Kuzul

Since being moved to the bullpen to work on mechanics, the performance of Javier Vazquez has improved. The Yankees are now seeing the type of pitcher they thought they were getting last offseason. His performance has improved enough for the righty to get another shot in the starting rotation.

Now is the time to find out if Vazquez has truly figured out his problems or if he is just better in the bullpen. If he has figured it out, Vazquez could be a very important piece to the Yankees puzzle down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Fellow starters A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes have struggled of late. Andy Pettitte is still working his way back from a groin injury. CC Sabathia has been the ace but is due for a bad game at some point. Dustin Moseley is just treading water and getting by until Pettitte can return.

Is Moseley better than Vazquez? NO. Is Burnett better than Vazquez? NO.

Joe Girardi needs to insert Vazquez back into the rotation and see if he can provide a boost. Find out what you have and who gives you the best chance to win. Swap Vazquez and Moseley. Or even swap Vazquez and Burnett.

A mechanical flaw in his windup seems to be fixed and the velocity on his pitches is up a bit. Could this just be a case of being in the bullpen? Sure, but let’s find out.

In his last nine innings of work, Vazquez has given up just two runs on four hits. It is also obvious that Vazquez is pitching with more confidence again. The team looks confident in him once again. That says a lot.

It’s time. Javier Vazquez deserves another chance.

This article is also featured at Double G Sports, where NY/NJ sports lives.

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Today, Andy Pettitte will pitch a bullpen session in Chicago. There are two possible outcomes for this situation.

Good outcome: Pettitte could return in mid-September and be the horse he was before the injury, when was on his way to a Cy Young-type season. 

Bad outcome: He could feel a “pull” in his groin, and the Yankees could be stuck with the pitchers they have, or get someone off waivers.

Needless to say, the Yankees desperately need Pettitte back. With him at full strength, the Bombers could have a dangerous 1-2 punch with him and C.C. Sabathia.

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The Yankees were impressed enough with Ivan Nova’s start Monday night in Toronto that he will replace Javier Vazquez next Sunday at Chicago.

Vazquez, who has an ERA above five, will move to the bullpen and will be available starting Monday. Joe Girardi did not comment about using Nova for more than one more start, and did not say he is prepared to use a six-man rotation.

“I’m disappointed, obviously, but I’m also not doing my job so I understand that part,” Vazquez said. “Last time they put me in the ‘pen, it was only one day, but that one day helped me out a little bit. Hopefully this time it will too.”

The move will also give the Yankees the chance to use Vazquez to shorten Phil Hughes’ starts, due to his innings limit.

Nova, 23, started his first Major League game on Monday night in Toronto. He gave up two runs and six hits in five and a third innings, striking out three batters and walking one. He had a 2.86 ERA in 23 starts in Triple-A this season.

This article is also featured on Examiner.com

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It’s starting to look increasingly clear that—now some three quarters into the season—the Yankees have lost their gamble on Javier Vazquez.

The team wagered this offseason that it had acquired the 2009 version of Vazquez, the ace pitcher in Atlanta who was second in the NL in strikeouts and nearly won a Cy Young award, and not the wounded puppy 2004 version of Vazquez, who staggered to the finish line for the Yankees before surrendering perhaps the most infamous home run in franchise history.

It’d be easy to say the Yankees are witnessing the ’04 Vazquez at work…but that may not be fair to even that much-maligned model.

That version of Vazquez gave up a very notable home run that landed in the upper deck of old Yankee Stadium. The terrace of the former Stadium hung over the right-field grandstand, making it a place where hitters with even mediocre pop—read: Damon, Johnny—could reach with relative ease.

This new version of Vazquez is still giving up home runs in the Yankee Stadium upper deck, but now we’re talking about a new ballpark with a reset upper tank over 430 feet from home plate.

No one had ever went up there before Vazquez started throwing his meatball specials on Saturday afternoon.

They might as well bury Russell Branyan on top of Vazquez one day, because the Mariners slugger now owns the right-hander forever.

Vazquez is in a miserable extended rut for the Yankees, his second such slide of the season. Sunday’s three-plus inning outing represented the shortest start of his season and he’s now winless in his last four starts with a 6.75 ERA. He hasn’t completed seven innings in a start since July 26.

