Ex-Yankees update: Chien-Ming Wang, Arodys Vizcaino, tons more

This blog has been starving for an update on ex-Yankees, and I thought there would be no better time than today to revive this blog’s old periodic feature.

Why today? Well, that’s easy. Haven’t you seen the Nationals box score from last night?! If you were too lazy to click through that link, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that old friend Chien-Ming Wang picked up his first win since beating the Mets on June 28, 2009, while wearing pinstripes. Wang had a no-hitter through five innings, lost it in the sixth, but left without allowing a run. Although it may hurt some of you to see him back to his winning ways, I feel really good for him. It’s been a long journey for him, and I guess he needed a fresh start.

Another reason to bring back the ex-Yankees feature today is due to some news out of Braves camp. Atlanta called up  pitching prospect Arodys Vizcaino, who went from the Yankees to the Braves in the Javier Vazquez deal in the 2009 offseason.

Without further ado, below are updates on some more old friends.

Brian Cashman: Rafael Soriano no longer an option for Yankees

Enough with the “Yankees interested in Rafael Soriano” talk, so it seems. Great, now there's no chance of me resurrecting my old Alfonso Soriano shirt!

Via LoHud:

“I will not lose our No. 1 draft pick,” Brian Cashman said. “I would have for Cliff Lee. I won’t lose our No. 1 draft pick for anyone else.”

Finally, a credible source: the man who actually makes the decisions. Let this be a lesson to all when free agent and trade reports surface. Don’t bet your house on anything from a “source close to the Yankees” or a “baseball executive.”

Javier Vazquez is a fish

Seriously.

Javier Vazquez reached an agreement on a one-year deal with the Florida Marlins today, according to Jon Paul Morosi. Because the Yankees offered him arbitration (knowing he wouldn’t accept it), the Yankees will get a draft pick in compensation.

Player	Year	Team	W	L	ERA	WHIP
Javier Vazquez	2004	Yankees	14	10	4.91	1.29
Javier Vazquez	2010	Yankees	10	10	5.32	1.40

I’d say the Vazquez experiment failed for the Yankees. Wouldn’t you?

Time will tell if Vazquez really was a bust

Javier Vazquez was a bust in 2010; there’s no question about it. But he may not be worthless to the Yankees after all.

The Yankees offered the Type B free agent arbitration yesterday knowing he would decline (gentlemen’s agreement). This compensates the Yankees with a supplemental draft pick between the first two rounds of the draft.

In five years maybe we’ll look back on this day and say, “hey, this role player is a lot more valuable than the guy we gave up to get him.”

Well that’s the best you could do, Javy.

A.J. to Javy to Zito: most embarrassing?

Barry Zito will not be on the Giants postseason roster, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Like Zito, Javier Vazquez didn’t make the Yankees postseason roster and A.J. Burnett didn’t earn a spot in the postseason rotation. Of the three overpaid pitchers, who is the most embarrassing?

A) Case for A.J.: ($82.5MM contract)
Not only was he booted from the rotation, but Burnett didn’t even believe he belonged in it. “Those three have been our horses all year,” Burnett said. “It would be silly for Hughesy not to start.” He’s not lying through his teeth, either. He finished the year with a 5.26 ERA and a 10-15 record, for a .593 club! However, I’d be remiss not to tell you he did lead the league in one pitching category this year: Hit batters. Embarrassing.

J) Case for Javy: ($34.5MM contract)
Let’s get right into the first and second half splits for Javy:

Time	W	L	ERA	IP	SO	WHIP
First Half	7	7	4.45	95	80	1.22
Second Half	3	3	6.64	62.1	41	1.67

Awful. Just awful. For the first time in his regular season career, he was kicked out of the rotation. He made five relief appearances, snapping a 10-year streak of 30 or more starts in a year. Vazquez lost that streak because he was ineffective. Plain and simple. His 157 1/3 innings this season was his second lowest total of his career and lowest since 1999. And in one of those relief appearances he hit three batters in a row. Embarrassing.

