyward).
	 
Until they prove it in the majors with consistency – again, think of someone such as Cano – then Strasburg and Harper come with some level of uncertainty. But there seems little doubt about their talent and how it could impact the Nationals, the NL East and the major leagues.
	 
And here is something I keep thinking about: What if the Nationals are the team that signs Jose Reyes? When I ask officials around the sport for a list of teams they imagine being players for Reyes, the Nationals are routinely in the discussion, especially since their current shortstop, Ian Desmond, has regressed this year. There had been anticipation that Washington would be the big bidder for free agent Prince Fielder, fueled particularly by the Nats’ success in landing many Scott Boras clients, including Strasburg and Harper.
	 
But Michael Morse has had a breakout year at first for the Nationals. He can definitely move back to the outfield. But Washington could decide that its money would be better spent on keeping Morse at first and signing Reyes; especially since it would so badly hurt a fellow NL East team. The Nationals also have Adam LaRoche signed for $8 million next year and could try to keep him at first, move Morse back to the outfield (at least temporarily) and try to sign Reyes.
	 
But, with Reyes or without him, Washington is going to be a factor in the division moving forward if Strasburg and Harper honor their talents; which means they are yet another obstacle to contention for the Mets.

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3UP: Montero, Jones, Gardner

September 06, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

1. Jesus Montero was promoted to the Yankees with two great hopes in mind: 1) He would continue his dominance against lefty pitching from the minors and make the Yankees even more bulletproof against southpaws in the playoffs. 2) He would continue his second-half surge from the minors and give what already was the highest-scoring team in the majors yet another strong bat for October.
	 
We think of the Yankees as building for their park with lefty hitting and, thus, being strong against righty pitching and somewhat susceptible to southpaws. But, at 32-13, the Yankees’ .711 winning percentage is second best in the majors against lefties to the .757 of the Phillies (28-9).
	 
Why are the Yankees so good against lefties? Well, they have two lefties – Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson – who do big damage against lefties; two switch-hitters – Nick Swisher and Mark Teixiera – who do big damage against lefties; a iconic player – Derek Jeter – who even in the worst of times personally continued to do big damage against lefties; and a southpaw-hitting specialist – Andruw Jones – who does big damage against lefties.
	 
Each of those players has an OPS of .895 or better against lefty pitching. How distinct is that? Only one other team has even four players (minimum 100 plate appearances vs. lefties) at .895 or better, and that is the Red Sox with Jed Lowrie, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis.
	 
Consider this: The entire NL East has four players at .895 or better.
	 
Montero hit .328 with a 1.039 OPS in 116 at-bats against lefty pitching at Triple-A. So you can see how the Yankees lineup gets lengthened if, for example, they face the Rangers in the AL Division Series because Texas will have no fewer than two lefty starters and two lefty relievers.
	 
But what will be more interesting is if Montero ends up the full-time DH, which is certainly a possibility. It helps his cause that he hit two clutch homers Monday off Orioles righty Jim Johnson, who had given up one homer in 139 at-bats against righty batters going into Labor Day.
	 
Over the course of this month, the Yankees will decide if Eric Chavez or Jorge Posada offer better at-bats and more production value against lefty pitching than Montero. But Montero is clearly in play and more days like his Monday are going to make him the full-time DH for the playoffs.
	 
2. Jones was signed specifically to provide heft against lefty pitching. The Yankees had hoped he would be Marcus Thames, but with an ability to hold his own on defense that Thames did not have. But Jones has turned into a greater asset than anticipated. And that is after I truly believed, early in the season, the veteran would be fortunate to make it to June 1 without being released. I assumed the Yankees would have to find a righty-hitting bat by the July 31 trade deadline, especially after Posada’s bat went dead against lefty pitching.
	 
But Jones, if anything, has expanded his role as the year has gone along. Think about this: Since the All-Star break, Jones has a 1.085 OPS. The only player in the majors higher than that (minimum 75 plate appearances) is Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki at 1.107. What is surprising is that in that timeframe – admittedly one that remains a small sample – Jones has actually done well against righties, as well. He is 6-for-23 with five walks and three homers, good for a .393 on-base percentage and a .652 slugging percentage. Keep in mind that even with that surge, Jones is hitting .186 with a .286 on-base percentage and a .395 slugging percentage vs. righties for the season.
	 
