Cashman: Blame The Bats
Via the Times:
Asked before the game [Saturday] if he ever wondered whether life would be different if the Yankees had traded for Santana, Cashman said: “That would be wasted energy. I don’t think about that at all. I’m not sure what difference it would make if we didn’t score for him, either.”
Cashman said the Yankees’ slow start has been more the result of a lack of offense (they have scored six runs against opposing starters in their last five games) than poor pitching.
Through yesterday’s game, how Yankees batters have done with runners in scoring position this season (to date):
Player PA BA OBP SLG BAbip Giambi 45 .097 .311 .161 .097 Rodrguz 27 .130 .259 .174 .214 Molina 15 .143 .133 .286 .167 Cano 45 .167 .222 .190 .200 Duncan 13 .167 .231 .167 .250 Ensberg 23 .182 .217 .182 .250 Gonzlez 13 .222 .417 .222 .250 Damon 35 .241 .324 .552 .227 Moeller 11 .250 .455 .375 .333 Betemit 8 .250 .250 .250 .333 Matsui 40 .257 .350 .400 .286 Cabrera 39 .258 .342 .484 .250 Posada 14 .333 .429 .667 .444 Abreu 42 .385 .429 .641 .433 Jeter 39 .441 .474 .588 .469
And, through yesterday’s game, how Yankees batters have done in “High Leverage” situations this season (to date):
Player PA BA OBP SLG BAbip Molina 17 .125 .125 .188 .154 Giambi 31 .167 .290 .333 .136 Cano 25 .167 .200 .208 .200 Duncan 13 .167 .231 .167 .250 Rodrguz 18 .176 .222 .235 .300 Gonzlez 7 .200 .333 .200 .200 Damon 24 .250 .318 .400 .294 Moeller 5 .250 .400 .500 .500 Matsui 24 .286 .375 .476 .294 Posada 15 .308 .400 .615 .333 Ensberg 13 .333 .385 .333 .500 Cabrera 35 .345 .400 .517 .360 Abreu 25 .391 .440 .696 .412 Jeter 19 .400 .444 .400 .429 Betemit 1 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
When you look at the two lists, it seems that Jeter, Abreu, Melky and Matsui have not been the reason why the Yankees are not scoring runs (when they have a chance). Basically, it’s a matter of Giambi, Cano and Molina killing the Yankees in big spots – and, well, A-Rod (before he got hurt) and Duncan (when he plays) too.
Cano has been swinging a better bat. And, you have to hope that A-Rod does better when he comes back. Molina? What other choice do the Yankees have now?
The biggest question is: How much longer do you go with Giambi and Duncan? They’ve really been the “do nothing” twins when it comes to batting in a big spot. Not exactly what you expect from your first baseman. Maybe, just maybe, when Betemit comes back, it’s time to have him play first, bench Giambi, send down Duncan, and allow Ensberg to spell Betemit against LHP? Hey, could he do any worse than Giambi?
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Exactly! Giambi is a huge drag on the offense. Other than home runs on pitches that are off-speed and off-target, he’s useless. (See Wakefield and Paul Byrd). He leaves too many men on base in too many ‘game situations’. And Duncan, as much as he seems to be a nice guy getting a mid-career break, is not the answer. Guys like him have a great month or half-season and then fade back to their minor league career performance. We’ve seen this before.
I have been saying it for weeks, even suggesting moving Damon to 1B in an attempt to try to spark the offense by making room for Gardner in LF. I have taken flack from some people here, who have not offered an alternative solution.
Obviously, it’s not an ideal solution, but it’s not like Damon would be replacing a good defensive 1B, and did get his feet wet at 1B last season. If it doesn’t work, scrap the plan.
I suspect, however, that the offense will start to produce at a higher level with A-Rod’s return.
Rich – I’ve been suggesting Damon to 1B since October of 2006!
http://waswatching.com/2006/10/12/move-damon-to-1b/
But, it hasn’t happened yet – so, I suppose that it never will…
Steve,
Good stuff.
There is an even more compelling case to make the move now given how well Gardner is peforming at SWB and how poorly the Yankees’ offense has performed.
btw, A friend heard Stick on CN8 last night during the Thunder game, and he said that Gardner sometimes has a problem getting out of the batter’s box quickly, which I found to be a surprising observation.
[...] Cashman pointed the finger of blame at the hitters as well. The always informative Yankees blog Was Watching put together some scary statistics posted by the Yankee hitters. The first set showed each individual’s statistics with RISP while the second set showed the [...]