How many wins did A.J. Burnett have in July of this year?

It’s the same amount as he had in June and August of last year.

And, it’s the same as the amount he had in August of 2009.

Zero.

Think about that.  This guy has pitched 16 months of regular season baseball for the Yankees to date, never  missing a turn.  And, in 25% of those months, he failed to win a single game.

Burnett is the 8th highest paid pitcher in baseball today.  He should be an ace at that salary.  But, he’s far from that.  What a joke.

Did anyone see Maicer Izturis’ RBI “single” in the 9th inning of Saturday’s game?

Is it just me, or, is that a ball that an average major league shortstop makes a play on – with little problem – to get the out? (Maybe it was just me, it was late when it happened…)

In any event, maybe it’s time for the Yankees to get a defensive caddy that they can trust – meaning not Eduardo “Death To Flying Things” Nunez – on the roster to sub for Derek Jeter in late and close games? There’s no need to have Luis Ayala, Hector Noesi and Lance Pendleton on the roster at the same time. They’re all garbage time fillers. You don’t need three of them. Do you?

Have you seen this?

When did Laura Posada turn into the Latin Anna Benson?

It’s how you say Kyle Farnsworth in Spanish.

That’s Brian Cashman tending bar last night at Foley’s, wearing the same bandana-and-spiked-hair wig that he wore when he rappelled down a building in Stamford, Connecticut, last Christmas.

Enough with the “look at me” photo-ops, huh, Cash?

I know, I know, it’s for charity. Then again, remember what Big Stein always used to say? It was: “If you do something for someone and more than two people know about it, meaning you and that person, then you did it for the wrong reason.”

Word, Boss. Word.

At this point, I would much rather have someone who is “no name” – but a real and qualified “baseball person” – someone trying to make his bones as a hard working GM, running the Yankees. Someone who just wants to do his job, and well, with no fanfare or excuses, rather than someone who is running around town in a wig speaking at pancake breakfasts, jumping off buildings, tending bar – and getting his picture on TV and in the papers.

Gabe Paul and Stick Michael just did their job without using it as a platform to attain celebrity status. Cashman should follow that example instead of trying to be like Billy Beane, Theo Epstein and Kenny Williams – making a “name” for himself for doing things outside of the office. Guys like John Schuerholz and Pat Gillick did it right. Cashman’s inflated sense of self-importance and need for admiration is getting old in a hurry here. I just hope the Yankees put an end to it – and soon.

With the Yankees having now signed Rafael Soriano, I have to point out what Bill Madden wrote the other day -

The word is out on Soriano, whose refusal to take the ball on occasion or pitch more than one inning incurred the wrath of Rays manager Joe Maddon. Cashman, who has been burned too often on big-money contracts to set-up relievers in the past (Steve Karsay, Kyle Farnsworth, Damaso Marte) is also loathe to give up a No. 1 draft pick for Soriano, who’s a Type A free agent. He said flat out Friday he won’t do it.

And, I also want to point out what Mark Simon had to share on the pitcher as well -

The one warning sign that comes with Soriano is this: Some of his peripheral numbers weren’t as good as they have been in the past, such as his strikeouts per nine innings rate, which dropped from 12.1 in 2009 to 8.2 in 2010.

The Rays also did a particularly good job at turning his batted balls into outs. Opponents hit .212 when putting the ball into play last season, an 85-point drop from 2009. It’s rare for a pitcher to be able to pitch to a number that low, though Soriano also did it previously with the Atlanta Braves in 2007.

Soriano’s status as a fly ball pitcher may cause a little concern with his coming to Yankee Stadium, considering that 67 percent of the balls in play against him were hit in the air. He allowed six home runs in 2010 (four in the regular season), though three of them cleared the fence by less than 10 vertical feet or landed less than one fence-height beyond the fence, according to work done for HittrackerOnline.

Soriano’s contract is the second-largest given to a free agent reliever not named Rivera, in terms of average annual value. Rivera has netted a pair of $15 million per year deals. The only other pitcher to get a bigger contract will be pitching across the river from Soriano — Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez (three years, $12.33 million per).

Oh, and, then there’s the whole untucking of the shirt thing when he’s done with his inning of work:

So, in Rafael Soriano, the Yankees may have signed a combination of Kyle Farnsworth (won’t pitch more than an inning or on back-to-back days), K-Rod (too many on-field histrionics) and Billy Taylor (save numbers hide fact that ballpark and defense aided his numbers). And, they’re paying him huge bucks too (“second-largest given to a free agent reliever not named Rivera”). Attaboy Cashman.