Jones has made alterations to his swing that have helped. But two members of the organization told me recently they believe it is about more than that: Jones likes being a Yankee and recognized that to continue to play for the team he had to join the culture of work and extra work that is part of the organization. Jones has been floating through the latter stages of his career, but he seems fully invested now. And the trade off, the two members of the organization said, is not only is he performing better, but he is good for the psyche of the club. Jones is a very confident player and a veteran comfortable with the camaraderie that helps in enduring the daily grind that is the baseball season.
	 
Jones also is sprucing his credentials for employment next year and perhaps helping his Hall of Fame candidacy. Jones’ road to Cooperstown is going to be based on being one of the great defensive center fielders in history while providing power. He no longer is capable of playing center (though it should be said he is handling the corner outfield spots with better defense than scouts say they saw in his previous stop with the White Sox). But he is padding his power numbers. He has 418 homers. Because he started so young at 19, it is easy to assume Jones is older than 34. So he may have several years in front of him as at a minimum a well-used platoon player. And the closer he gets to 500 homers, the better he is going to look to Hall voters.
	 
3. Brett Gardner has proven to be a streaky a player on offense, suffering longer stretches of ineffectiveness than you would anticipate for a player with his speed. But his defense never slumps.
	 
I have always wondered why there is not one overall defensive player of the year for either the whole sport or each league. If there were, Gardner would definitely be in play with others such as Tulowitzki, a brilliant shortstop.
	 
You don’t often think of a left fielder for elite defense. In fact, there are times teams might try to hide an iffy defender there. But in the spacious left field of Yankee Stadium, Gardner provides a second center fielder. In fact, I suspect that Gardner is actually a better center fielder than Granderson. If you watch the Yankees daily, you see how many hits and extra-base hits Gardner takes away. There is no perfect system for identifying the skill. But I think you could safely assume 20 hits, including 8-10 for extra bases, that Gardner has taken away that an average fielder would not have reached. Now add those totals to Gardner’s offense and you get a feel for his overall value.

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3UP: Montero, Burnett, Hughes

September 01, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

1. The Rangers acquired Mike Gonzalez yesterday. Jesus Montero is scheduled to join the Yankees today. These are not completely unrelated stories.As I was first to report in this blog space yesterday... Read on

1. The Rangers acquired Mike Gonzalez yesterday. Jesus Montero is scheduled to join the Yankees today. These are not completely unrelated stories.
	 
As I was first to report in this blog space yesterday, the Yankees are promoting Montero with rosters allowed to expand to 40. And as I wrote in this
	 columnin today’s Post, Montero is going to receive a legitimate shot to play regularly and, thus, try to earn a prominent role come the playoffs. Montero will, at the least, be given an opportunity to earn a full-time responsibility as the DH against lefty pitching. He had a 1.039 OPS against southpaws in Triple-A and the Yankees are going to see if that translates to the majors. And they probably will get a quick read. The Yankees are due to face a lefty starter in five of the next eight games (Jon Lester tonight, Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil over the weekend for Toronto, and Jo-Jo Reyes and Zach Britton in a four-game series against the Orioles).
	 
There is a pretty good shot that the Yankees will face the Rangers in the Division Series and this is where Gonzalez comes in. Texas already was well-armed to deal with the Yankees’ lefty-leaning lineup. They almost certainly would start two lefties against the Yankees in C.J. Wilson and probably Derek Holland (Matt Harrison is a lefty, but does not handle lefties well). And the Rangers already had southpaw Darren Oliver in the pen plus before the July 31 trade deadline they obtained Mike Adams and Koji Uehara. Both are righties. But both are among the best righties at retiring lefty hitters. Now Texas has obtained Gonzalez, a southpaw who has been pitching his best recently. That included a strong two-inning outing Monday for the Orioles against the Yankees.
	 
At 28-13 (.683), the Yankees have the second-best winning percentage in the majors when a lefty starts. And their .832 OPS against lefty pitching leads the majors by a wide margin. That is because they have six players — Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, Andruw Jones and Robinson Cano — with better than a .900 OPS against southpaws. But then they do not have another player above .Eduardo Nunez’s 737. So there is a place for Montero if he can indeed hit lefties in the majors. Jones would play left field and Brett Gardner (.625 OPS vs. lefties) would go to the bench to be available to play defense or run late in a game. In that scenario, Montero could be the designated hitter.
	 
