Kuzul

Via Baseball Reference:

Mariano Rivera is 40 years old, still pitching extremely well, and is first in baseball history in ERA+. Among active pitchers, he’s ranked first in ERA, WHIP, H/9IP, K/BB, HR/9IP, WPA, and fielding percentage. (Go ahead and carefully re-read that last sentence.)

He’s an 11-time All-Star, finished in the top five for the Cy Young five times, and received MVP votes in nine different seasons.

He’s also the career leader in postseason ERA (despite having more IP than every other pitcher in the top 10) and has been a part of five World Series championship teams.

To me, it’s impossible to say with any authority whether or not Rivera is or isn’t the best pitcher ever. Though after reading that piece, it is hard to deny that he’s one of the elite pitchers of all time. Not just relievers, but starters as well.

So, what do you think, is Rivera the best pitcher of all time? Vote in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments section.

To help you decide, here are Mariano’s stats:

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In the winter before the 2005 season, Carl Pavano met with at least a half-dozen teams as he shopped his services in a Pavano Derby of sorts. As we all know, the Yankees were the unfortunate winners of that derby and the fans proceeded to suffer through four years of his “services.”

As it turns out, five years later, the Twins might be the winners of the Pavano Derby, as he has been just great for them, practically their ace.

Pavano’s numbers: 14-7 in 23 games, 5 CG, 2 SO, 3.28 ERA, 1.08 WHIP.

His ERA+ of 127 is actually better than all of the Yankees starters except CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte. In fact, Pavano is on the mound tonight going for a tie in the AL with 15 wins. Wins don’t necessarily mean a whole lot, but in this case, it shows that he’s displaying consistency that most Yankee fans never dreamed of.

I still wouldn’t offer him a contract longer than one year, although I certainly would hire his mustache as the team’s mascot.

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Via Wikipedia:

The Black Aces is a book written by former Major League pitcher James “Mudcat” Grant about the only African American pitchers who have won at least 20 Major League Baseball games in a single season.

For some reason, I have always found the idea of the Black Aces to be very cool, and ever since the day the Yankees signed CC Sabathia, I have hoped that he would eventually become one.

After last night’s win, it looks like it might actually happen. Sabathia has 15 wins through 25 games, which means he’ll have about nine more starts to pick up five more wins to do it.

He would become the 14th pitcher on the list joining Vida Blue, Al Downing, Bob Gibson, Dwight Gooden, Mudcat Grant, Ferguson Jenkins, Sam Jones, Don Newcombe, Mike Norris, J.R. Richard, Dave Stewart, Earl Wilson, and Dontrelle Willis.

Interestingly enough, David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays also has 15 wins, so it is possible that the Black Aces may get two new members in 2010.

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The Yankees were facing the Royals with CC Sabathia on the mound, so you knew it was going to be a good night, and it was, as the Yankees got a good start and just enough offense to win 4-3.

Here are some notes:

• Curtis Granderson went 2-for-3 on his first day back since restructuring his swing.
• Austin Kearns hit his first homer as a Yankee and his ninth of the season.
• This is the first time Sabathia picked up 15 wins by his 25th start in his career. He’s going for 20.
• Nick Swisher went 3-for-4, but had to be lifted late in the game because of the extreme heat.
• Jesus Montero was named Triple-A International League Player of the Month for July. His numbers: 23 G, .342 BA, .441 OBP, 1.072 OPS, and five HR.
• So far, Montero’s August has been even better: nine G, .441 BA, .513 OBP, 1.307 OPS, and three HR.
• Melky Mesa, High-A OF, won Player of the Week honors.

With a good start to the series last night, I’d really like to see the Yankees sweep what should be an easy series. They have Dustin Moseley (2-1, 3.86) going against Kyle Davies (5-7, 5.21). Moseley has been good, but hopefully the offense shows up to help him out tonight.

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The Yankees have a four-game weekend series against the Royals in Kansas City this weekend with CC Sabathia starting tonight against Bruce Chen. So not only will the Yankees get to face a weak team in the Royals, but since Zack Greinke pitched yesterday, they won’t have to face him this weekend.