As bad as Vazquez was on Saturday, it could have been worse. The notoriously weak-hitting Mariners were teeing off on a fastball that was barely touching 85 MPH, and Vazquez was fortunate a number of hard hit balls found Yankee defenders.

The right-hander will enter September with the same reputation for being soft that he had when he came to camp in February. But now, the even more disturbing subplot of an apparent erosion of stuff is coming into sharp focus.

This makes for a very tricky situation for a Yankee team without Andy Pettitte and already dealing with the perpetual start-to-start schizophrenia of A.J. Burnett.

Are we witnessing the beginning of a decline for a once-productive pitcher? Or will we see Vazquez take the Pavano route, wilting in New York then succeeding in a market where the lights don’t shine so bright?

Either scenario is feasible. Unfortunately, both options are more likely than Vazquez ever becoming the type of pitcher the Yankees believed he should have been.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached via e-mail at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus .

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A quick check up on how some of the Yankees’ top prospects are doing as of August 21, 2010.

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After witnessing yet another poor start by Javier Vazquez on Monday, I believe that it is about time to call upon the services of 23-year-old Ivan Nova.

As you may or may not know, Vazquez is going through a stretch of dead arm right now, which is severely limiting his velocity on pitches, which are topping out at 88 miles per hour.

He got ripped by the Rangers last Wednesday, and he gave up two runs through four innings against the Tigers yesterday, throwing 106 pitches and dodging several scary situations in the process.

Joe Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland have stood by Javy through this dead arm period, but this simply cannot continue, not with the division lead on the line seemingly every night.

And speaking of the division, Monday’s loss put the Yanks in a tie atop the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays.

You can blame the hitting, but the Yankees are pretty much stuck with what they have until Jesus Montero gets here in September.

As for Javy, the Yanks can fix that problem, put him on the DL, and call up Nova!

I know that I sound like a broken record, as I have been lobbying for Nova to be in the Majors long before now, but how much longer can Brian Cashman sit there and ignore what is looking him right in the face?

It’s clear that Javy has lost his ability to give the Yankees quality starts due to the dead arm, and the best thing for that issue is rest.

I could understand why the Yankees would continue to run him out there every five days if they didn’t have any other options, but they do.

Nova has been excellent at AAA Scranton all year, posting an 11-3 record, with a 2.93 ERA in 22 starts. He has given up 130 hits in 138 innings while walking 44 and striking out 108, good for a respectable 1.258 WHIP.

In such a tight pennant race, as it is in the AL East, the Yankees can’t afford to keep sending Javy out to the mound every five days, not only because he has lost his velocity, but because such short outings like yesterday against the Tigers tax the bullpen much more than normal.

I wouldn’t usually say this, but in the current Yankees plight, the rookie Nova gives them a better chance to win than Javy does right now. A two-week stint on the DL should help restore his velocity, while Nova could help the Yankees in their dogfight with the Rays for first place.

All I’m saying is give the kid a shot, Cashman.

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The Yankees had to overcome a five run deficit last night to beat the Texas Rangers after Javier Vazquez’s poor start, a start he shouldn’t have even made.

Javy’s pitches topped out at about 85 mph last night, which is not good enough to get major league hitters out, let alone the heavy hitting Texas Rangers.

Apparently he has a case of dead arm, which is slowing his pitches down to nearly Tim Wakefied speeds. The only problem is Javy doesn’t throw a knuckle ball.

I give Javy a lot of credit for going out there and making his scheduled start, but I feel that a stint on the 15-day DL would do him and the team more good than having him out there every five days throwing a 68 mph curve or a 85 mph fastball.

But Javy is not the only concern right now for the Yankees. Surprisingly, it’s the offense that has let them down recently.

With Jorge Posada, Francisco Cervelli, Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Brett Gardner, and Lance Berkman all going through varying degrees of slumps right now, that mighty Yankee lineup isn’t looking so mighty anymore.

So what options do the Yankees have to help get them through the playoff push?

For the pitching, they have an excellent live arm in the minors by the name of Ivan Nova.

The ace of the staff for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees is putting up numbers that the Yankee front office can’t ignore.

Nova is 10-3 with an ERA of 3.02 in 21 games started this year. He also has struck out an even 100 batters, while walking 43 in 131 innings, and has only given up 10 home runs all year.