And if Montero proves that he can handle the full job as DH, well, the Yankees surely have shown this year that they have no problem de-emphasizing Jorge Posada.
	 
2. A Yankee official recently offered up a contrarian view that it is a bit of a baseball miracle that A.J. Burnett has 119 wins in the majors. After all, this official reasoned, you are talking about a two-pitch pitcher with dubious mechanics and, thus, erratic command, plus low aptitude. It speaks to how dominant those two pitches — fastball and curve — have been that Burnett has actually found a way to carve out a career, reach triple digits in victories, score a major contract.
	 
I don’t buy this theory, for what it is worth. But even if I did it would only underscore just what a horrible position Burnett is in now. Because those weapons are not quite as good; age and wear taking down the fastball a few notches, robbing some life in the breaking ball. Joe Girardi described Burnett as going through "a transition." But this is not a heady pitcher like, say, Mike Mussina coming to peace with absent velocity. This is a pitcher who by his own admittance does not think well on the mound. This is a pitcher who by his own admittance struggles to keep his mechanics streamlined and, thus, can never rely on location of, say, a 92 mph fastball over simply hurling 97 and hoping for the best. His poor aptitude means that changeup he tinkers with will probably never rise to even useful third pitch territory.
	 
And I disagree with the Yankee official who defended Burnett’s fortitude. I think there is not nearly enough fight there. Maybe it is just hard to fight when you don’t have enough weapons. Nevertheless, Burnett appears unable to find – you make the pick – the pitch or the resolve to stop the run avalanches that so damage him.
	 
So against a patient, lethal lineup like the Red Sox have, at Fenway Park, at a time when Burnett’s stuff and confidence are both down, the odds of him getting even five innings tonight would seem low. But, hey, that is one reason the games remain intriguing. They don’t have scripts.
	 
3. Right now if I had to pick a fifth starter between Burnett and Hughes, I would go with Hughes. But as I pointed out in this
	 columnin today’s Post, the No. 5 spot is more about who is losing it most rather than who is winning it.
	 
And I have to say I did not like Hughes’ post-game theme last night which came down essentially to I had good stuff, I made a few mistakes and those few mistakes tinged with bad luck did me in. The end result was six runs in five innings. Hughes did enough wrong to ultimately create a bad result.
	 
Losing Josh Reddick to a walk after being ahead in the count 0-2 with one out in the sixth was the main factor in Hughes blowing a 5-4 lead and not surviving the inning. Apparently, he had a moth fly into his eye while delivering the full-count pitch, which threw Hughes off. But, again, the count was 0-2 and Hughes did not get Reddick out. Hughes then bemoaned the multi-hop, opposite-field, hit-and-run dribbler that followed by Jason Varitek down the third-base line that went for an RBI double. Yes, Varitek hit the ball weakly. But he was only swinging at the pitch because it was a hit-and-run, and it could be a hit-and-run because Hughes had walked Reddick. And, for the record, Varitek had smashed a liner at Curtis Granderson for an out in his previous at-bat. And so if Hughes is not going to say he got lucky that a hard-hit ball was hit right at somebody, then it seems unfair to bemoan a dribbler that got away — especially since the walk was the key to the dribbler being hit at all.
	 
Only Casey Coleman (7.14 ERA), who pitched for the Cubs this year, has a worse ERA among those who have started at least 12 games in the majors than Hughes (6.75). What that has done is not only put Hughes’ 2011 rotation spot in peril, but his 2012, as well. Because off of what they have seen this year from Hughes — fluctuating fastball, most notably — how do they just build with the idea that he will be one of the starting five next year?

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Yankees calling up Montero

August 31, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

The Yankees were still working through some issues involving which players to call up Thursday when rosters expand. But there were three players not in dispute: Jesus Montero is going to be promoted, and Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances will not be, The Post has learned.
	 
The Yankees simply feel Banuelos and Betances, their top two pitching prospects, have met their objectives this year, which were to progress from Double-A to Triple-A and log enough innings to become factors to pitch in the majors next year.
	 
Betances started 24 games and worked 121 innings. Banuelos started 26 times and pitched 128 innings. In the way the Yankees progress starters, both would be in line to pitch about 160 innings next year, which is a high enough total for them to be major-league considerations.
	 
