Everyone is all up in arms about how badly we need starting pitchers for 2009, and while that is absolutely a true statement, we seem to be forgetting one star we already have: the Wangster! Remember him? Our best pitcher over the past couple years? The dude who won 19 games in both 2006 and 2007, and went 8-2 in the 15 games he started this year before getting injured running the bases in an interleague game (that seems like such a cruel fate, doesn't it?)?

Well guess what, chickadees? He's still alive and actually just about done with his rehab down in Tampa. He's been working out and practicing there for about a month now and today he'll throw his final bullpen session to round out his rehab experience. The docs have given him the go-ahead to spend his winter with the fam back in Taiwan and then he'll return to Arizona in January to start getting in shape for the spring!

It sounds like everything is going well and that he's all healed up from The Great Interleague Caper and subsequent surgery. If he returns to full form this year, the team's chances of redeeming themselves from the 2008 failures will greatly improve. Wang's starts are sure to be an improvement over his those of his replacements this year - Ponson and Rasner - and just a few more wins could make all the difference. It would have this year.

After our unexpectedly pathetic team got themselves officially eliminated last week, I started asking myself the question we've all been pondering in the back of our minds for much of the season: WHY can't they just WIN?!

During the season, I was able to rationalize with the old "they'll get it together - they always do!", innocently dream that once some injuries had been resolved the team would really perk up, and assume that Cano and Melky would heat up. Once it became clear that those things simply were not going to happen, I started my hunt for a scapegoat.

I'm having a hard time believing that the team didn't have the TALENT to hack it. No team with A-Rod, Jeter, Giambi, Mariano, Moose, and Pettitte should be counted out due to lack of skill. No... it had to be something else. Was it the injuries? Did we put too much stock in Hughsie and IPK? Would things have been different if we had had less faith in those aforementioned losers and did whatever we could to grab Santanamania? Or maybe it was because we lost the magic touch of Torre!?

According to you delightful readers (the ones of you who haven't stopped checking this bloggity, maintaining the faith that I will at some point post updates*), the answer is ALL OF THE ABOVE. 2008 provided the perfect storm of FAIL. Most people who voted in the poll couldn't even decide who to blame - 32% said they couldn't pick just one person/thing on which to peg the blame. For those who, like me, prefer to focus their disappointment on one entity, it was the Injury Gods who received the most votes: 25%. Next on the list was the always-popular decision to just blame the entire roster; 19% of people felt that way.

Interestingly, not many people thought that having Santanamania on the mound would have made much difference (4%) and Hughsie and IPK were also essentially exonerated (4%). Robby Cano Dontcha Know was the LEAST blamed dude, with only 2% of you thinking his suckage was what sunk the team.

My vote was for the injuries. I sincerely believe that having Matsui's and Jorge's bats in the lineup would have made a HUGE difference - that's 40 homers right there! - and Wang would have won three times as many games as all of his replacements combined. Not to mention the fact that A-Rod missed a couple weeks himself, as did Jobamania. Who knows what could have been if the DL Resort and Casino wasn't so booked??

* About that: I am wholeheartedly sorry for my failure to give this bloggity its deserved attention over the past couple months... the many of you who have attempted to juggle full time work AND school can understand that my free time adds up to approximately 78 minutes per week - barely enough time to watch RAW on the DVR, much less write about the poor dilapidated New York team (not you, Mets... although that tag applies to you as well). However! I assure you that I am still committed to the team AND the blog and I will be making a concerted effort to spend a few of those precious minutes ranting and possibly raving (goooo Moose!) here on YC. I swear.

Jobamania has reportedly completed his rehab action and has been re-added to the active roster. All signs point to a spot in the 'pen for the duration of the season.

Because Ponson and Rasner are doing SO well in the rotation, we simply can't replace either of them with Joba.

