It was in the category of "Strikeouts per 9 IP." Severino, believe it or not, is second all-time on the Yankees, with 9.812 strikeouts per 9.
No. 1? Gerrit Cole, with 11.210.
No. 3? Domingo German, at 9.356, followed by
Almost every other category is dominated by the usual suspects: Whitey Ford, Red Ruffing, Allie Reynolds, Mel Stottlemyre, Goose Gossage, Andy Pettitte, David Cone, C.C. Sabathia, and, of course, The Great Rivera.
Pretty much the only other category in which there are pitchers from the last 15 years is Strikeouts to Base on Balls, where Cole again tops the list, followed by Pineda and Tanaka, with Sevvy at No. 7, Hiroki Kuroda (remember him? I bet you don't) at No. 8, German at 9, and Monty at 10.
Certainly, despite my various complaints (yes, I did nickname him "Flouncy"), Cole and Tanaka gave us pretty much everything we could have realistically expected, and Kuroda was a very serviceable, middle-of-the-rotation pitcher who did what we needed.
My point is more that the Yankees obviously succeeded in making many of their pitchers in this era exactly what they wanted: strikeout pitchers with good control who threw hard all the time.
The question this raises: why have so many of them been such busts?
And why would Cashman—speaking of great brains—deal away somebody like Monty, who so religiously followed the Yankees' instructions for making him a gas thrower, even to the point of enduring injuries that took him out of the game for some three years?
For that matter, how is it possible now that Severino is still, reportedly, throwing 98-mph, but unable to get anybody out, even on some of the worst teams in the majors?
What they have built are all sorts of marvelous throwers—who are nothing more than that.
Much as Giancarlo Stanton often seems like some kind of elaborate, 18th-century mechanical toy who simply swings in the same spot with the same velocity every time, your model of a major Yankees pitcher today is pretty much a pitching machine, just hurling in whatever you set him to throw. He's entirely predictable—to the hitters as well as his coaches.
Posts
23 comments:
Yep, they're mechanical, much too mechanical. Given similar talent levels, intelligent play beats mechanical play. The foremost example of it: Ali vs. Foreman, the Rumble in the Jungle.
And we've had guys like Sonny Gray and our infamous western gunslinger, Aroldis Chapman. Now we can tack on Severino and Rodon to the burgeoning list of failures here. All guys who can throw very hard, and with very good stuff, but literally can't get anyone out.
We did bring in a batting coach who I like. It's been a while since we've had one that I liked. It will help the kids when (if ever) they come up from the minors.
It's now time to bring in a better pitching coach too. Do you want Jonny Brito and Randy Vasquez getting instructed by Matt Blake? I sure don't.
A lot of this falls on Mr. Yesman, Aaron Boone. Dusty Baker tells his ASS-stros hitters that every ball put into play has to be (1) played; (2) thrown; and (3) caught for the put out. A strikeout does none of those three things, so there is virtually no chance of a defensive misplay. I'm certain that Aaron Boone tells nothing of the sort to his hitters.
I wonder what Dusty Baker tells his pitchers. Whatever it is, I'm sure Aaron Boone tells nothing of the sort to his pitchers.
Hoss -
"Giancarlo Stanton often seems like some kind of elaborate, 18th-century mechanical toy who simply swings in the same spot with the same velocity every time"
Best. And. Most. Accurate. Description. Ever.
Hammer -
"but it looked like Anderson (unorthodox stance) hit Ramirez (orthodox stance) with a right jab and a left cross before Ramirez suddenly dropped Anderson with a stunning right hook to the side of the face. The punches were all lousy."
So there's another Robinson Tim Anderson isn't. He's not Jackie and he's not Sugar Ray.
All the strikeout stats are skewed now because of the all-or-nothing approach of so many current day players. That goes on everywhere, not just here.
So far, I’ve not been able to see one iota of change or improvement since Casey came on board.
First semester of college I had an AP English literature class. First book out of the dugout was Light In August. I thought, man, I like this Faulkner guy (being a backwoods bohunk hillbilly I had no prior exposure to anything higher up the chain than maybe To The Lighthouse). Next up was another Faulkner, and it was The Sound And The Fury. Jesus, Benjy.
Faulkner wrote the screenplay for Benji?
No Mildred, Faulkner wrote the words and music to "Ben", MJ's favorite rodent.
I must be the only person who absolutely HATES Faulkner.
I had an Advanced English course in HS taught by a Jesuit that was getting his Masters based upon Faulkner's writings.
Can you think of anything, other than the current Yankees, more depressing to a 15-16 yr-old boy stuck in an Upstate winter than to read this guy's morose prose.
However, I did learn a valuable lesson in life. I vowed to be a good person for the rest of my life because Hell for my Dante's Inferno would be reading Faulkner for eternity.
Personally, Faulkner has long been my favorite American writer. But...I have to admit, as I've gotten older, I have less patience for him. I think one does age in or out of certain types of writing.
It depresses me that so many kids are being told not to bother reading anyone back beyond such-and-such a date, because they might have an opinion or a prejudice you don't like. They should be told to read and read and read and hey, you might just discover you don't already know everything!
08/10/23 New York Yankees optioned LHP Nick Ramirez to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
08/10/23 Chicago White Sox claimed RHP Deivi García off waivers from New York Yankees.
08/09/23 RHP Deivi García roster status changed by New York Yankees.
Deivi was optioned to Chicago's AAA affiliate...
Archie - I'm with you on Faulkner. Can't bear him.
Faulkner remained a favorite of mine for a long time, but that said I think Horace is right - we age in and out of writing types.
I landed on Cormac McCarthy some years ago, read Blood Meridian and absolutely despised it (I'm reading it now, second chances and all). Stuck with him though and read Child Of God, then The Road, both creepy. I've read everything I can find by him and it's all right up my alley. I like William Gay but the bastard died too soon.
