If you substitute CC Sabathia (or any actual starter) for the lame-duck disappointment known as Sonny Gray, and the Yankees last night might have spun a no-hitter. They struck out 13 Rays, overall. If you consider that Tampa wasn't playing via phone - they were part of the AL Wild Card race when the night began - the full-scale, root canal potential of the Yankee bullpen comes into view.
All this was especially enjoyable because we were pissing Tampa's own ballyhooed strategy right back into the Rays' open mouths. For most of this season, they hypnotized our batters with waves of relievers, never letting us see the same pitcher twice. At times, it didn't seem fair. It was as if they were cheating, constantly switching pitchers while we used the old fashioned, tried-and-true ways - trotting out a sagging starter and hoping he lasts into the fifth.
In fact, it was reminiscent of the early days of the over-shift, when Tampa's re-assembled defenses turned the likes of Mark Teixeira and Stephen Drew into expensive mediocrities. We hated it. We condemned it. And then, after the analytics came in, we ended up becoming one of the most over-shifting teams in baseball. Last night, the Yankees struck back, giving Tampa a taste of its own puke.
So... that's that? Now, we'll return to the ways of the tribe, using middling starters until they've thrown at least one too many pitches? Why? By this time next year, based on stats alone, bullpen games could be the norm. Like it or hate it, what the Yankees saw last night could well be the future. So... why not now?
The one-game season is almost here. It likely will happen in Yankee Stadium. (Oakland won last night, so...) Aaron Boone has yet to name his starter. And let's not kid ourselves: There is no way that Boone would go with the full bullpen. He will designate a starter - Happ, Sevy or Masahiro - and rest assured that Boone won't remove him until the damage is done.
Listen: I'm not suggesting we go full bullpen in the month of October. (If we're lucky enough to make it.) This is about one game. One game. And yes, there are mine fields: Betances and El Chapo can be very good or very bad; neither should close. All we need from the "starter" are three innings. They don't have to be the first three. We can mix and match. We don't need a formula.
Holder and the Holds. Damn, it sounds like a prog-rock band from the eighties.Holder and the Holds! By this time next year, we won't think twice about it. What if, just for once, we got out ahead of the curve? Could we maybe steal a game or two? Could we maybe steal a ring?
I have seen the future and it is full of bullpen catchers. Do they count against the luxury tax?
ReplyDeleteThis all brings up the interesting idea that we don't need ANY high-priced starters. Instead, we assemble five more terrific bullpen arms, guys who can go an inning practically every night, and then trot out eight or nine guys to mow down the opposition.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm crazy (stop snickering), but I like this idea. A lot. But for it to work, you have to have a manager who will be ready with the fast hook as soon as anyone gets too shaky, which is obviously not the Yankee way.
Can you imagine any team out there who wouldn't be pissing in their jock straps knowing they were likely to get D-Rob, Betances, Chappie, Britton, and/or maybe some new, killer closer acquisitions every single game? Jesus.
P.S. Duque, the title for this post is fine, I like it. But I am a little disappointed that you didn't go with, "Hey, man, are you holding?" The younger folks wouldn't get it, but all of us old guys would've had an excellent time.
OK let's be fair to Sonny Gray here. Tommy Pham doubled. Passed ball by ICS allows Pham to go to third. Voit misplays a ball hit to him, trying to check Pham at third and failing to get the out at first. Brandon Lowe hits into a DP, as the Yankees concede the run for the outs. It was the poor defense (again) by the Yankees that allowed the run, not Gray's pitching performance.
ReplyDeleteNow, the Yankees did not really employ the Rays' exact pitching strategy, as Yarbrough went 5 pretty poor innings. The Yankees sent their one-and-done guys out there because everyone gets into trouble if they go 2 innings. No matter what, we have to find a guy who can go a reliable 5 innings preferably, but maybe only three. For the WC game, I would look to two starters to be ready to give 3 innings tops each (once through the order), and the high-leverage guys their one inning. Who closes is the ultimate question at the moment. And what is Plan B for extra innings?