Good news, peeps: Matsui and his busted knee are back to attack and in the lineup TONIGHT. He hasn't played in almost 2 months, but he was playing pretty gosh-darned well before the Injury Gods struck him down, hitting .323 with a .404 OBP. He only narrowly avoided surgery, which worries me a tad - a sore knee (possibly still partially full of some nasty fluid) could certainly preclude the hitting of a bunch of homers or stretching a single into a dub. He'll be occupying the DH spot (the Damster will be in CF), so at least we won't have to worry about fly balls sailing over his head, or worse yet, an aggravation of the current injury.

Let's all cross our fingers/toes/miscellaneous other appendages that he brings a spark to the team. If we can't win in Toronto and Baltimore, the already slim chances of a playoff spot are going to look mighty dim.

Oh, and Justin Christian was the casualty of the Matsui activation. Fare thee well.

Jorgie is going to have his surgery and henceforth he's down for the season. Enjoy a lot of Jo-Mo action!

The Yanks pitching has been nothing short of stellar of late, with the likes of Sir Sidney and D-Ras doing their best to rid themselves of their "filler starter" titles and prove they deserve their spots in the rotation and the bullpen evidently forgetting that they weren't expected to be all that great sans Jobamania. Despite their greatness, though, I have serious doubts that they'll be able to maintain such a performance over the remaining 2+ months of the season.

More help could be on the way though. In case you've forgotten, the Yanks have three (potentially) valuable pitchers rotting in the DL Resort and Casino: Bruney, Hughsie, and I-Ken. All three of them are working their way back to health and at least one of them could be back with the Yanks sometime very soon.

Hughsie has only recently begun his rehab, but the other two are already pitching in minor league games. Bruney has pitched 11.1 innings in nine games, giving up 9 hits, 4 earned runs, 7 walks and 12 strikeouts - not a bad start at all. IPK has been busting some serious moves for Scranton including a near no-hitter yesterday that was ruined largely by his team's poor defense. He's got a 1.96 ERA in 9 games in the minors thus far and opposing batters are only hitting .166 against him. Of course, he's done this before this year - pitched like a champ in the minors - and still wasn't able to hack it upon returning to the Bronx.

What dost thou think? What can we expect from these dudes if/when they make their triumphant/embarrassing returns? Or could they be trade bait?

Whew! It's been many moons since I last posted a Top Ten Tuesday on the proper day (or at all), but for once I am here, coming atcha with some sweet Top Ten action.

The season is quickly getting closer to the finish line - the Yanks will play their 100th game tonight - and they're still rotting in the third place hole in the division. They've got a 4.5 game deficit to surmount and not much time to do it; they're going to need to really get things together to blaze ahead of the Rays and Sox. The problem? They've got a lot of holes in the roster at this time and often seem to be hanging on by a thread. I've got a few thoughts on what they'll need to do during these last few months in order to make it to the playoffs... ready?

Top Ten Things the Yanks NEED if They Want to Make it Back to the Playoffs:

10) Jeter needs to get his average and OBP up. He's hitting well, but not as well as he usually does. Perhaps I'm being a bit greedy expecting him to hit over .300 again, but it sure would be a help.
9) They've still got 9 games to go against the Sox, and big wins would not only boost their spot in the standings (obv) but provide a hearty dose of confidence and momentum - beating the Sox always does.
8) They've also got 6 more games to play against those devilish Rays, and those are going to be must-win contests.
7) The offense needs to produce big time when the "filler starters" - Sir Sidney and Rasner - take the mound. Both of them are decent pitchers and can certainly keep the team in the game so long as the bats show up. Each of them is likely to give up at least 3 runs in the 6 innings they last each time they pitch, which puts a little extra pressure on the offense.
6) Keep hitting, Cano!
5) The bottom third of the order is currently pretty weak, with Melky, Gardner and Jo-Mo (see #3), and that's a pretty big issue at the moment. Everyone seems to think Gardner has the potential to hit a lot better than he has been (.170/.237/189) and Melky has shown glimmers of what he's capable of, but methinks it's unlikely those three will be even close to as productive as the top 6 in the lineup. If they can just get their collective average up to even .250 it would be a big improvement. The team can't win consistently with three automatic outs at the bottom of the lineup.
4) The bullpen has been surprisingly incredible - lights out, in fact - of late, and while I doubt they can keep their ERA under 2.00 for long, if they can just stay healthy and pitch at a 3.00 clip, the Yanks should be able to provide enough run support to hang onto their leads (or mount a comeback when they're behind).
3) Jo-Mo is going to need to start hitting. He's awesome behind the plate, throwing out potential steelers at nearly a 50% rate, but a .227 batting average and .266 OBP ain't going to cut it. If he could just get his average up to how Posada was hitting, about .265 or so, he'd actually be an upgrade over the injured Jorgie. Seems unlikely, though. Let's cross our fingers for .240.
2) Can Matsui make it back from the DL? He opted not to have the surgery his docs were advising, which doesn't seem like the best idea - the docs are the pros - but he knows his body and hopefully he can rehab successfully.
1) When Hughsie and/or I-Ken finally claw their way back to the majors, we need a few wins from them. Before they took up residence at the DL Resort and Casino they hadn't managed a single win - that's got to change. They are the ultimate "Get it TOGETHER!" boys.

"Bad news for Posada. He will see Dr. David Altchek tomorrow and may soon have season-ending surgery to repair the torn lambrum in his shoulder. The surgery is such that he may need to get it now to make sure he will be ready for next season.

Posada admitted that he can’t throw and that it has been bothering him all season."

I guess he wasn't doing much for us anyway... Molina has been doing a much better job behind the plate than dear Jorgie and at least he gets hit by pitches.

The Yanks have been playing so well this week that I nearly forgot that they have enough players staying at the DL Resort and Casino to staff a complete team. Hughsie, Wang and IPK haven't been missed too much thanks to Jobamania, the Moose, the surprisingly good bullpen, and even SiDawg Crosby, but Matsui's and Damon's absence have been noticed. They've scored just 18 runs over the last 6 games, including the game against the Sox in which they got shut down completely, and even though they won 4 of those 6 it was largely due to the pitching - there was no particular offensive free for all going on.

We finally got some updates on those two today. Bad news on Damon, whose delicate shoulder is still too swollen and tender for him to swing a bat, even at a ball on a tee, so we won't be seeing him back anytime soon, an unfortunate turn of events considering the hot year he was having. As for Matso Ball Soup, he's faring only slightly better - he's playing tee-ball down in Tampa already but hasn't graduated to real BP just yet. I can't find any news on actual timelines for returns for either dude, probs because the Yanks just don't know when they'll be healed up enough. For now, we'll have to cross our fingers and hope for a hit or two here and there from Brett Gardner and hope the pitching can keep up the good work.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Ponson!

To: cyyoung_sabathia@indians.com
CC: bDAWGcashman@yankees.com; steinbrothers@yankees.com; girardino@yankees.com
From: info@yankeeschick.com
Subject: SOS - we need help

Dearest CC,

I'm sure you've heard by now about our latest fallen soldier, our ace of cakes Chien Ming Wangster. The basepaths proved too much to handle - I'm sure you have have experienced the hardship of having to turn corners during your limited interleague play. Word has come from the Powers That Be that the Wangster's foot is in bad shape, and while he won't have to undergo surgery, he'll be taking an extended vacation at the DL Resort and Casino - at least 6 weeks, to be exact.

CC, this puts the Yanks in a bad spot. Surely you have taken notice of the starting pitching problems the team has had even with Wang in the rotation, what with Hughsie and I-Ken taking a serious dive and Pettitte getting off to a slow start. Moose has stepped up to the plate and Rasner has been effective; Jobastartamania has thankfully worked out well thus far but that still leaves us with a few cross-your-fingers-and-hope games every week. With Wang out now, I have a sinking feeling we'll be seeing Kei Igawa back in pinstripes at any time now, and that can't be good for anybody. Who else is there, after all? I suppose there's Dan Geise or maybe Ohledork, but they are not seasoned starters.

