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Post by chiyankee on Oct 5, 2024 13:23:46 GMT -5
Wish they would have brought in a defensive 1B I could see that biting us in the ass. I would’ve kept Stroman on the roster … he’s a veteran pitcher that could come up big in a desperate situation I would have kept Stroman over Mayza too. |
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Post by JEGnj on Oct 5, 2024 13:33:19 GMT -5
If Stroman or Cortes was pitching in a game for us it would mean something bad happened.
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Post by kaybli on Oct 5, 2024 14:02:17 GMT -5
Here's the lineup! Oswaldo at 1B and Verdugo in LF. I would have preferred Rice and Martian but what can you do. |
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Post by laurenfrances on Oct 5, 2024 14:03:17 GMT -5
I will miss a segment of PS baseball as my family made plans for a trip in the 4th week of October. I'll be back for the actual World series hoping Yankees are still standing. I forego a spring gathering in Argentina as I was knee deep in spring gardening with trays of seedlings to maintain. It's been a rough few weeks after getting into a car accident, but I'm presently good to go. I'll set my dvr to record whatever I can with available schedules.
I'm anxious to see Cole get on a roll allowing Yankees to take game one. Just hope Yankees bullpen will make the lead stick.
So here it is, Go Yankees!
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Post by kaybli on Oct 5, 2024 14:05:34 GMT -5
I will miss a segment of PS baseball as my family made plans for a trip in the 4th week of October. I'll be back for the actual World series hoping Yankees are still standing. I forego a spring gathering in Argentina as I was knee deep in spring gardening with trays of seedlings to maintain. It's been a rough few weeks after getting into a car accident, but I'm presently good to go. I'll set my dvr to record whatever I can with available schedules. I'm anxious to see Cole get on a roll allowing Yankees to take game one. Just hope Yankees bullpen will make the lead stick. So here it is, Go Yankees! Sorry to hear you were in a car accident, lauren. Hope you are doing okay now! |
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Post by laurenfrances on Oct 5, 2024 14:13:56 GMT -5
I will miss a segment of PS baseball as my family made plans for a trip in the 4th week of October. I'll be back for the actual World series hoping Yankees are still standing. I forego a spring gathering in Argentina as I was knee deep in spring gardening with trays of seedlings to maintain. It's been a rough few weeks after getting into a car accident, but I'm presently good to go. I'll set my dvr to record whatever I can with available schedules. I'm anxious to see Cole get on a roll allowing Yankees to take game one. Just hope Yankees bullpen will make the lead stick. So here it is, Go Yankees! Sorry to hear you were in a car accident, lauren. Hope you are doing okay now! Other than a stiff neck, I good to go. I recalled Wacha is no walk in the park. He shut down Yankees offense in a previous game. Yankees needs to get to him early before he gets on a roll. This game might be a pitcher's duel as it may come down to the bullpen. |
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Post by kaybli on Oct 5, 2024 14:29:05 GMT -5
Sorry to hear you were in a car accident, lauren. Hope you are doing okay now! Other than a stiff neck, I good to go. I recalled Wacha is no walk in the park. He shut down Yankees offense in a previous game. Yankees needs to get to him early before he gets on a roll. This game might be a pitcher's duel as it may come down to the bullpen. Judge is 1 for 18 with 11 Ks against Wacha but he hasn't faced him this year for what its worth. |
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Post by Max on Oct 5, 2024 14:40:29 GMT -5
Here's the lineup! Oswaldo at 1B and Verdugo in LF. I would have preferred Rice and Martian but what can you do. I hope OC and Verdugo hit the cover off the ball, but I agree with your post. Also, Rice and Martian would have given the Yankees the option of having OC and Verdugo as late inning defensive replacements. Now, if the Yankee pinch hit for OC and Verdugo they become a weaker defensive team in the late innings when there's less margin for error. |
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Post by 1955nyyfan on Oct 5, 2024 16:37:54 GMT -5
I would have preferred Rice and Martian but what can you do. I hope OC and Verdugo hit the cover off the ball, but I agree with your post. Also, Rice and Martian would have given the Yankees the option of having OC and Verdugo as late inning defensive replacements. Now, if the Yankee pinch hit for OC and Verdugo they become a weaker defensive team in the late innings when there's less margin for error. Grisham has been working out in LF. He's so good defensively I suspect he can handle it. If JD were to PH for Verdugo we might see him as a late inning defensive replacement. |
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Post by chiyankee on Oct 5, 2024 16:46:06 GMT -5
I hope OC and Verdugo hit the cover off the ball, but I agree with your post. Also, Rice and Martian would have given the Yankees the option of having OC and Verdugo as late inning defensive replacements. Now, if the Yankee pinch hit for OC and Verdugo they become a weaker defensive team in the late innings when there's less margin for error. Grisham has been working out in LF. He's so good defensively I suspect he can handle it. If JD were to PH for Verdugo we might see him as a late inning defensive replacement. I thought it made more sense to just start Grisham. But then again, I also would have given Grisham some playing time at LF in the regular season. |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 5, 2024 17:26:52 GMT -5
I know I'm late, but here it is, the game preview:
The Royals send out veteran righty Michael Wacha to start game 1 of the ALDS, basically because their two top starters, Lugo and Ragans, went on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Wild Card Series, and neither will be fully rested if they pitched today. The Yanks will see Ragans tomorrow in Game 2 and Lugo on Tuesday in Game 3. Neither Wacha nor Gerrit Cole, his opposing pitcher, have pitched in 9 days, so we’ll have to see if their command is sharp from the first inning.