The Yankees fiddled with the idea of using one or both out of the major-league pen in September to see if they could become factors for the postseason roster, especially left-handed Banuelos. For now, the Yankees had enough concerns — particularly with fastball command — that they did not see the wisdom in trying to transition to the bullpen on the fly two pitchers they remain adamant will pitch at the top of a rotation in the future.
	 
In addition, Banuelos is not Rule 5 draft eligible this winter, so he does not have to be protected on the 40-man roster and, thus, unless they were positive he could help, the Yankees would prefer not to burn the 40-man roster spot heading into the offseason.
	 
As for Montero, he is going to get opportunities to play and specifically hit, which is by far his best tool. Jorge Posada’s postseason roster spot remains tenuous enough that Montero could have a big September and make himself viable for October at-bats as a DH.
	 
MONTERO ON HIS WAY
	 
Posada will not be the DH against lefty pitching and the Yankees are currently in line to play the ALDS against the Rangers, who will start at least two lefties against the Yankees. In that scenario, the Yankees could counter a southpaw starter with a lineup that puts Andruw Jones in left field and Montero as DH; that is if Montero proves he can translate all the hype and hope about his bat into major-league success immediately.
	 
2. In today’s Post, I wrote
	 this column about Alex Rodriguez’s belief he can still have a good year despite already knowing his record streak for seasons with 30 homers and 100 RBIs will end at 13. He thinks a strong October and a championship will allow him to walk away from the 2011 campaign feeling as if it was special and great. I stood with him near the third-base line before Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox and on several occasions he returned to that theme: That this is New York, that he experienced the ultimate in 2009 not with isolated personal success, but by being a significant contributor to a title.
	 
It is the right theme for Rodriguez. It is what he should be doing. Shortening the season to a bite size he can handle, that he can make ultra meaningful.
	 
But when you step back, you see the larger issue here: Rodriguez is 36. He is about to play in his fewest games in a season since becoming a full-time major leaguer; even fewer than 2009 when he had career-threaning hip surgery. He says his injuries this year are more freak than age-related. But he does say he healed from his knee surgery slower than he would have a decade ago. Rodriguez says he sees no reason why he cannot continue to be an elite player into his 40s. But you cannot like the signposts of this season nor the recent seasons as his numbers have dwindled; still excellent, but no longer historically elite.
	 
At the conclusion of this season he will have six years at $143 million left on his contract. You can argue that the Yankees print money and carrying Rodriguez is no big deal. Fine. But look how they are trying to get something for their outlay with A.J. Burnett. Think of it this way: If A-Rod were a free agent this offseason, how much do you think he would receive? Do you think he would get three years at $48 million? More? OK, let’s even say it is four years at $80 million. That is still far less than what he is owed. Not only in dollars, but significantly in length.
	 
With a season like this one, it is harder to imagine Rodriguez staying a highly effective player for anywhere near the length of contract he has left.
	 
It is interesting. For much of this season, I wondered how the Yankees would handle the fade of an iconic player who they were into through 2013, Derek Jeter. But Jeter got healthy, started to hit and began to perform in a way closer to his prime. It is now the other player on the left side of the infield you wonder about.
	 
3. I also wrote
	 this column off of last night’s game about CC Sabathia finally beating the Red Sox in 2011. You could tell from interviewing Sabathia that he hated the subject. One of the best elements about the Yankees ace is his self-assurance. He is not the type to strut to cover up insecurity. He is supremely confident he could beat the Red Sox whether he was 0-4 or 1-4 against them in 2011.
	 
Nevertheless, it was good for the psyche of more than Sabathia for him to go out and figure out a way to finally beat Boston. The Yankees have struggled all year against the Red Sox and part of the reason is that Josh Beckett has dominated the Yankees while Sabathia has wilted.
	 
Now the Yankees get Beckett tonight, get a chance to get on the board against him in the way that Sabathia got on the board against the Red Sox in 2011.

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3UP: Soriano, Martin, Granderson

August 25, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

1. With the losing, three-run homer Rafael Soriano yielded to Coco Crisp on Wednesday, the Yankees reliever reached 13 earned runs allowed this year in 23 1/3 innings or one more than he permitted last year for Tampa Bay in 61 1/3 innings.
	 