YC good pal Peter Abraham made a good point, reminding us that with the way the Yanks' schedule works out, if Wang comes back in precisely six weeks there will only be 5 games for which we need to fill his spot in the rotation. That's good news, but 5 games is 5 games, and like I said, the Yanks have been having trouble with their starters even when Wang's foot was functioning at full capacity. This is where you come in.

I'd like to see how you would feel about making a move to the Bronx and busting out some pinstripe garb. Let's be honest here: your team is 4 games under .500 and 5.5 games out of first place in the division... you most likely won't be playing baseball in October with the Indians, but you might have a shot if you join Girardi and the gang. I have no doubt that you could make a huge impact on the Yanks' season, even though you've had a semi-slow start. You'll have a winning record in no time, and I'd love to see you do that with the Yanks.

Cash, Steinbrothers, and Girardino, please take note. The season lies in your hands.

Love,

Maureen/The Yankees Chick

Bad news, folks: Carl Pavano's Patented Pain Plague has claimed another victim, striking down the Wangster with a bum foot.

The injury occurred during the 6th inning when Wang rounded third to score on a 2-run single courtesy of the Jeet. Wang was on base thanks to a badly-executed bunt that resulted in a fielder's choice, and by the time Jeet was up Wang had made it to second. With two outs he was running at the crack of the Jeter's bat; he had a good jump and scored easily, but his lack of base-running experience screwed him as he made the 90 degree turn. As Moose explained, pitchers just are only used to running in straight lines (actual quote) - turning is apparently too advanced for them.

Wang will be getting an MRI tomorrow, but Girardi has already said he'd be surprised if Wang managed to make his next start. When asked how he was feeling, he summed it up most eloquently: "It hurts."

The Yanks won the game anyway thanks to a sweet combination of hot bats, good relief pitching (!) and some sloppy pitching from the 'Stros, but the injury cast a bit of a cloud over the otherwise happy day - the win put them 4 games over .500 for the first time all year.

There's really no point in speculating on who might replace him until the MRI results are in... but let's do it anyway. With IPK and Hughsie hanging out at the DL Resort and Casino the Yanks have already had to do some shuffling to fill out the rotation, giving Rasner a shot and transitioning Joba into starter-ville perhaps a little soon than originally planned. Who is left? I have a bad feeling we'll be seeing Kei "You thought I'd be a poor man's Dice-K? Fail!" Igawa back in pinstripes within the week.

I'm sorry.

The DL Resort and Casino is filling up mighty quickly, my friends, and I've got bad news: the Yanks have sent yet another injured soldier on a little vacation to DL-ville. This time, it's our floundering youngster Ian Kennedy who will be joining Hughsie and Jorgie Porgie on the DL, after straining his right lat during the third inning of yet another sub-par outing.

On second thought, maybe that's not such bad news after all.

Losing a player to the DL certainly isn't good news, obviously, but with the way I-Ken has been pitching perhaps a little breather will be good for him - and avoiding what has been an automatic loss every 5 days can't hurt the Yanks, either.

What about that spot in the rotation, though? The obvious solution would be to get Joba in there, since they've been working on stretching him out for that move anyway, but will 4 or 5 more days of extending his workload be enough to prepare him to throw 100 pitches in a game? Luckily for the Yanks, Hughsie's replacement, Rasner, has proved himself to be perfectly capable of filling in in the rotation himself, and if Joba is as successful in the starting role as he has been out of the bullpen, the Yanks will actually have a very strong starting 5.

Now if only their 'pen was halfway decent without Joba...

Trade forthcoming? Stay tuned.

Do you miss A-Rod?

I do.

So do the Yanks.