He’s got a flame thrower of an arm, even rumored to have thrown a 100 mph fastball earlier this year, which could prove to be just what the Yankees need to get them through September and into the playoffs.

Any way you look at it, Nova has got to be better than dead arm Javy.

As for the offense, it has to be Jesus Montero.

With both Posada and Cervelli struggling at the plate right now, I think it might be time to call upon the top prospect in the organization.

Montero got off to a very slow start this year, but has bounced back and is one of the hotter hitters in the minors now. He’s coming into today with a .287 average, and leads the team with 14 home runs, 53 RBI, and 52 runs scored.

The man can hit, plain and simple.

The Yankees carried three catchers last year, and might just do so again this year as they head down the stretch.

In my mind, Nova and Montero would be a shot in the arm that the Yankees desperately need to have with the Rays and the Red Sox nipping at their heels for the AL East crown.

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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.

Related Stories

• August 12, 2010—Yankees Notes: Thames, Vazquez, Teixeira, Posada
• August 9, 2010—Extended Yankees Notes: A-Rod, Burnett, Posada, Pettitte, and More
• June 13, 2010—Yankees Notes: Thames, Huffman, Posada, and Vazquez
• June 2, 2010—Javier Vazquez Continued a Positive Trend

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Game Notes

The odds were stacked up against the New York Yankees before Texas Rangers Cliff Lee even threw his first pitch.

By the top of the sixth inning, Lee was schooling the Yankees again, with a 6-1 lead, posting 11 strikeouts, no walks, and a stacked bullpen just waiting.

Yankees Javier Vazquez pitched just shy of six innings. Vazquez is fighting a pitcher’s “dead arm,” which is fatigue from throwing, but regardless Vazquez didn’t skip his start and that is a sign of a true ballplayer.

Mark Teixeira was on a mini-paternity leave, but is back today and his hot bat is always appreciated.

Replacing Tex at the plate and at first base was Marcus Thames, who was the player of the game by a landslide. Thames hit a homer and the ninth inning single that drove in the needed runs for the win.

I really like Thames because he has preformed since joining the Yankees this season. Thames is like a subdued Swisher, just happy to be a Yankee and fans are happy to have him too.

Manager Notes:

I am not even going to try and dissect Skipper Joe Girardi’s decision making because it gets me too upset.

Still, I can’t help but point out that Jorge Posada was in the lineup for the win last night. Ironically 24 hours prior, Jorge was scratched form the lineup due to a bad shoulder.

Another Girardi move in question is why Curtis Granderson is not starting everyday.

Grandy is used to playing everyday and my guess would be that might get his hitting back on track. Grandy is a talented outfielder, if not the best on the Yankees.

Please don’t tell me that Girardi can’t chance Grandy against lefty pitchers. Girardi is the king of giving too many chances (i.e. Mitre), but obviously he can’t seem to figure out who, what, when it makes sense.

Team Notes:

Just 24 hours earlier, Tuesday night’s loss at Rangers Ballpark was awful, gross, and becoming a Yankees trend.

The bats were dead and Mariano Rivera lost the game 4-1 in the 10th inning.

It was grim because the Yankees looked old. Questions about playing October baseball were becoming doubts, but for good reason.

Then came Wednesday night and all of a sudden it felt like 2009 all over again. The Yankees were down multiple runs deep in the game, but that wasn’t going to stop them from winning.

It was dramatic, old school baseball at its best—weekly occurrence last season that was essential in this team’s success.

Nothing but positives can come from beating Cliff Lee, as the aurora of the Yankee players’ attitudes seemed to resurface. That never-giving-up attitude has been dormant this season.

Never-giving-up attitude was the fundamental theme of the 2009 World Series Champions. If the Yankees want to repeat as champs in 2010, it needs to be again.

Last night proved that this team could do it all over again.

Mark my words, beating the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, in 100-plus degree weather and against the best pitcher in baseball will be remembered as the turning point for the 2010 Yankees.

It’s about time the Bombers started acting like champs and last night that swagger came back.

The improbable and impossible victory also gave Yankees fans some needed comfort and a good night’s sleep.

READ MORE AT…LADY LOVES PINSTRIPES.

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