The Yankees Alex Rodriguez is quoted, below, directly after the Yankees lost the 2010 ALCS, via a New York Post report entitled “A-Rod downcast after postseason without homer” –

“This is going to hurt. And it’s going to hurt for a while. And it should. We expect to win every year and our front office has put a team on the field that’s expected to win and should win, and we came up short.”

…This is going to hurt. And it’s going to hurt for a while. And it should…

O.K., remember those words. And, now, see this report from TMZ entitled “A-Rod Mourns Playoff Loss with LeBron” -

The day after the New York Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs, Alex Rodriguez partied at a Miami nightclub with someone who is no stranger to playoff failure … LeBron James.

The two kicked it at the grand opening of the Arkadia at the Fontainebleau Hotel on Saturday night to attend Drake’s 24th birthday party.

Spies inside the club tell us both A-Rod and LeBron partied until 1:00 AM — and were each seen drinking Grey Goose La Poire vodka.

Since they’re each worth roughly a bazillion dollars — who do you think pays for drinks?

Hey, what can I say? It’s stuff like this which is the reason why so many see A-Rod has being totally disingenuous.

In their last 67 games of the 2010 regular season, the Yankees went 34-33. During this time, their pitchers allowed 4.5 runs per game and their offense scored 5.1 runs per game. Clearly, for the last 67 games of the season – which is more than 40% of the schedule – the Yankees were in tread water mode.

And, it was worse towards the end. In their last 26 games of the 2010 regular season, the Yankees went 9-17. During this time, their pitchers allowed 5.4 runs per game and their offense scored 4.6 runs per game.

So, should be be shocked that the Yankees averaged 4.0 runs scored per game and allowed 5.0 runs per game this post-season? What the Yankees did, collectively, in the ALDS and ALCS was basically the same poor performance that they had over their last 26 games of the season.

Personally, I was concerned about their poor closing performance as they headed into the ALDS. Therefore, I’m not shocked that they Yankees went 5-4 in their 9 post-season games. Mediocre is as mediocre does, and all that.

More so, at this point, I’m more interested in the “why?” than the “what.” Why did the Yankees play so poorly for so long at the close of the season? And, who was responsible for realizing what was going on and what did they do to address it? There’s failure here. And, there has to be a root cause. Further, what will be done to address it for next season? And, who’s on point for that?

I have some preliminary ideas about all this – but, at this junction, I’d rather here from you. What do you think about this? How would you answer these questions?

So, the Yankees have now lost 12 of their last 18 games. And, a case could be made that they’re very lucky that it’s not 14 of their last 18.

Yeah, I know, they almost came back in the loss last night. Big whoops. It was a bunch of garbage time homers. And, in the end, it was all a date late and a dollar short.

Man, these are different times in Yankeeland. Do you think if this was happening before that church service for Otto Graham back in December 2003 that all this would be tolerated as much as it is today?

Me? To be candid, at first I was upset about how the Yankees are playing lately. But, now, I’m just flat out angry. Yeah, my state towards all this has gone from being troubled to being enraged now.

This team has eight games left to get their act together before the post-season. And, it would be beyond nice if they could start working towards that right now.

If angry comes after upset, what comes after angry? I’m really not looking forward to finding out.

If not for this man, the Yankees would have lost 13 of their last 17 games!

In any event, as it is, with their loss tonight, New York has now lost 11 of their last 17 games. So, how ugly is that?

It’s about as ugly as a leotard clad quinquagenarian with 1980′s big hair
acting like she’s getting her butt mud pushed in.

For a team with the most wins in their league, right now, the Yankees sure do stink.

#@$%*!

Three days ago, I warned about this happening.  And, this morning, I shared how important it was for the Yankees to win today.  But, they lost – yet again.  Make it eight of their last ten, now, that New York has dropped.   And, at this moment, the A.L. Wildcard standings are:

         W L   PCT GB
Yankees 88 58 .603 -
Red Sox 82 64 .562 6

Yup, it’s a six game difference between the two teams with 16 games to be played – including six head-to-head match-ups between New York and Boston.  Oh, and, by the way, the Yankees also have to play the Rays four times, too, in those 16 games.

Man, ten days ago, the Red Sox looked like toast.  Heck, the Red Sox appeared dead back on August 24th.

But, those stupid ef’n blankety-blank Yankees have opened the door and let the Red Sox back into this thing. Criminy!

Damn, I just want to kick something now. Thanks Yanks. Thanks a lot.