Here are some notes:

• Jorge Posada is out of today’s lineup. No problems, just rest.
• Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson are back in.
• The Yankees are holding a memorial for George Steinbrenner at the stadium that is tentatively scheduled for September 20.
• Day-of-the-game tickets will now be sold at the Times Squre Modell’s for up to half-off their face value.

Here is tonight’s lineup:

Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Thames DH
Kearns LF
Granderson CF
Cervelli C

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Via FanGraphs:

Jackson’s profile does suggest that he should have an above average BABIP. He has a line drive rate of 25.8 percent and a ground ball rate above 50 percent, and both serve his speed quite well. As such, an above average BABIP should be expected.

But there are limits. First of all, Jackson’s high line drive rate is second in the league and ripe for some amount of regression to the mean. Second of all, Jackson’s BABIP on ground balls in particular is .333, and bound to come down. Jackson’s excellent 10.1 percent infield hit rate is about 4 percent above the league average, meaning that he accrues an extra 5.5 hits among his 148 ground balls, which only accounts for about 30 points of BABIP on grounders—that .333 GB BABIP is over 100 points above the league average rate, and can’t simply be explained by speed.

His BABIP on fly balls is also above the league average, by just under 70 points, and I don’t think the abnormality on fly ball BABIP can be explained as simply as his speed. Simply put, Jackson’s BABIP is going to come down.

Former Yankee Austin Jackson has put together a decent rookie season for himself and it has some Yankee fans in fits. Overall he’s hitting .304 with a .352 OBP, a .757 OPS and a 103 OPS+. Nothing spectacular, but for a 23-year-old rookie, it is a promising start.

There is one problem, he leads all of baseball with a .422 BABIP and ,as FanGraphs points out, it is just not sustainable. The comparison that I liked was with Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, as both Ichiro and AJax are fast outfielders with little-to-no power. Ichiro has a career BABIP of .357; it’s impressive and if Jackson could manage that throughout his career it would be a major feat.

That’s still 65 points lower than what he’s putting together this season. In other words, he’s getting incredibly lucky. So in the future we can expect some serious regression. That means that Jackson’s .304 batting average is in serious jeopardy of declining next season, and, if Jackson can’t hit for a high average, he can’t do much else offensively.

He has almost no power at all, putting up a low .406 slugging percentage, even with the speed to stretch singles into doubles and doubles into triples. Considering he and Curtis Granderson have comparable speed and outfield defense, fans should probably give the trade that shipped AJax off more time before judging it. Because when all is said and done, the Yankees might have shipped off a fourth outfield type for Granderson, which wouldn’t be too bad, even at Granderson’s current production.

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Via the NY Post: Andy Pettitte takes a big step today in his rehab program from a left groin injury in Tampa when he pitches in a simulated situation. If Pettitte doesn’t experience any problems, he would likely pitch in a minor league game Tuesday in Trenton (Double-A). When Pettitte went down on July 18, the Yankees hoped he would be back by Sept. 1. Providing there are no setbacks he might return before then.

[snip]

Versatile reliever Alfredo Aceves will make a second rehab appearance tomorrow night for Trenton and the hope is that he is sharper than Tuesday night when he worked two-thirds of an inning, walked two and fanned one.

The Yankees haven’t been winning a lot of late, but once they get these two back it will be a huge boost. Between them, Lance Berkman, and Kerry Wood, the Yankees should be fully loaded for the stretch run. If only Jorge Posada can stay healthy and on the field.

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Via the Star-Ledger:

“‘I reach back, and I see 88,’ said Vazquez, who was clearly frustrated after allowing six runs in 4 1/3 innings. ‘The fastball is not there. I don’t have any zip on it.’

“Also missing: the movement on Vazquez’ fastball. According to Pitch F/X, of all the pitches that Vazquez threw that were classified as fastballs, he failed to generate a single swing and miss.