I don't know, I'm no literary critic but I read a shit ton.
Horace, very interesting inpost. The Wisdom of Today posits, as well you know, that by striking batters out nothing bad can happen. Well, as our warriors show their is a flaw in this line of reasoning. IMHO, the issue is that more pitches have to be thrown to get through an inning. Resulting in bringing in inferior pitchers from the middle of the bullpen. And that is where many games are lost. Proponents of the New Way will point to pitchers who are gods, "look at their success with high K-BB ratios" ( every year for as long as I can remember, the playoffs are foolishly used as a template for how to build a club), well there are only 5-10 pitching gods in baseball in any given year.
Which leads me to paraphrase what top pitchers, even the gods used to say about staying in games, accumulating both innings and wins. 'Keep the arm fresh through a game by taking it "easy" on the weak hitters and bare down on the tough ones'. Yet pitchers take an extra three pitches to strike out singles hitters. Well, when ignorant arbitrators and GMs pay for ratios......
Well put, Mildred! Reading a shit ton is how we get to what is truly good. I remember reading "dirty books" off the shelves of my parents or people I was baby-sitting for, and getting drawn in beyond the salacious parts. "Hey, this Nabokov guy is pretty good!"
The Yankees 'brain trust' should be called a 'brawn trust'. Their almighty analytics squad has boiled the game down to 4 skills: launch angles, bat speed, pitch velocity and spin rates. Thinking is for the almighty brain trust (funders), not for lowly proletarian ballplayers, silly wabbits.
Baseballs smarts? That's for the white collar boys. Mental readiness? Please see the Joba rulebook. Jerk their chain. Show them who's the boss! Give them another round trip ticket on the Scranton Shuttle. Harumph. Where's my martini?
Fielding skills? Ah... we can't calculate that, so it must not be important. Hit strikes harder! (that's the ticket.) Where's that damn martini?
Whenever the Yankees talk about analytics, that's just smoke and mirrors to cover up elitist incompetence and dumbass decision-making. They don't actually understand statistics. But they do know a good martini!
Waiter, take this back and bring the bartender over, so I can instruct him on the analytical secrets of a good martini. Hit that gin harder!
Folks, I love reading to.
I also agree that young peopler steered away from classics because of disdain for the past.
I love history and historical novels.
Civil War, Roman history and anything Elmore Leonard, whether his western or "crime" novels.
The best book that I have ever read is Les Mis' by Hugo.
it is long and 'work" in that you must work at it, but the prose is so spectacular that it is humbling.
The story weaves through what may appear to be disjointed passages, for instance, and then two hundred pages later, there it is.
I would suggest a copy translated around 1900 because the translation is relative to the usage of the language of the time.
Certainly better than anything written about this year's Yanks.
"Blood Meridian" was the most brutal read that I can ever recall. Like Mildred I'm (working my way mentally for That re-read) going to give it another go. Read "The Road", "Suttree", "No Country for Old Men" (I love), the screenplay for "The Counselor" (what a sick movie!). I somehow made it through a Marist HS without getting hit with Faulkner. But God only knows how many books that I've read. Those hours I've never regretted.
Wow, Catholic HS boys. Jesuits and Marists.
Taught how to think with our own minds and with the Socratic method before law school.
Of course, they explains why so many here have, how can I say this, predilections?
I loved poetry too,;
There once was a man from Nantucket......
I'm not sure the Lords of the Yankees in fact know a good martini, Doc. If their baseball acumen is anything to go by, they likely value the temperature of the glass above all else. "Make glasses colder."
Bringing together a couple of the literary references above...I like to think McCarthy's "No Country For Old Men" is an homage to Nabakov's "Lolita". Irresponsible anti-social behavior (pedophilia in "Lolita", self-indulgent mercy in "No Country") leads to a harrowing journey through a series of shabby American motels, shadowed by an odd and menacing antagonist. And in case we don't get it, McCarthy has Moss pick up a hitchhiker...she's a 15 year old runaway who proceeds to come on to him... just before his demise. (The Coen Brothers turned her into a fully grown poolside floozy).
Jomboy did his lip read of Boone and Laz…. Laz nailed it. Not the strike zone, but he assessment of Boone. Basically said.. WTF have you ever done? I’m glad someone said it to his face. Proof even a blind ump can see what’s going on in the Bronx.
No Country is just brutally good. The trilogy sold me for good though
I love Hugo and all those great 19th-century novelists, Archie. Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Flaubert, Balzac, Austen—all those people who create worlds in their books. Could read those forever.
Very funny, Doctor T.
And you know what? I was just watching the last time the Yankees will win a World Series in our lifetimes. I remember that sixth game of the 2009 World Series very well, and remember that it turned out Mariano had some serious rib injury and was really hurting.
What I hadn't known, or had forgotten, was that he threw 1 2/3 innings against a hard-hitting Phillies team while only being able to get about 3 of 41 pitches over 90 mph. Nearly everything was 87 mph.
Somehow, though, he was able to get guys out. The only hit was when a young Brett Gardner played way too far in, and someone hit a ball over his head.
But how can that possibly have happened? Everyone KNOWS you can't get anybody out throwing under 98 mph. Right?
Horace, so true. But when you have a collection of Domeless Wonderboys, continuing to reaffirm each other's genius...well this iteration of the Yankees is going to approximate a perpetual motion machine.
I hope that I was having a lucid dream in which Boone actually blamed Laz Diaz for baiting him into getting ejected. Talk about a truly surreal dream, no?
The Diaz/Boone dialogue is really something.
"Take a look at your record, Aaron"
"I hear about it every fucking day"
Post a Comment