Also, what's killing baseball is not sabermetrics and analytics per se. It's the inability of a team to employ them effectively. Like anything else, when analytics become a rigid religion (as they appear to have become on the Yankees), they are as dangerous as any other type of rigid thinking. What analytics DO require is a very smart and different type of manager, and Boone does not fill the bill. Cashman's thinking about Boone was "you handle the clubhouse, be a good communicator and cheerleader, and we will handle the 'process' of managing games." Boone does not apparently know how to apply analytics to in-game situations very well. His attempt to try and qualify JA Happ for the win the other day ("good guy manager") while having him throw 107 pitches in five innings only to replace Happ with an ineffective pitcher (analytics) like Cole, who blew the win, is a classic example of his poor management skills. We can do just as well in the modern game as any other team if we can find people who are smart enough to know how to combine analytics with situations.
Historically, the Yankees have never been a team that was out front in terms of innovation. The problem with Cashman is that he is a follower, not an innovator, and when he tries to get on board with new ideas (homegrow your players), he does not follow through because there is always too much pressure to win now. This is what has to change for the Yankees to once again become World Series champs. Since 2009 we have been lagging behind in the innovations of the game, and until we can get ahead in innovation, we will be looking at WC games as our only path into the playoffs for some time to come.
John M - what you suggest is already in the works, because it will have two effects: it will decrease salary obligations, and it will increase profits. When teams realize they can win without having to have Verlander-style contracts on their hands, this idea will spread like a California wildfire.
ReplyDeleteJohn, they will need the fast hook, for sure. when you practically go through your entire bullpen every game, you are bound to find the one dude having the off night. Boone would stick with him until after the game is lost, unless he is getting his in-game orders from the Millennial via a Bluetooth implant. (there's a non-zero chance this is already happening....)
ReplyDeleteMay I respectfully suggest "Johnny and the Holders"?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the one-new-pitcher-per-inning approach, at least for this fan, is that it further takes away from what makes the game enjoyable. There's a certain je ne sais quoi about watching a single athlete either mow down batter after batter with electric stuff (e.g., Pedro in his prime) or a crafty guy with more pedestrian stuff simply refusing to lose (thinking Pettite here) or a guy who may or may not have it that night simply refusing to give in and lose (CC, pretty much 85% of the time). It's also a pleasure to watch some young kid get the yips, give up a few runs, and then "settle down" while his teammates behind him figure out a way to get back those runs and win the game for him.
I'm not fond of watching the All-Star game because, even though every pitcher is superlative and lights out, there's no story being told during the course of the game. If I wanted to watch 9 guys with a 95% likelihood of success get up one after the other, I'd read about it in a stats book or I'd play some simulated game on Nintendo.
I don't much like Nintendo either.
The prospect of every batter swinging for the fences while facing a fresh pitcher every at-bat has me twitterpated!! Oh, the strikeouts we'll see! All that warm-up action in the bullpen! God bless us and the new baseball!!
ReplyDeleteoh! I forgot to mention the constant hitting into the shift! I am beyond twitterpated!
ReplyDeleteA word in defense of the Tamp-St. Pete baseball cathedral, which like most churches continues to suffer with declining attendance. Regardless of the constant caterwauling from our very own Suzyn Waldman, Tropicana Field is a delightful place for watching baseball games. Suzyn, who seems to be taking her talking points from Derek Jeter and the Devil Rays billionaires boys club who all want more and bigger suites and revenues, fails to note that the Trop has the perfect climate --72 degrees, always -- and never has a rainout; both of these points are signifiant given the hot and sticky local weather. The fan experience is fun and friendly, the beer is cold and it's real easy to get a good, close look at batting practice.
ReplyDeleteLast time I was there was the only time I've ever rooter against the Yankees. It was the last game of the season, and if Tampa won and the Red Sux lost Boston would miss the playoffs. Oh, it was so delicious when news of a flub in the Boston outfield by Tampa traitor Carl Crawford started circulating through the crowd, simultaneous with a rather improbably 6-run comeback by the Rays.