The loss represented Soriano’s first really bad outing since coming off the disabled list in late July. Nevertheless, scouts who have been watching the Yankees recently say that even when the results were there in the past few weeks, Soriano was not nearly as dominant with his stuff as he was in 2010.
	 
“He could throw his slider for a strike, but it does not have the bite from last season,” one scout said. “He has a famous name, but I am telling you there are a lot of guys in bullpens, right now, with way more overpowering stuff than him.”
	 
Joe Girardi has shown a greater edginess with his pen in the postseason than the regular season. So it will be interesting to see how much he trusts Soriano in the biggest moments of the season.
	 
2. Russell Martin had seven stolen bases through June 18 and one since. If you do the simple math that gives him eight on the season. If he gets to 10, he would become the second Yankees catcher to go double digits in homers and steals in the same season. Thurman Munson had 17 homers and 14 steals in 1976.
	 
Martin also would be the first catcher in the majors to produce the double-double since 2008. The name of the catcher who did that: Russell Martin. In fact, Martin did it every year from 2006-08. Besides Martin, the last Yankees catcher to produce double-digits in homers and steals was the Red Sox's Jason Varitek in 2004.
	 
Also, if Martin reaches the double-double it would be the fourth time in his career. That would tie him with Carlton Fisk and Benito Santiago for the most by a catcher.
	 
3. Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira each have a chance at 40 homers. For all the talk of Yankees and power, they have had two players since 1998 who have topped 40 homers: Jason Giambi did it twice, so did Alex Rodriguez.
	 
The Yankees have not had two players top 40 homers in the same season since Roger Maris (61) and Mickey Mantle (54) famously did so in 1961.
	 
Right now, Granderson and Teixeira rank second and third in the majors in homers, falling only behind Toronto’s Jose Bautista (37). The Yankees have not had two players rank in the top five in the majors in homers since, yep, you guessed it, Maris and Mantle ranked 1-2 in 1961.

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3UP: Burnett, Girardi, Colon

August 24, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

1. In today’s Post, I wrote this column about A.J. Burnett trending all the wrong ways – toward out of the rotation, off the postseason roster and, perhaps, toward being an ex-Yankee as early as... Read on

1. In today’s Post, I wrote this
	 columnabout A.J. Burnett trending all the wrong ways – toward out of the rotation, off the postseason roster and, perhaps, toward being an ex-Yankee as early as during the 2012 season.
	 
Burnett gave up seven runs in 1 2/3 innings Saturday in Minnesota. The Yankees gave up seven runs in the other 33 1/3 innings of the four-game series. That included 6 1/3 innings of mop-up relief following Burnett’s no-show Saturday. But more important to the current rotation argument is that it included 14 2/3 combined innings from Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova in which they surrendered one run on seven hits.
	 
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is right in saying that the composition of the rotation for the rest of the season and the postseason is a fluid situation, and that week by week different candidates to oust have emerged.
	 
But, ultimately, in the biggest games there has to be a trust level. And maybe Hughes and Nova or Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia do not fill the Yankees with trust. But, at this point, there has to be a complete lack of faith in Burnett. For the second straight year, his season has come unglued and he has not shown the resilience or repertoire to right himself.
	 
2. The brouhaha over what occurred on the mound between Burnett and manager Joe Girardi on Saturday at Target Field – and the aftermath – leaves me wondering if the duo wants us to think of them as liars or just unprofessional.
	 
If Burnett did indeed curse toward and show up his manager, then the stories that the pitcher and manager told afterward were untrue.
	 
But if it is true that Burnett was barking at the umpire and Girardi thought it important to go look at a borderline Burnett pitch during the midst of his team being blown out, well, what does that say about either man’s priorities?
	 
Burnett said he was infuriated that umpire D.J. Reyburn called a close, full-count pitch to Joe Mauer a ball to force in a run. That was Burnett’s 61st pitch. If it is a strike, he is out of the inning. But not before his first 60 pitches had results in three runs on five hits, two walks and two wild pitches. In other words, Reyburn had as much to do with Burnett’s problems that night as the position of Jupiter in the sky.
	 
And why at that moment – two out in the second, his team trailing – would Girardi feel compelled to go look at the questionable pitch? If true, it feels like just more appeasement of Burnett, more trying to make nice to a player the Yankees have coddled.
	 