Z) Case for Zito: ($126MM contract)
After a blazing start to the season (4-0, 1.53 April), it was all downhill for Zito in 2010. From Aug. 17 to Oct. 2, Zito went 1-8 with a 6.80 ERA. The Giants were lucky to win the NL West with him in the rotation. Embarrassing.

My Final Answer:
I’m going with Z, final answer. His contract is bigger than both A.J.’s and Javy’s combined.

Embarrassing [Recap from last night]

The Yankees carried a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning in possibly the most important game of the year and wound up losing 10-3.

Embarrassing.

CC Sabathia picked the wrong night for his worst start of the season. After walking the Rays’ eighth and ninth hitters, Joba Chamberlain entered and allowed all three inherited runners to score plus one of his own.

Embarrassing.

Javier Vazquez hit three Rays in a row.

Embarrassing.

Oh, and Joe Girardi left him after that.

Embarrassing.

Bombers beat Rays, extend lead in AL East

A five-run first inning fueled the Yankees 8-3 victory over the Rays tonight. The Yankees now lead the Rays by 2.5 games in the AL East and their magic number for a playoff berth is down to 3.

Best of All: Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 10 games with two hits tonight, but is still hitting just .265 on the year.

Phil Hughes turned in his first quality start since Aug. 19, earning his 17th win of the season.

Both Lance Berkman and Robinson Cano contributed two-run doubles.

Worst of All: Javier Vazquez allowed an inherited runner to score in the seventh and allowed three hits in one inning of work.

Mark Teixeira was the only Yankee starter without a hit, but he did score twice.

Coming Up: The Yankees have already assured themselves first place after their series with the Rays ends, but how many games they’re up by depends on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sherman: Sabathia, Pettitte, tag-team for playoffs

Joel Sherman suggested in his column this morning the Yankees should “ride CC Sabathia, hope Andy Pettitte gets healthy and then turn every other game into a tag-team of pitchers.”

I absolutely agree.

No starter on the Yankees is pitching great right now. Sabathia and Pettitte are clearly the most reliable on the staff, even though Pettitte hasn’t pitched since July. The rest of the staff is too inconsistent to favor one over the other, so why not use tag-teams?

Originally, I didn’t think Ivan Nova would make the postseason roster, but now I do since Damaso Marte is out for the year. This likely leaves the Yankees with four unused starters for Games 3 and 4 (A.J. Burnett, Phil Hughes, Javier Vazquez & Nova).

I say Joe Girardi should pair Burnett and Hughes for Game 3, and if the Yankees are ahead in the series go with Vazquez and Nova for Game 4. If they’re behind, bring back Sabathia on short rest. Ideally, they’ve already won and Sabathia can start Game 1 of the ALCS, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The one thing I don’t want to see Joe Girardi do is use one of the Yankees starters late in a game (unless it’s in extras). Why? Because the Yankees’ bullpen is the best in the American League, and lately, the best in baseball.

Poll Results: Burnett still a question mark

Fans couldn’t decide whether A.J. Burnett belongs in the rotation, according to my latest poll.

Burnett starts tonight against the Orioles, but nobody knows what to expect.

In his past 10 outings, he’s posted three starts allowing more than six runs as well as three starts allowing one or less.

I can understand why the poll wasn’t definitive; I couldn’t tell you if he belongs in the rotation. I don’t think a decision to remove him can be made until Andy Pettitte returns and Javier Vazquez makes a couple more starts.

For your information, here’s what my playoff rotation looks like (very subject to change):

1. CC Sabathia
2. Andy Pettitte
3. Phil Hughes
4. Javier Vazquez (if nec)

New poll: Will Francisco Cervelli hit a homer this year?

Vazquez back in the rotation, Moseley out

Javier Vazquez’s hard work with Dave Eiland has paid off. Joe Girardi announced before today’s game Vazquez will take Dustin Moseley’s spot in the rotation starting Saturday.

“We might skip someone at some point or we might give a guy a shorter outing at some point,” Girardi said. “This is not permanent. I’m just saying this is what we’re going to do now.”

I have no problem with this move. He earned it with two very strong long relief appearances. Moseley did a decent job filling in for Andy Pettitte and Vazquez, but he wasn’t the long-term (playoff) solution.

