Standing Room
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No, what's silly is that you're repeatedly bringing up Chien-Ming Wang in a discussion about CC Sabathia. Do you want to discuss Sabathia or would you rather continue to take pot shots by misrepresenting non-related things I said weeks ago?
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Nice try. Velocty, strike out rate, home run rate are at career worst levels. Am I correct in thinking that your position is that Sabathia has been unlucky and his 2 mph loss of velocity is a non-factor? Or are you just being stubborn about admitting that his loss of velocity is a factor?
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Like I said, I never stated that the Yankees should not have released Wang based on two major league starts. You just proved me right.
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I never stated that the Yankees should not have released Wang because he had two good starts. That's flat out wrong. Go back and quote me if I did. I never stated Sabathia's in permanent decline either, I stated he's sign a dramatic change in his abilities and he needs to make adjustments if he wants to remain effective. Then you tried to make it an argument about what's an ability. Classic Bill Clinton. A 2 mph difference on your fastball is huge for a power pitcher. It's not just that he's been unlucky as you seem to be suggesting.
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Give Middlebrooks some time to get his head on straight, make him earn the promotion by hitting well for more than 12 games, ad then call him back up. He'd be a huge boost to the offense and defense (we'd get to put Iglesias at shortstop) if he could get back to the player he was last year.
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I think you're misinterpreting what I said. I never said that Sabathia was in permanent decline. I stated that he's seen a dramatic change in his abilities, and that he needs to make adjustments if he wants to continue to be an effective pitcher. Being a strikeout, power pitcher who blows his fastball by guys simply isn't working when he's throwing 91 mph.
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That's ridiculous. If Gardenhire had a 70-20 record against a team, would that be an argument for him being a Hall of Fame manager? You don't judge any player or manager by 3% of their career. -
WTF are you talking about? Weeks ago, I asked why the Yankees released Chien Ming Wang after he had a 2.33 ERA over 9 starts in the minor leagues. Him having a bad two starts weeks later has nothing to do with the Yankees decision to let him go. And Chien Ming Wang has nothing to do with this conversation, I don't know why you keep going back to it. Sabathia isn't comparable at all to Lackey or Beckett. Sabathia is healthy and he's seen a 2 mph drop on his fastball that he's flat out said he doesn't think he's going to get back. There are plenty of pitchers who are just having bad years like Cole Hamels or Matt Cain who aren't old and losing velocity, and aren't posting peripherals that are career lows or 5-7 year lows.
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Why do people think Ron Gardenhire is to blame for this?
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If you don't want to admit that Sabathia's had a significant change in his skills, production, abilities or whatever else you want to call it this year, then you're in denial. It's not that his ERA is up. He's 32 years old and his velocity is down. He's publically acknowledged that he doesn't think he's going to get his velocity back and he'll need to learn to pitch differently. And most of his peripherals or at career lows or at four year lows. You're saying we can't judge Sabathia by 120 innings, but we can judge Chien-Ming Wang by two starts? Talk about inconsistency. You're just using whatever sample size fits your narrative. Usually you're better than this.
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Middlebrooks drove in eight runs today at Pawtucket. He's now hitting .319/.398/.723 at AAA with 6 HR, 6 BB and 8 SO in 47 AB.
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Seems like an unnecessary exercise in semantics. His abilities to throw hard, maintain his velocity, strike batters out, get out right handers, keep the ball in the park, etc. are all declining. Doesn't matter whether you prefer to call some of those abilities and other ones production, the results are the same. His ground ball rate is the lowest he's had since 2009, his fly ball rate is the highest it's been since 2009, his home run rate is the highest of his career.
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Dramatic changes is spot on. It's not just that he's lost 2 mph on his fastball, he's seeing dramatic 2-3 mph difference in is his velocity from one start to the next, he's suddenly unable to get out righthanded hitters, he has the lowest strikeouts rates in eight years, one of the lowest groundball rates, one of the highest fly ball rates and the highest home run rate of his career. He has significant adjustments to make, and so far he's been unable to make them.
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I've never explicitly said so, but I like xFIP a lot over large sample sizes. It's probably my favorite pitching metric. Over 100 inning sample sizes, where a pitcher is seeing dramatic changes to their pitching ability, I wouldn't use it as the only stat to judge a pitcher by. To me, it makes perfect sense that Sabathia would give up more home runs now that he's lost 2 mph on his fastball. He can make the same pitches he was before, and the hitter will get around on them rather than popping them up. I expect him to continue to give up more home runs than normal as he attempts to adjust his approach.
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The Red Sox would hang up first. Mark Trumbo's a poor man's Daniel Nava.
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Kuroda has the better ERA, WHIP, ERA+, FIP, and WAR. I'm not sure Sabathia's getting unlucky with the long ball, he's allowing a .447 SLG against all righthanders this year.
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A-Rod's rehab at bat results obviously don't matter, that was a joke. Between A-Rod's attitude, his declining skill level, his inability to stay healthy and his impending suspension, he'll be a non-factor. If Kuroda misses time, the Yankees are screwed. He's the only league average starting pitcher on the team, and I mean that literally. Kuroda's the only starting pitcher who's made five starts for the team and has an ERA+ of 100 or better. His ERA+ is literally 40 points higher than Sabathia's.
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He grounded in to a double play in his first at bat. Fear us!
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9 swing and misses on Lackey's first 15 pitches.
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So far, you've compared Middlebrooks to Carlton Fisk, James Loney and Joey Votto. Should we compare him to a switchhitting outfielder next?
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Lackey retires the side on 10 pitches, two strikeouts and an 0-2 groundout. He hit 95 mph and looked unhittable.
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I saw that. They're idiots, commenters are comparing the situation to when the Mets traded reigning Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey and Blue Jays fans didn't think they'd be giving up D'Arnoud. Yes, because trading a top 3 prospect for an above average reliever is totally similar.
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Well, the Yankees did indeed fall to fourth place by the end of June like I predicted. This is where I expect them to say, a few games over .500. It should be a fun battle between them and the Blue Jays to see who will finish out of last place this year.
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I hope they're teaching Middlebrooks how to be a dead-pull hitter in the minor leagues. He's the greatest mistake hitter I've ever seen!
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Yankees now 1.5 games ahead of the fourth place Rays, with two days left in June. My prediction about them being in fourth place by the end of the month might not be that far off.