Wacha hasn’t faced the Yanks this year, but he has many times in the past. Drafted by the Cards with the 19th pick of the 1st round of the 2012 June Amateur Draft, Cole has been around long enough that you might think he’s old, but he’s not that old, just 33, 10 months younger than Cole. The Cards moved him quickly up the ladder in 2012, 3 games in rookie ball, 4 in high-A ball and finishing the season with 4 games in AA, and in 2 starts and 9 relief games, he pitched 21 1/3 total innings to a 0.88 ERA striking out 40 and walking just 4, allowing just 8 hits and 1 HR. The team moved him right to AAA to begin 2013, and he made 8 great starts there, going 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA, so they called him. He scuffled a bit in 3 major league starts, so they demoted him back to AAA to work on a few things, and after six more good starts in AAA, they brought him to the majors for good in August. He made one start, then they put him in the bullpen for 6 games, finally putting him back in the rotation for all of September. In 5 starts, he was 2-1 with a 1.72 ERA, so they left him in the rotation for the postseason. He was great in his first four starts, even winning the NLCS MVP award with 2 wins, 6 2/3 shutout innings in game 2 and 7 more shutout innings in the series-ending game 6. He pitched another good game in game 2 of the World Series, winning that one as well, but in game 6, the Red Sox knocked him with 3 in the 3rd and 3 more in the 4th, and won the game and the Series. The post-season of 2013, in his rookie season, is still the pinnacle of Wacha’s career, at least until now.
Wacha was outstanding to start the 2014 season, going 4-3 in his first 12 starts with an ERA of 2.45. But in June he was pitching poorly when he was put on the DL with shoulder pain and fatigue resulting from a stress reaction in the scapula behind the shoulder. He missed over two months, made one rehab start in AAA, and the Cards put him back in the rotation in September, but he didn’t pitch well, just 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in 4 starts. The Cards made the playoffs in 2014, but they left Wacha out of the rotation. He made just one relief appearance in the playoffs, and it was a disaster. Entering in the 9th inning of game 6 of the NLCS in San Francisco, Wacha gave up a leadoff single to Sandoval, got Pence to fly out to right, walked Belt and then gave up the pennant-winning walk-off 3-run HR which was the career highlight of the mediocre backup/platoon first baseman, Travis Ishikawa. In 2015, Wacha was healthy the whole way, making 30 starts, going 17-7 with a 3.38 ERA, and making the All-Star team for the only time in his 12-year career. He had one postseason start and it was a poor one in game 3 of the ALDS against Chicago; the Cubs got 1 in the 2nd, 1 in the 4th and knocked him out in a 3-run 5th, going on to win the game 8-6. The Cards were eliminated in game 4. He started 2016 well enough, 2-2 with a 2.65 ERA in 6 starts, but things turned south the rest of the way. In early August, he went on the DL with shoulder inflammation and missed a month, returning in September to make four short, extremely ineffective appearances. He wound up the season 7-7 with a 5.09 ERA, and the Cards missed the playoffs. In 2017, Wacha was healthy the whole season but not as effective, going 12-9 with a 4.17 ERA. In 2018, Wacha got it back together, and was pitching very well, when in mid-June, he carried a no-hitter into the 9th inning against the Pirates, but Colin Moran’s single broke it up. Whether the long outing (111 pitches, most of the season, and the 4th straight start of more than 100 pitches) affected him or not isn’t certain, but he pitched very poorly two starts later and the start after that one, he was taken out of the game in the 4th inning and put on the DL with a lat strain. He tried to rehab in high-A and AA in 3rd starts in August, but was pulled after 2 2/3 innings in the 3rd start, he had reinjured himself and was pulled. His season was over. 2019 was his last season with the Cards; he managed to stay healthy the whole way but pitched poorly: 6-7 with a 4.76 ERA. The Cards made it all the way to the NLCS, but though the Cards had 12 pitchers on their roster, Wacha wasn’t one of them.