Good news for all involved, though - his rehabbing is going smoothly and he is on track to come back in about a week. Yesterday things didn't sound quite as certain, as Girardi insisted that they wouldn't be rushing him and that he still needed an MRI before he could start to ramp things up in rehab-ville, but I suppose he and A-Rod have agreed that he is feeling fine and dandy and ready to amp up the practice after all.

Even better news! He worked out and hit some balls yesterday, and did very well, including smacking "several" homers. He said he felt good and gave the crowd a thumbs up as he trotted off the field after his practice.

Next thing we need? Some similar good news on Posada!

Bad news, folks: the Yanks are going to be without their catcher for a lot longer than all of us had hoped.

Last week Jorgie checked into the DL Resort for the first time in his illustrious career; his "dead shoulder" (whatever that means... if I didn't know better I'd almost think it sounded suspicious) had finally gotten the best of him. He was only put on the 15-day DL, leading us to believe that he just needed a short rest and that he'd be back in no time at all. Sadly, that proved to be false - it's now being reported that he'll need at least 5 weeks to get back in shape.

Sigh. He was having a good start to the season, batting .302 with 11 RBI in 18 games, and with the way Giambi and Cano are hitting (or NOT hitting, more accurately) his bat was really needed in the lineup. Unfortunately, his replacement Jose Molina isn't providing even close to the production the Yanks were likely to get out of Posada - he's batting a sad .218 with an even sadder .214 OBP. Interesting, his backup catcher Chad Moeller is actually doing well, hitting .333 in 7 games, so I suppose it's nice to at least have a decent backup.

He's no Posada, though.

HURRY BACK MY DEARLY DEPARTED JORGIE!

It's been a rough season for Phil Hughes. He's struggled since the get-go, can't seem to locate the strike zone to save his life, and even garnered a chorus of boos last night -- a sound I never would have thought to hear directed at Hughes, who is (was?!) so beloved by the fans. And oh yeah, he has night vision problems, too! The poor kid has looked like a lost and/or wounded pup on the mound.

Luckily, before things could get TOO out of control (not that 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA isn't out of control...) the Yanks found a way to get Hughes a break: the 15-day DL. It was announced during the seventh inning of tonight's game against the Tigers (a pathetic display, BTW) that the Yanks had put Hughsie on the DL for a "strained oblique muscle."

Continue reading Hughes Gets a Vacation Trip to the DL

Bad news, kiddos: the Yanks have added another name to their growing DL list, and it's a big one. Everyone was hoping that A-Rod's strained quad could be remedied with a few day's rest like Jeter's, but it turns out he'll need to reserve a suite in the DL Resort instead.

Lest you have forgotten, Jorgie was put on the DL himself a few days ago, forcing the Yanks to call up Chris Stewart (who? Yeah, that's right) to back up Molina behind the plate. With A-Rod out, the team is going to get even more B-team. Morgan Ensberg will likely play third base, and I'd imagine they'll be calling up another position player ASAP. Wilson Better Mint is still out with those eye troubles, so he's not an option, and to be honest I'm not sure who they're planning on bringing up to fill out the roster.

Please, Injury Gods, let this be a minor injury and nothing more. No surgery required, no setbacks, and decent performances by the B-Squad, sure would be nice. Is that too much to ask?

In addition to my usual Yankees Chick posts, I have also begun writing regularly for AOL's FanHouse blog on all things AL East. I will post the beginnings of those articles here on YC, and then you'll have to click the link to jump on over to FH to read the rest... stick with me here, amigos!
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It's nice that he feels so bad and all, and obviously it's not his fault that's he injured, but this little snafu does put the Yanks in a bit of a pinch. The only catcher left on the roster is Jose Molina, who has proved to be a perfectly adequate backup catcher in Posada's stead, but the Yanks are going to need a backup catcher if Molina is going to be the starter for the foreseeable future. They had journey man Chad Moeller while Jorgie was taking his break, but when they thought he was ready to come back they designated Chad for assignment.

Continue reading Jorgie Porgie Pudding and Pie!