“‘I don’t have any life on the fastball,’ he said. ‘I get a lot of swings and misses on my fastball. But all the swings and misses I’m getting are on my changeups and curveballs, not on my fastball.'”

Javier Vazquez‘s velocity has been down all year compared to years past, but it has been even lower of late. The Yankees are calling it a dead arm, and if that’s what it is, then hopefully he gets over it soon. If it’s just age catching up to him, then it’s more important than ever that he is able to locate that fastball the way he needs to. Otherwise it could be April all over again for the rest of the year.

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It looked like just another night when the Yankees would be victimized by Cliff Lee, but the Yankees managed to chip away at him, as they scored four runs off him and knocked him out of the game in the seventh inning before going to work on the Texas bullpen.

Marcus Thames hit an eighth-inning homer and put the Yanks ahead with a ninth-inning single before Mariano Rivera came in and shut the door on a 7-6 victory, even needing to strand a leadoff triple to do it.

Here are some notes:

• Thames was hired to hit lefties, but he’s mashed righties as well this season: .321 BA, .879 OPS overall. Just don’t ask him to play defense.
• Thames went 5-for-10 batting in the No. 3 spot for Mark Teixeira, who was out the last two games for the birth of his third child.
• Teixeira is expected to be back with the team tonight.
• Javier Vazquez, who has been dealing with a little bit of a dead arm, admitted frustration with his lack of velocity. He never threw harder than 89 mph last night and usually sat at 88.
• Kerry Wood got his first Yankees victory. He’s allowed just one run in 6.1 innings since coming to the Bronx.
• The Yankees tied a franchise record by striking out 17 times. Nick Swisher led the team with four K’s.
• After the game, manager Joe Girardi said that Jorge Posada‘s foot and calf were OK and his shoulder should be fine as well, but admitted that the cyst in his knee is something they’re going to have to deal with.

That was about as big as win as you can get in August when not playing a division rival. It came against Lee, who you generally can assume a loss against, and it avoided a short series sweep against a potential playoff opponent.

Coming up next, the Yankees play 11 games against teams under .500, starting with the Kansas City Royals.

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The Yankees got seven innings out of their starter A.J. Burnett, but once again the offense failed to make much noise as Mariano Rivera let the game slip away in the 10th inning causing the Yankees to lose to the Texas Rangers 4-3 in 10 innings.

Here are some notes:

• That was an impressive performance by Burnett, if he could have avoided a sixth inning two-run homer by David Murphy it would have been a great performance.
• Francisco Cervelli came up in a big spot in the eighth inning yesterday, but the Yankees couldn’t pinch hit for him because Jorge Posada‘s surgically repaired shoulder was giving him fits.
• Posada is not starting tonight, mostly because of the fact that Javier Vazquez is on the mound and Cervelli has handled him most of this season.
• The Yankees aren’t likely to call up Jesus Montero unless he can play everyday, but if Posada is still dealing with this many aches and pains in September (his knees, foot, and now shoulder have been bothering him) then the Yankees are going to have to seriously consider giving him a call-up.
• Speaking of Montero, he’s been a one-man wrecking crew down in Triple-A after a slow start. His OPS in April and May were a disappointing .696 and .635 respectively. Since then: .829 in June, 1.072 in July, and a 1.363 so far in August. His bat is ready.
• Alfredo Aceves threw 0.2 innings last night in Triple-A Scranton, depending on how his back feels today he’s next step is to throw  two innings on Friday. If that goes well he could be activated after that.

This Posada issue could really bite the Yankees in the ass. He’s hitting a pathetically low .192 with a .493 OPS since May 25. During that time he only has three multi-hit games. That’s about as close to an automatic out as it gets. Some pitchers are more of a treat at the plate. If Posada is going to continue to be the walking wounded then a third catcher would be nice, especially one who could occasionally pinch hit late in games. Like I said, the Yankees aren’t likely to call-up Montero unless he’s playing everyday, but once the minor league season ends hopefully they’ll make the right choice.

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