When was the last time that the Yankees were involved in an extra inning game, with the score tied at zero, with only 18 games left to follow, while being in first place, and playing the team directly behind them, by only one-half game, and they brought in pitchers like Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre to pitch in the extra frames – when they had several other pitchers with better statistics available?

Shades of Jeff Weaver.

Lemme guess, if Mitre had pulled a Houdini, like Gaudin did, was Javy Vazquez the next in line to pitch in this one for the Yankees?

Man, punting is one thing. But, it’s even worse when you shank it.

Update:  In his post-game presser, Joe Girardi said that Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Jonathan Albaladejo were not available as they needed rest. And, that he would not use Mo Rivera in a non-save situation. Well, Joba hasn’t pitched since last Friday. So, what’s up with that? And, Robertson last pitched on Saturday – throwing one and a third. And, in fact, over the last 13 days, he’s only pitched 6 innings (over five games). Therefore, how tired can he be – throwing 6 innings over a span of two weeks?

Since August 13th, I’ve seen some things in Yankeeland that haven’t been so great.

At the start of this time period, the Yankees lost 2 of their last 3 games to the lowly Royals. Oh, and, up in Toronto, they lost 2 of 3 to the Blue Jays. Plus, don’t forget, before this current series, they almost got swept, and ended up losing 2 of 3 to the Orioles. And, by the way, have you seen the last two terrible games in Texas?

On the bright side, the Yankees had an 8-game winning streak during this time – bolstered by taking 4 in a row from the ugly A’s in the Bronx. But, take out those 4 wins against Oakland and the Yankees are 12-12 in their other games since August 13th. Not exactly a championship pace, there, is it?

Lately, here, it seems that when it is shared that the Yankees have some issues to be concerned about, the reply from many is “But, we have the best record in baseball!”

However, with their loss last night to the Texas Rangers, the Yankees now have a winning percentage of .565 over their last 46 games. And, that’s a decent span of games – more than one-quarter, and close to one-third, of their season.

Now, yes, “.565 baseball” ain’t terrible. It projects to 91 or 92 wins over a 162-game season. But, a “91-win” team in the American League is a team that’s barely a playoff contender. And, it’s far from being “the best” team in baseball.

In a way, the 2010 Yankees are now like Michelle Pfeiffer – meaning, at this moment, they’re better looking than most and not bad at all. However, they’re not nearly as hot as they were earlier and anyone who looks at them now and makes a claim that they’re the best in the game is clearly ignoring the current state of things and living off lustful memories.

Derek Jeter went 0 for 4 in the Yankees rout last night. And, coming into that contest, since June 2nd, his BA/OBA/SLG line was: .244/.322/.342 (in 355 PA).

Yes, in his last 78 games, Derek Jeter is like a .240 hitter.

That’s a half-season worth’s of games.

Now, maybe Jeter is playing hurt. It’s very possible. But, that’s not a buddy pass on being accountable.

At this point, isn’t it time for Derek Jeter to be a team leader and go into Joe Girardi’s office and say “Skip, I’m not getting it done and I haven’t been getting it done for the last three months. You have to move me down in the line-up. I don’t deserve to bat first or second. I should be batting closer to seventh. I’m not helping the team where I’m batting now the way that I’m hitting”?

Seriously, since May 9th, through today, over his last 20 starts, A.J. Burnett’s ERA is 6.35 (78 ER in 110 2/3 IP). Wasn’t Dave Eiland supposed to fix him? What a joke. Oh, and, by the way, if the Yankees go on to lose this game today, they will be 6-14 in those 20 starts by Burnett. He’s killing this team and needs to be sent away. Perhaps to another planet?

I remember all my life.
Damon’s slam put the game on ice.

I kicked the trash can,
A fist through a window,
Curse died that night,
The night goes into,

Six years, later, now today.

He’s back, hell, oh,
no way.

Tears in my eyes.
What a bad memory.
Now we all realize
Just how crappy you can be,
oh Javy.

Well, you’re back
and your pitchin’ still crappy
Wanna send you away, oh
Javy.

Well you kill me and
make me swear like Satan
and you still suck today, Oh,
Javy.

Have you ever looked at Nick Johnson’s contract with the Yankees? Via Cot’s, here it is:

signed by NY Yankees as a free agent 12/18/09
1 year/$5.75M (2010), plus 2011 mutual option

10:$5.5M, 11:$5.5M mutual option ($0.25M buyout)

price of 2011 mutual option increases to
$6M with 500 PAs,
$6.5M with 550 PAs,
$7M with 600 PAs

price of 2011 buyout increases to
$0.5M with 550 PAs

performance bonuses:
$50,000 each for 400, 425 PAs;
$75,000 each for 450, 475 PAs;
$0.125M each for 500, 525, 550, 575, 600, 625 PAs

On the bright side, the Yankees won’t have to worry about those performance bonuses or option/buyout increases. But, for sure, you know that Johnson is going to take that $5.5 option for 2011.