Now the question is: Can A.J. Burnett hold his spot in the rotation?

Yankees playoff roster projection

I really hate counting out the Red Sox as early as I am, but I took the hint from their series loss to the Rays this past weekend. The Yankees and Rays remain tied with the best record in baseball and are heavy favorites to make the playoffs, so it’s time to start thinking about what their playoff rosters are going to look like.

Since I’m a Yankees blogger, I’m want to show you what I have in mind for them. By all means, make your case for players I reject. But please hear my cases for the fringe guys first!

The No-Doubters
Hitters (12)
Jorge Posada
Francisco Cervelli
Mark Teixeira
Lance Berkman
Robinson Cano
Derek Jeter
Alex Rodriguez
Brett Gardner
Curtis Granderson
Nick Swisher
Marcus Thames
Austin Kearns

Pitchers (8)
CC Sabathia
Andy Pettitte
Phil Hughes
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
David Robertson
Boone Logan
Kerry Wood

I think it’s safe to say the Yankees will carry 14 hitters and 11 pitchers, so that leaves spots for two more hitters and three pitchers. Here we go:

The Fringe Guys
Ramiro Pena — I’ll take him over Eduardo Nunez as my backup infielder. Pena has far more major-league experience than Nunez and is better defensively at more positions. I think it’s a no-brainer right now, but this could change in September.

Greg Golson — This might come as a shock to you. He has five at-bats with the Yankees this year and I have him on their playoff roster. I think the Yankees would benefit more from a speedster off the bench than a third catcher because I see Marcus Thames and Lance Berkman sharing DH duties when Francisco Cervelli catches.

A.J. Burnett — I think he’ll make the roster, but I’m not sure if he’ll be in the rotation. Another poor start or two and I think Joe Girardi will kick him out to the bullpen (where I happen to think he could be great). He’s really the biggest question mark on the whole staff.

Javier Vazquez — Like Burnett, I don’t know whether he’ll be a starter or reliever, but I think he’ll make the roster. If he’s in the rotation, that means he’s back to mid-season form. If he’s still in the pen, then maybe Girardi doesn’t want to mess with what’s working. We’ll see. Ivan Nova is the guy I’m rejecting here.

Damaso Marte — Oh how much a big game in the World Series can mean for a player. Such is the case for Marte. There hasn’t been a lot of good news about his rehab, but if he can make a few appearances in late September I think that’s more than enough evidence for Girardi to choose him. Plus, Girardi loves left-handed relievers. Who doesn’t?

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There you have it. I’ll post an updated version when late September rolls around, but until then you can feast on this. And if you’re really hungry, take a look at another perspective from a fellow Yankees blogger.

Vazquez has Eiland to thank for recent success

Last night Javier Vazquez picked up his first win for the Yankees since July 26. Ever since Vazquez lost his spot in the rotation, he’s turned in two dominant long relief appearances (9 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K combined). Mike Mazzeo of the Star-Ledger reports pitching coach Dave Eiland made a minor change to Vazquez’s windup.

Vazquez’s fastball was regularly registering on the radar gun at 90 to 91-mph (last night), instead of its usual 87 to 88.

All it took was Vazquez moving his leg kick backward and in, which, in turn, allows him to have more momentum going forward. And, as a result, according to the right-hander, his ball doesn’t tail inside as much, because he’s throwing more over the top instead of dropping his arm slot.

I expected Joe Girardi to comment on the idea of reinserting Vazquez into the rotation. Last night he didn’t have much to say.

“As of now, we’re going to stay in rotation,” Girardi said. “But that could change.”

I think it should happen. The Yankees will probably keep Phil Hughes in the rotation the rest of the year to build his innings, so that leaves A.J. Burnett, Dustin Moseley or Ivan Nova as candidates to lose their spot.

The way Nova is pitching, I don’t think he’s going anywhere, especially as Moseley and Burnett are the ones pitching under par.

I say if Burnett delivers another poor start Wednesday, he should be moved to the bullpen. He certainly has bullpen-type stuff, as he’s a two-pitch pitcher and throws mid-nineties heat.