I have come to rue that day and my infidelity as I believe it may have created some negative juju that has hung over the Yankees like a chronic disease. Nonetheless, it's always fun when Boston blows it.
In 20 or 30 years time I imagine the plot of a new Disney baseball movie (should the game still exist on a professional level): a hard luck bunch with little power but good athletic ability "rediscovers" baseball strategy in an old book from the mid 20th century (found in an abandoned library). They hit-and-run, execute double steals, go opposite field against the shift, choke up and protect the plate with two strikes, and dare not to take the third strike. You know. Baseball. The movie climax is them in the World Series running circles around an established team of All Stars rigidly mired in the New Baseball way of thinking. (Who might that be in 20 years?)
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, there's more. The fans go wild for this new team and other teams begin to copy their strategy. Baseball rises in popularity until it once again becomes the undisputed National Pastime.
ReplyDeleteand the hero gets the once-skeptical girl.
the end.
Last night David Cone was ADAMANT about the game taking care of itself. That if the trend is to use pitchers this way then that is what is going to happen and THE GAME WILL BE FINE.
ReplyDeleteI tried to go with it, envisioning a future where some guys nickname is "Mr. Third Inning!" or "Joey Copper, The Sixth Inning Stopper!" realizing that eventually I'd be rooting for our "7th inning with less than two outs away game LOOGY" A guy who pitches to eight batters a year. Lights out baby!
The game may TAKE CARE OF ITSELF but who takes care of the fans?
While I'm on the subject of Cone (Who I like overall.) Let's talk about
the Yankee booth.
They had that 9 man booth commercial to start the year but the mixing and matching has been very interesting. I've been enjoying the way their styles combine.
For example: last night Micheal Kay kept maneuvering David Cone into taking positions on the state of baseball. It was thoughtful and informative.
When he's just with Paulie it becomes a jocularity fest with an emphasis on JOCK. (Plus the usual hitting clinic.)
With Ken Singleton the game's the thing. Actually Singleton and Flaherty call the most pure "baseball" game, devoid of personality but really interesting if you can stay awake.
In the three man booth, particularly the Cone, O'Neal, Kay booth, the game is secondary to their antics and we are 100% certain to hear that:
Micheal Kay has a big head and went to Fordham and O'Neal is intimidated by that.
Paulie like to eat and play golf.
Cone used to hit the bars pretty heavy.
I've come to the conclusion that I much prefer the two man booth in pretty much any combination. Does anyone else feel this way?
Doug K.
I like the 3 man rotation through a 2 man broadcast the way Scooter White and Messer used to do it. It was comforting to know that Scooter was out of the Stadium before the seventh inning stretch so he could beat the traffic and get home to Cora.
ReplyDeleteI loved that team too, WW, but don’t forget John Gordon and Fran Healy and the way they rotated back and forth between the radio and television booths mid-game. You could have the radio on in one room and the TV in another and feel free to roam around during the game. When I’m bbq’ing I’ll have the radio on out on the patio and the TV on in the den. The seven second delay (or is it ten now?) gives me a chance to run inside and see Miggy hit another double or Sanchez’s latest flub.
ReplyDeleteScooter, White, and Messer were a good combo. Cone had a nice moment calling out ICS on the passed balls last night.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis of how Boone uses the analytics, apoorplayer. And what an interesting debate in general on the new game!
Also, I'm sorry to say that the Mets' broadcasting team, in whatever combo, blows ours away.
Cone is the shrewdest analyst in the Yankee booth.
ReplyDeleteO'Neill belabors the obvious.
Kay is an embarrassment.
The Mets announcing teams on TV and radio blow away those of the Yankees--both play by play and analysis. If you want to hear what radio craftsmanship is all about, listen to a couple of innings of a Mets game on WOR radio.
I have always wished Fordham had been my alma mater. Not that I particularly admire the school, although I'm sure that it is fine. It's just that I've always wanted to put an "FU" sticker on my rear windshield.
ReplyDeleteCone was saying that most of ICS' problems behind the plate are not about skill. They are about him and the pitchers constantly being crossed up, For which there is no excuse.
ReplyDeleteI like Leiter best
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