It is interesting that Girardi picked two nationally televised games against the Red Sox to first drop Jorge Posada to ninth in the order then remove him as the full-time DH. This is not about whether this was the right strategy because Posada clearly needed to be de-emphasized this year. This was about Girardi having very little compassion for a dynastic gamer, an historic Yankee, especially in comparison to a player in Burnett who has done very little to distinguish himself as a Yankee.
	 
That is why I agree with what Girardi said in his petulant tantrum after Saturday’s game, when he insisted there were no problems between him and Burnett. Nope. He likes Burnett. How do you think he feels then about Posada?
	 
3. The only item that might save Burnett in the rotation is that Bartolo Colon has fallen and cannot get up.
	 
I made this analogy in the paper a few weeks back and will do so in this space again: Colon in 2011 to Dwight Gooden in 1996. If you remember, like Colon, Gooden was a former Cy Young winner who had come to the Yankees without having pitched at all in the majors the year before.
	 
He had a magical 19-start period from late April to mid-August that roughly coincided with the absence of then ace David Cone. Gooden went 10-2 with a 3.09 ERA in that span and the Yankees simply wouldn’t have made the playoffs without him operating like a No. 1. But in mid-August, his arm went dead and he became so useless that Gooden did not even make the postseason roster.
	 
Now Colon has gone from operating as pretty close to an ace to a guy whose arm appears out of juice. He is pitching himself out of postseason starting plans, perhaps even out of the rotation (yes, Burnett’s only way to save himself).
	 
It does look more and more as if the Yankees are going to need Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes to be productive October starters.

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3UP: Weaver, Sabathia, Darvish

August 23, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

I have not blogged in a while. Sorry, life has gotten in the way. I am hoping this begins a period in which I do this more often. I really enjoy doing it and one reason I am returning to try to do it as often as life allows is that so many readers have been kind enough to send emails or tweets mentioning how much they like this blog and that they were wondering where it had gone. It didn’t vanish, merely went into a hiatus.
	 
Anyway, here goes the first 3UP in a while:
	 
1. Jered Weaver has signed a five-year, $85 million contract, and that just reasserts why getting Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran by the Mets, and the Yankees general hoarding of pitching prospects is wise. Because if you are not developing your own to either pitch for you or use to trade for veterans then your team is going to be at the mercy of finding solutions in free agency. And the number of elite starters who reach free agency now is a pittance and, in simple supply and demand, it means prices are going to be more exorbitant than ever.
	 
More and more teams are signing the top young starters to long-term deals that buy out a few free-agent seasons. Consider that without long-term contracts, Felix Hernandez, Josh Johnson and Justin Verlander would be free agents this offseason. Recently, I wrote about the strong free-agent starting class that was percolating for after the 2012 season. But that class was going to include Weaver and now it will not. Matt Cain, John Danks, Zack Greinke and Cole Hamels still are among the strong group that can be free following the 2012 campaign. But how many will be signed before then or, perhaps, begin to lose some effectiveness?
	 
The uncertainty and price make planning to fix your rotation via free agency more problematic than ever. In other words, the Mets better hope that a lot of future answers come via Wheeler, Matt Harvey and perhaps Jenrry Mejia returning from Tommy John surgery. Even the deep-pocketed Yankees need to continue to keep the spigot on in this area. It is interesting now to project a future rotation that could have Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova filling mid-rotation roles or perhaps better. Still, the pitchers they anticipate having the highest ceiling are Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances, both at Triple-A now. It is hard to imagine the Yankees ever truly operating this way, but could you imagine them eventually with a rotation in, say, 2013 with CC Sabathia then four homegrown products: Hughes, Nova, Banuelos and Betances?
	 
2. Speaking of Sabathia, how the Yankees handle his potential free agency after this season will be interesting if he continues to pitch as less than an ace the rest of the way. Sabathia has allowed 10 hits in three of his past four starts, all in August. Consider that in the rest of his career, Sabathia never previously had given up double-digit hits more than twice in the same month, and that came back in July 2007 and August 2006. In the one start he did not give up 10 hits in his recent span, he yielded nine in his seven-run debacle at Fenway Park.
	 