When (if) Andy Pettitte returns Girardi can change the rotation again to prepare for the postseason.

Tex and Cano sound off in 11-5 rout of A’s

The Yankees made a fool of Cy Young candidate Trevor Cahill tonight. He allowed eight earned runs, his highest total all year, and the Athletics fell hard to the Yankees, 11-5.

Best of All: Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher collected three hits apiece: a homer and a double for Teixeira, a homer for Cano and two doubles for Swisher.

Marcus Thames added a three-run bomb in the fifth to put the game out of reach.

Javier Vazquez delivered another strong outing out of the bullpen and earned his first win since July 26. He just may have earned his way back into the pen. More details here as they become available.

Worst of All: Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson missed out on the hit parade. Of the team’s 13 hits, none came off Jeter’s or Granderson’s bat.

Coming Up: Game 2 of this four-game series is Tuesday night. It’ll be Vin Mazzaro vs. Phil Hughes.

Javy booted to bullpen, Nova to rotation

This just in via LoHud:

Ivan Nova will start on Sunday. Javier Vazquez will move to the bullpen. Vazquez will be available in relief beginning tomorrow.

It’s a great call by the Yankees as far as I’m concerned. Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal outlined Vazquez’s season beautifully into three distinct segments: awful-great-awful. And it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll be climbing out of his latest hole. I gave up on him almost two weeks ago.

Nova, on the other hand, looked very sharp last night against a powerful Blue Jays lineup. He featured a live fastball, a biting breaking ball and a darting changeup, at times. According to the LoHud article, Joe Girardi hasn’t made any plans past this Sunday, but Jack Curry of YES did some reporting of his own:

Some Yankee officials envision a scenario where Nova stays in rotation 4 rest of season. Remember, Hughes has innings limit.

This makes perfect sense to me. Vazquez has clearly lost his  spot in the playoff rotation. Why not let a respectable prospect fill in and gain valuable major league experience? If he performs well, the Yankees will be able to sell him at a much higher price if they choose to this offseason.

Pettitte suffers setback, out until ‘at least September’

The Yankees are being extra cautious with Andy Pettitte, who suffered a setback in his rehab yesterday and won’t return to the rotation until “at least September,” Joe Girardi said.

As Joel Sherman wrote in his column this morning, this means the Yankees will rely on CC Sabathia more than ever. With Javier Vazquez returning to his ugly, early-season form, and my bold prediction, the Yankees will have to hope for the best from A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes, who in my mind now are the likely candidates to tag along with Sabathia in the playoff rotation.

This may be tough for Yankees fans to grasp, as Pettitte was so valuable to the Yankees this season, but the fact is he’s 38 years old and having trouble recovering from a groin injury.

When a manager says a player is out at least until the last whole month of the season, it implies his return is in doubt. Of course, I’m  hoping Pettitte can return for the playoff rotation — he won the clinching game of all three playoff series last year, the first ever to do so — but, sadly, I don’t expect him to return.

Photo credit: Keith Alllison

Yankees lose tight one to Tigers, A-Rod & Swish exit early

It was not a positive way to start the week for the Yankees, as they lost a heartbreaker to the Tigers, 3-1, as well as their All-Star third baseman and right fielder.

Best of All: Not much here. The run they scored in the ninth was gift-wrapped by Detroit closer Jose Valverde. He walked four in the inning but escaped when Derek Jeter grounded into a game-ending, 6-4-3 double play.

Oh! Excuse me, Curtis Granderson gave you a reason to smile. He had three of the Yankees’ six hits, including a single in the ninth and a double off lefty, ex-Yank Phil Coke in the seventh.

Worst of All: Where did the Yankee bats go? They were a couple outs away from getting shut out twice in a row.

Javier Vazquez worked his way out of a lot of trouble, but had to leave after four innings because of a high pitch count.

Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher left the game early and both are day-to-day.

Coming Up: There is a great matchup in the Bronx Tuesday night with two tall flamethrowers dueling. Justin Verlander vs. CC Sabathia.

Guest Post: Yankees stats galore

The Good:
The victory last night makes the Yankees the first team in the majors with 70 victories on the season. They also were the first to break 600 runs scored on the season, and regained sole possession of the best run differential in the majors.