I guess that’s five-and-a-half mill less that the Yankees will have to play with in their “budget” for 2011.

Two outs, no one on base, a ten run lead…and you cannot throw a single strike to two consecutive batters? Com’on really? Then you allow the next two batters to reach, throw a wild pitch, and then allow another walk, before finally getting the last out on a drive that just missed being a homer. Really?

My goodness, Mr. Cashman. Please, please, admit your mistake in signing Park and just release this guy…

…release him, now, and don’t even let him get on the plane for Tampa.

Just for the record, there were some games last season, too, where Derek Jeter started the game and was not the lead-off batter in the line-up:

.

Phil Hughes has been selected to the 2010 American League All-Star team – as he was voted in on the players’ ballot.

In his first six starts this season, Hughes went 5-0 and had an ERA of 1.38 in 39 innings pitched.

Since that time, in his last nine starts, Hughes has gone 5-2; however, in this span he’s had an ERA of 5.56 in 55 innings pitched.

Does 39 great innings offset 55 putrid innings and warrants an All-Star selection?

Man, this is a joke…and a bad one. And, if I’m Jeff Niemann, Jered Weaver, Felix Hernandez, C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis or John Danks right now then I’m wondering how Hughes gets selected over me. Shoot, Carl Pavano – and, yes, I can’t believe it – is more deserving of an All-Star selection based on 2010 first half stats than Phil Hughes.

Have you seen Curtis Granderson’s BA/OBA/SLG line from the All-Star break last year through yesterday’s game? It’s .239/.312/.438 (in 540 PA over 130 games).

Is it time to say Brian Cashman got duped in this deal? I think it’s time to give this one the Ruppert Jones stamp, no? And, guess what, Granderson has two more years on his contract after this season.

With today’s extra inning loss to the Blue Jays, the Yankees are now 27-23 in their last 50 games. If you take that winning percentage, and apply it to a full season, that’s an 87-win team.

Last time I checked, winning 87 games doesn’t get the job done in the A.L. East. And, for sure, that win total doesn’t match what one would expect from a team payroll like the Yankees.

And, you can’t just “small sample size” this one away – we’re talking 50 games here (which is close to one-third of a season). Also, check the Yankees schedule over their last 50 games, it hasn’t been all that tough.

Something better happen soon in Yankeeland to get this team playing better baseball – and it better happen soon.

So far, the Yankees are 15-8 in the month of June.

Five of those eight losses have come in games started by A.J. Burnett.

Burnett is 0-5 this month and has an ERA of 11.35 in June (in 23 IP).

Amazing how one guy can be the key to just about everything bad that’s happened in one month, eh?

Before they came to New York to play the Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies had won just 8 of their last 24 games. Yes, eight out of twenty-four. And, what happens? The Phils take 2 out of 3 games from the Yanks…at Yankee Stadium. Ouch.

Here are A.J. Burnett’s stats over his last 8 starts – including last night:

IP: 46.6
ERA: 6.36
BA/OBA/SLG allowed: .290/.377/.530 (218 BF)

For $16.5 million a season, you would expect a little better results than that, right? Granted, that’s just a one-quarter slice of what should be a full season for him. But, those numbers are just terrible.

In the current print edition of Baseball America, John Manuel looked at their the grades for every major league team’s draft over the last ten years. And, along with that, Jim Callis went back and graded each draft for the last decade and ranked teams by their overall grade-point averages.

In this analysis, the Red Sox (3.40 GPA), Diamondbacks (3.20), A’s (3.10), Phillies (3.05), Rays (2.90) and Twins (2.90) were the top five teams in baseball in terms of drafting well over the last ten years. (Rays and Twins were tied for fifth.) And, the Yankees ranked 26th overall – with a GPA of 1.95 – only bettering the Mets (1.90), White Sox (1.75), Astros (1.55) and Mariners (1.45).  Clearly, this is not pretty news for the Yankees front office in terms of grading out well in the draft.

In the same edition of Baseball America, Jim Callis had a feature on the best scouting directors (current and former) in the last few years. Among those listed were David Chadd, Mike Rizzo, Logan White, R.J. Harrison, and Jason McLeod. Note there’s no mention of Damon Oppenheimer, the man in charge of the Yankees amateur scouting and draft, or anyone else within the Yankees front office here.