After this season, Sabathia is owed four years at $92 million. But he can void the rest of that and make himself a free agent. The anticipation is the Yankees and Sabathia will work out some kind of extension before he would declare free agency; the organization loves their ace as a person and pitcher, and Sabathia sure looks as if he enjoys being a Yankee.
	 
Still, after all the talk in spring training of the leaner Sabathia (remember the diet that eliminated Cap’n Crunch?), the lefty looks to the eye as if he has put back a lot of the lost 25 pounds. Throughout his career that has been no problem. He is, after all, assembling a Hall of Fame worthy career (check out his past seven years, including this one, in particular).
	 
But the fear with Sabathia was always about the long-term wear and tear when you combine heavy workload with heavy body. The Yankees were apprehensive about giving Sabathia a seven-year deal the first time around. So do they really want to rip up the current deal and give him seven years again? The problem is that if not Sabathia, who do the Yankees put atop the rotation for the foreseeable future?
	 
3. One player the Yankees have scouted heavily is Yu Darvish. And there is strong belief around the game that the top starter in Japan will, indeed, be posted this offseason and come to the States.
	 
“He is coming, period,” one personnel man said.
	 
The Yankees have had sour experience with high-profile Japanese pitchers Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa, whose five-year contract finally expires this year. And the last can’t-miss Japanese pitcher to come to the majors, Daisuke Matsuzaka, was hardly a bonanza for the Red Sox.
	 
So you wonder if there will be greater financial caution with Darvish this winter or will the hunger for pitching motivate teams to bid. I will say this, I have not sensed that the Igawa experience will take the Yankees, for example, out of the Japanese marketplace.
	 
Darvish is certainly attractive as a pitcher. He is 6-foot-5, 25 years old, pitches at 93-94 mph with the ability to touch higher than that and is known for having an inventive and competitive spirit on the mound. He is 15-3 with a 1.59 ERA and 182 strikeouts in 158 innings for the Nippon Ham Fighters.

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Mets, Giants agree on Beltran trade for pitching prospect

July 27, 2011 , ι By JOEL SHERMAN

The Mets have agreed to trade Carlos Beltran and cash to the Giants for one of the best pitching prospects in the majors, right-hander Zack Wheeler, multiple sources confirmed to The Post on Wednesday.
	 
Because Beltran is a 10-and-5 player (10 years of service, five in a row with his current team), there is a 24-hour grace period that must be observed, though Beltran previously made it clear he would accept a trade to the Giants.
	 
It is conceivable an issue could crop up that would kill the deal. But officials involved in the process felt that only minor details needed to be finalized and that all the heavy lifting was done.
	 
Manager Terry Collins said he’s been told not to use Beltran on Wednesday night against the Reds. Collins said expects something to be done by Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
	 
The Mets picture Wheeler, who is pitching at High-A San Jose for the Giants, as a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. This deal shows that GM Sandy Alderson favored quality over quantity when it came to dealing Beltran. Outfield prospect Gary Brown and lefty Jonathan Sanchez were other names involved in the talks, but the teams eventually settled on Wheeler.
	 
Wheeler, 21, was the No. 6 pick in the 2009 draft and is ranked the 35th best prospect by Baseball America. In 13 starts this year, Wheeler is 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA.
	 
Beltran invited Mets teammates and staffers to a going-away party in Cincinnati on Tuesday night after the team’s 8-6 win over the Reds.

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VIDEO: Joel Sherman on K-Rod, Mets

June 21, 2011 , ι NYPOST.COM

Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman and Mark Hale discuss the Mets' options for closer Francisco Rodriguez and the team's season so far.The financially troubled team must make decisions on Carlos... Read on

Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman and Mark Hale discuss the Mets' options for closer Francisco Rodriguez and the team's season so far.
	 
The financially troubled team must make decisions on Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes as it remains in contention for the NL Wild Card.
	 
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About the Author

JOEL SHERMAN Joel Sherman has been at the Post since 1989, serving as Yankees beat writer from 1989-95 and baseball columnist since 1996. His Hardball blog won a 2008 Best Sports Blog honor from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. Joel’s books include "Birth of a Dynasty, Behind the Pinstripes with the 1996 Yankees." He served as a weekly baseball analyst on New York 1 from 2000-05, was a regular contributor on the MSG Network from 2000-08, and was part of the My 9 Yankees postgame show for the past two seasons. He graduated from NYU in 1985. Columnist Archives