The Bad: 
Mariano Rivera's ERA is still above 1.00. He needs to pitch another three scoreless innings to have his ERA below 1.00 again.

The Ugly: 
[Stat] 17 strikeouts in win vs. Rangers. 17!  (Became eighth team in baseball history to strike out 17+ times and score 7+ runs and win the game.)

[Batting] Nick Swisher. 5-for-23, 12 K in past 6 games. 

[Pitching]  Javier Vazquez. 16 IP, 13 ER, 22 H, 9 K, 7 BB in last 3 starts (7.31 ERA, 1.81 WHIP).

Looking Ahead: 
4 vs. Detroit (55-59), 3 vs. Seattle, (44-71), 3 at Toronto (59-54), 3 at Chicago (64-50), 4 vs. Oakland (57-56): 

Cumulative record: .491

This post was written by Andrew McDermott, my roommate at Quinnipiac University. Thanks for crunching the numbers, roomie!

Thames hitting third in *special* lineup

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Marcus Thames DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Austin Kearns LF
Lance Berkman 1B
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner CF
Ramiro Pena 2B

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen a lineup this weak from the Yankees in my days of blogging. 

Here are some of my favorite reactions to the lineup on Twitter:

Ledger_Yankees - Off days + Lefties + Babies = Today's Yankees lineup.

Bronxrumors - This may be the worst lineup since 2006...but the best bench since 2000

YankeesGalaxy - I guess this lineup will make winning all that sweeter.

SimplySmoov - #BoldPrediction 12-4 Yankees win with 'D' lineup ... sorry @str8edgeracer

For those who don’t know, @str8edgeracer is C.J. Wilson’s Twitter alias, tonight’s starter for the Rangers.

Here’s what the bench looks like tonight, with the reasons I’m guessing they’re being benched for included.

• Mark Teixeira: We knew he was unavailable. He’s back home with his wife.
• Robinson Cano: Just a random off day, I guess. He hasn’t sat since July 7, but he did play 161 games last year. UPDATE: Cano has a cold.
• Curtis Granderson: This was a scheduled off day. Joe Girardi warned us of this yesterday.
• Jorge Posada: This was also planned. Girardi is adhering to a new catching rotation that gives starts to Francisco Cervelli when A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez start.

FACT: Marcus Thames has 166 career plate appearances hitting third. Tonight will mark the first time with the Yankees (and I hope the last).

Posada-Cervelli catching rotation instituted

Joe Girardi has set a catching rotation for the remainder of the year in an effort to keep Jorge Posada’s playing time optimized.

The manager will try to adhere to having Posada catch CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte (or Dustin Moseley), while Francisco Cervelli will catch for A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez.

A normal catching rotation has the starter catch four of the five pitchers, but with Posada’s 38-year-old (turns 39 next Tuesday)  legs the Yankees can’t be too cautious.

Bondy won’t be very happy about this.

Red Sox make Yanks pay for early mistake

The Red Sox ousted the Yankees in the first game of a four-game series, 6-3, behind 7-1/3 strong innings from Clay Buchholz. Javier Vazquez took the loss, his first since June 30.

Best of All: Robinson Cano notched his 12th game with three hits or more this season. Unfortunately, the hitters behind him combined to go 1-for-16.

The bullpen continued to shut down opponents. Joba Chamberlain, Kerry Wood, Boone Logan and Chad Gaudin pitched 3-2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Vazquez.

Mark Teixeira added his 24th homer of the year in the first inning to give the Yankees their only lead of the game.

Worst of All: Francisco Cervelli’s error in the second accounted for three unearned runs charged to Vazquez. Vazquez’s night ended in the sixth when he allowed a two-run homer to Ryan Kalish and then a walk to Jed Lowrie.

Jonathan Papelbon nailed down the save in the ninth despite an awful track record against the Yanks this season. Derek Jeter worked a walk on 12 pitches with two out, but Nick Swisher flied to left to end it.

Coming Up: The Yankees try to even up the series Saturday at 4 p.m. with CC Sabathia on the mound.