The Cards had one year of team control remaining, but they let Wacha go free agent, and he signed with the Mets for the COVID season of 2020. He signed with the Mets, pitched well in his first start, poorly in the next two then missed three weeks on the IL with shoulder inflammation. He came back and pitched very poorly in 4 starts and one relief appearance. The Mets let him go free agent and he signed with the Rays, beginning to rebuild his career in Tampa. The results weren’t great, except against the Yankees. Wacha was 3-5 with a 5.05 ERA in 29 games, 23 starts, but against the Yanks that season, he was lights out. The Yanks hit him in his first start against them in April, but after that, he threw 6 shutout innings in his start against them 5 days later, got a hold against them in a relief appearance in May, threw 5 innings against them in a no-decision, striking out 9 and giving up just an unearned run in July, and shutting them out in 5 innings in another no-decision on the last day of the season. In 2021 against the Yanks, 1-0 with an ERA of 1.66 in 21 1/3 innings. Against everyone else: 2-5 with a 5.77 ERA. He made his last postseason appearance (before today), allowing 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings, letting the Red Sox break game 2 open with a 14-6 win on their way to winning the next two and knocking the Rays out of the playoffs. He was better when he signed free agent with the Red Sox in 2022, going 11-2 with a 3.22 ERA, and still pitched very well against the Yanks: 7 shutout innings allowing just 2 hits and striking out 9 in a win at Fenway in August, 3 runs in 6 innings in a no-decision against the Yanks at the Stadium in September. In 2023, he went free agent again, signing with the Padres, and had another excellent season: 14-4 with an ERA of 3.22, again pitched very well against the Yankees, 2 runs in 7 innings in a no-decision in late May, and again missed time on the IL with shoulder inflammation, this time for six weeks from early July through mid-August. The Padres let him go, and he signed free agent with the Royals. He had another good season this year, going 13-8 with a 3.35 ERA, but he missed three weeks on the IL with a foot fracture when he was hit with a comebacker on June 2nd, missing the first series with the Yanks in KC. He missed the 2nd series in September because he pitched the day before, 7 shutout innings in the 3rd game of a big showdown series against the Twins, which the Royals swept, accelerating the Twins horrific 12-27 slide that wiped them out of the playoffs.
I’ve already given all of Wacha’s recent starts against the Yanks, so here are his career numbers against New York, and as you might guess, they’re excellent, except that his teams haven’t given him much offensive support: In 9 starts and 2 relief appearances, he’s 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA. In 57 2/3 innings, he’s allowed just 41 hits, 21 runs, 19 earned, 7 HR, 17 BB and 60 K’s. His WHIP against the Yankees is an outstanding 1.006, and their team quadruple slash line against him is .204/.269/.343/.612
Repertoire: Wacha is a tall (6-6) righty who’s added a slider to his pitch mix this season, giving him a 6-pitch assortment. He also throws change, 4-seamer, sinker, cutter, and curve. He is unusual in that he throws the change more than any of the other five pitches, about 1/3 of the time. The change gets outstanding drop (top 15%) and average tail. The 4-seam gets slightly above average “rise” and “run”. The sinker gets well below average drop (bottom 10%) and below average tail away from lefties. The cutter gets elite drop (top 10%) and well below average break in on lefties (bottom 20%). The slider gets below average drop and well below average break away from righties (bottom 25%). The curve gets average drop but much better than average break away from righties (top 15%). In run values, there’s a reason why Wacha uses the change as his lead pitch; at +17 runs, it’s the 3rd best change in MLB (behind only Cristopher Sanchez of the Phillies and Tyler Anderson on the Angels) and the 17th most valuable pitch of any kind in MLB (in over 2500 pitcher/pitch combinations). His other 5 pitches grade out as ordinary; in his pitch usage, they seem to exist only to set up the change in a variety of ways: the FB and sinker are tiny plusses, the cutter is a decent-sized minus per pitch and the slider and curve are big minuses per pitch, but he doesn’t used them often, so they don’t cost him much. The chase rate and FB velocity are both below average, the fastball spin rate is bottom 15% (not ideal, he throws 3 four-seamers for every two sinkers) and the curve spin is also bottom 15%, which explains why the run value on the curve is very low, and why he doesn’t use it much. He does get very good extension, top 25% in MLB.