And, today, with their first pick in the 2010 draft, the 32nd overall pick, the Yankees selected Cito Culver - probably two or three (or maybe four?) rounds earlier than he should have been selected – passing on talent like Anthony Ranaudo, Bryce Brentz, Ryan LaMarre and Seth Blair (just to name a few).

Considering all this, and then factoring in that the Yankees had screwed up their first three picks in the draft just about every year from 1998 through 2008, I have to wonder about what’s going on in the Yankees front office with respect to handling the draft?   (“What about 2009?” some may say?  Well, the jury is still out on that one.)

At some point, Damon Oppenheimer – and his bosses, Mark Newman and Brian Cashman – have to be held accountable for the way they’ve been wasting the Yankees “prime” picks, draft after draft, no?

From May 9th through June 5th, yesterday, has been exactly 4 weeks. During this time, the Yankees have gone 13-14 (in 27 games).

New York’s overall team ERA during this period hasn’t been all that bad: 4.25 in 239.3 IP. However, their bullpen has allowed 35% of inherited runners to score during this span too. (The overall big league average, to date, is 32%. So, the Yankees pen has been worse than average in this area during this time. As you can see later, we can probably thank Joba and Chan Ho for that.)

During this span, the Yankees collective bats have posted a BA/OBA/SLG line of .282/.353/.426 (in 1,069 PA). And, that’s been good for an average of 5.0 runs per game. But, that’s misleading because there were three games within these 27 where the Yankees scored 11 runs – where they won two and lost one.

But, the big number here, of course, is that record of 13-14. Given their team roster/payroll, there’s no excuse for the Yankees playing one game under .500 over a period of four weeks. Plus, the Yankees play has been worse than that 13-14 mark suggests.

During these four weeks, the Yankees went 6-1 when facing the Orioles and Indians – who are two of the worst teams in the league with records of 15-41 and 21-33, respectively. The Yankees also went 2-1 against the Twins – who, for some reason, just cannot beat New York if their life depended on it. (Since 2002, Minnesota is 18-54 against the Yankees under Ron Gardenhire and 725-572 against everyone else.)

This means, since May 9th, the Yankees are 8-2 when playing the O’s, Tribe and Twinkies and 5-12 when playing everyone else. Yes, five and twelve. That’s not exactly the level of play that you would expect from the defending World Champs, is it?

So, whose to blame? Well, let’s look at some Yankees pitchers, first, during this span:

CC Sabathia: 5.81 ERA in 33 IP
A.J. Burnett: 5.65 ERA in 36.6 IP
Joba Chamberlain: 7.94 ERA in 11.3 IP
Chan Ho Park: 7.45 ERA in 9.6 IP

If not for Javier Vazquez (2.77 ERA), Andy Pettitte (2.91 ERA) and Phil Hughes (3.41 ERA), the Yankees pitching would look a lot worse than that aforementioned 4.25 ERA during this span.

Next, some Yankees batters and their BA/OBA/SLG marks during this four week span:

Marcus Thames: .205/.360/.308 in 39 AB
Francisco Cervelli: .208/.302/.278 in 72 AB
Mark Teixeira: .222/.311/.343 in 108 AB

And, really, that’s about it on the truly bad side. Everyone else has been doing as expected during this span – or better. In fact, Robbie Cano, Curtis Granderson, Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher have been great over the last four weeks (when they’ve played) – and Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have both been reaching base 36% of the time since May 9th.

So, does this all mean, if CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira play lousy then the Yankees will not do well? Sure seems like it, over the last four weeks, no? And, of course, we know what happens when they perform well – as we saw the Yankees Championship season last year.

Let’s hope these three get their act into gear soon…and that, what we’ve seen from them the last four weeks doesn’t last for another four weeks or longer.

Well, put it this way, if his season ended today, it would be one of the worst showings by a Yankees starting pitcher since 1996. Note his place among these other clunkers:

.

Yeah, I know, going 14-12 in your last 26 ain’t terrible. But, when you take out going 5-1 against the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees record in their other games is 9-11 (during that 26 game span).

It’s been a rough four weeks in Yankeeland.

Yes, there have been some injuries. But, Andy Pettitte only missed one start with his elbow issue. Therefore, the Yankees starting pitching has no excuses. And, Granderson has been out – but he wasn’t doing anything when he was in there either. Ditto Nick Johnson. Ditto Chan Ho Park too. What does that leave? Aceves, Swisher and Posada.

So, does that mean this Yankees team can only play .500 baseball when it’s missing Alfredo Aceves, Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher? Really?