Because of the change, his average exit velocity is below average (just under 87), the barrel rate is slightly above average (8%), but the hard-hit rate is well below average (32.2 %). His line drive rate is average, and the ground ball rate is below average. But the fly ball rate is above average, and he gets a lot of popups, 15%, 2nd highest among 58 qualified MLB starters. The swinging and called strike rates are both somewhat below average, so the CSW is as well, 12th lowest among the 58. In “luck factors”, Wacha’s BABIP this season is a bit above average, the strand rate is average and the HR per FB rate is extremely low, 5th lowest among the 58 qualified starters. That HR/FB rate is why his ERA estimators think his ERA should be more like 3.85 instead of 3.35.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 5, 2024 17:27:35 GMT -5
Playing the Name Game: There are 10 full 100-name pages of Mikes and Michaels at Baseball Reference, and although perhaps 1/3 of them are players with Michael as the middle name, that still leaves over 500 of them in MLB history. Among active players, Yankee fans have Mike King, Mike Tauchman, Michael Tonkin, and Mike Ford to remember fondly. In past years, there’s Pagliarulo, Easler, Stanley, Hegan, Witt, and Mike Kekich of Fritz Peterson wife-swap fame (infamy?). And also Mike Torres, who helped them to win the title in both 1977 and 1978. In the first season, he was traded over and was one of their top three starters down the stretch, throwing complete games in games 3 and 6, winning both. Only Reggie’s late heroics in that series kept Torres from the Series MVP Award. In the following season, he left the Yanks to sign as a free agent with the Red Sox, being remembered there not for winning 16 games and pitching 250 innings, but for throwing the pitch that gave the Yanks perhaps their most shocking great clutch moment in team history: a fastball below and inside middle that Bucky Dent put over the Monster in Fenway for a 3-run HR, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the 7th, on the way to a 5-4 win and a second title in a row. There’s also current bullpen coach Mike Harkey, who’s been filling that post since 2016, and former Yankee player and coach Mike Ferraro. Although many named Mickey are really “Michael”s on their birth certificate, Mickey Mantle isn’t one of them, have been named by his father “Mutt” for Tigers’ Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane. Yankee fans’ favorite Michael has the last name Michael, former Yankee player, coach, manager, and General Manager Eugene Richard “Gene” Michael, who famously (along with director of scouting and development Brian Sabean) built the Dynasty Yankees team that won 5 pennants and 4 titles in 6 seasons from 1996 through 2001. Fans sometimes forget that he served as GM briefly in 1980-1981, and managed the team for parts of 1981 and 1982, and the Cubs in 1986-7. Stick Michael did a brilliant job putting the piece of the Dynasty Yankees together, famously trading for Paul O’Neill and David Cone, and even more famously, preventing Boss George from trading away Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams, and he, together with Brian Cashman, talked George out of trading for Felix Fermin to start the 1996 season at short to go with Derek Jeter. Most fans on this board will know Stick’s story in detail, so I just hit the highlights here.
Among great players named Mike, the battle for the greatest hitter of all-time looks like Mike Schmidt will just barely hang on against Mike Trout, because Trout’s career, like Ken Griffery, Jr.’s before him, has vanished into a fog of repeated serious injury. While it once looked like Trout would blow by Schmidt in career bWAR to be among the top 5 or 10 in MLB history, he’s now had just one season over 3 WAR in the last 5, and will have to work hard starting at age 33 to catch Schmidt with 20 more bWAR before his career ends. The greatest pitcher named Mike is Hall of Famer and ex-Yankee Mike Mussina, by a fairly comfortable margin over Mike Garcia (31 bWAR), Mike Hampton (21), Mike Cuellar (29), Mike Scott (24), Mike Torres (24), Mike Boddicker (31), Mike McCormick (17), Mike Witt (22) and even Mickey Lolich, the hero of the 1968 World Series, who finished 2nd and 3rd in the Cy Young voting in 1971 and 1972, won 207 games, and is still 23rd all time in strikeouts, and top 50 all time in games started and shutouts. Lolich compiled 48 bWAR in his 16-year career, but that falls well short of Mussina’s 83 career bWAR.
Mussina never won a ring, never won a Cy Young Award, but made 5 All-Star teams, won 5 Gold Gloves, finished top 6 in the Cy Young voting in 7 different seasons, got MVP votes in 3 seasons, won 270 games, 33rd all-time, 23rd all-time in pitcher WAR, is right behind Lolich in career strikeouts, and is top 50 career games started and career K/BB ratio. Although just 2 of his top 10 stat comps are in the Hall, C.C. Sabathia and Zack Greinke seem likely to get there eventually, and possibly Curt Schilling and Andy Pettitte someday as well. He failed the Black Ink test, but passed the Gray Ink test, the Hall of Fame Monitor and Standards, and the Jaffee JAWS system rates him as the 23rd best starting pitcher of all-time. Every pitcher above Mussina on the list is in the Hall except the two active guys, Verlander and Kershaw, and the PED guy, Roger Clemens. Of the 9 below, all are in the hall except Greinke, Max Scherzer and Schilling. He got just 20% of the BBWAA vote his first year of eligibility, and there was some discussion that he wasn’t really a Hall of Famer, because of no rings, no Cy Youngs and a failure to have a 20-win season until his last year with the Yanks in 2008, but an effective analytical campaign was made in his behalf, and his vote percentage rose swiftly; he was voted in on his 6th ballot in 2019.
And finally…oh, yes, Michael is the only Wacha in MLB history.
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