The AL East went 4-1 today as every team in the division won except for the Red Sox. News and notes out of the division..
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman has taken responsibility for the club's rotation woes, but Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com doesn't agree with that assessment. Cashman, he writes, can't be blamed for Michael Pineda's torn labrum or for going with Freddy Garcia, who was consistently effective last year, over Bartolo Colon, who faded in the second half of the season.
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos refuted reports that he is actively searching for a starter and a big bat, saying that he has had "zero dialogue" with other GMs, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The GM added that the trade market around the league is quite stagnant and he doesn't expect it to really pick up until after the draft, according to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com (via Twitter).
- Yankees pitcher Freddy Garcia has struggled early on this season while Bartolo Colon has pitched quite well for the A's. Colon told reporters on Friday that even though he is happy in Oakland, he would have liked to remain with the Bombers, writes Ken Davidoff of Newsday.
- The newly-acquired Marlon Byrd has been a pleasant surprise for the Red Sox defensively, writes Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal.
I don’t think re-signing Garcia and letting Colon leave was honestly the wrong move at the time. I knew Garcia would not repeat the year he had, but he had a better year than Colon, and Colon faded in the 2nd half of the year.
Edit – For those who don’t know, the top part about Jon Heyman was not mentioned originally when I first posted. It got added in last night I can see, and this was originally written Sunday afternoon.
The Pineda injury also changed the landscape. Garcia was more insurance for Hughes struggling, not everyone struggling and Pineda being done for the year.
I disagree. They both had good years and yes, Colon struggled some in the second half, but I think his struggles were easily explainable as he threw more innings in Winter Ball (trying to re-establish himself), in spring training (trying to win a spot on the staff) and in regular season than he had in the 3 previous seasons combined. He simply hit the wall and why he was on the market that long still amazes me. BUT when he was healthy and at full strength his stuff was much better than Garcia’s was.
At the end of the day, I’m not upset that they choose Garcia over Colon, but more amazed as it didn’t seem they even gave Colon a second thought at all.
Well my guses was that he certainly was not expecting Both pitchers to have back to back good years and they felt the chances of Garcia doing well were better than Colon.
I agree Colon was better when he was good, but Garcia was almost consistent throughout the year. And at least last year he was reaching 89 at times. Now he seems to throw at 86 MPH max. Unless you place it on the perfect spot, you’ll get no success with a fastball topping at 86.
Colon fade in 2nd half because he pitched a lot before the MLB season, he pitched more than 200 IP including…
He pitched 37 innings in winter ball.
This is where you have to put more thought into things. He was auditioning in Winter Ball, which means he was trying to impress people (he was pitching for a team managed by Tony Pena btw) as opposed to just working on a pitch or staying sharp like other mlb or minor league players. Once he impressed enough to get a minor league contract then he had to compete in spring training to earn a spot on the big league team. Let’s assume he threw 25 innings in ST. So that’s 62 IP of COMPETITIVE pitching. Then add the 164 IP he threw in the majors and that adds up to 226 IP over a 8 month period. If you add up the IP from 2007-2010 (4 seasons) he’d only thrown 200 innings total. Why was anyone shocked that he hit the wall? Add to the fact that he was never an athletic big guy like CC and it explains it all.
Again, I’m not mad he choose Garcia over Colon but just the fact that they didn’t even seem to give him serious consideration for a return.
He also pitched with the dominican team, in pre olympic, they won gold…(like 30 IP or more I guess)
He (Byrd) also made a boner in CF with a ball hit to CF on Thursday, breaking in a couple steps, then having the ball go over his head for a double, so let’s not sugar coat his defense too much here. He has done FAR better than McDonald ever can and maybe better than Ross is capable of at CF, which is his worst defensive position, but he isn’t any Crisp out there and probably isn’t any Ells either with the glove.
Still nice to have him for almost no cost as a much needed Right handed bat in the lineup over mcDonald and him on the bench.. Where he belongs at best on a daily basis.
I wouldn’t say he came at “no cost”. Paying $6 mil salary for a 1 WAR player will create constraints in other areas.
He had a 4.4 WAR in ’10 and 2.0 WAR in ’11. Off the top of my head, I think the Red Sox are only paying $400,000 of his salary.
Correct. Cubs are paying entire cost except for pro rated league minimum and Boston only gave up the DFA’d Bowden and a PTBNL.
I miss A.J Burnett (sigh)
I would have retained Colon. Yeah, he fell off second half, but he would at the very least give you one really good half of a season.
Freddy’s a soft tosser. It was only a matter of time before he got lit up. I trusted Colon more, even last year, because his fastball is an actual big league fastball, and it has some sick movement! All this from someone who HATES Colon.
Why would you hate Colon? a big quite, gentle, teddy bear…. that was money for us last year.
Honestly… I don’t like the way he looks. =/
I think it goes back when he robbed Johan for the Cy a few years back. Johan should have won that year, and thus got the Cy 3 years in a row.
I’ve always thought of him as heavily overrated, stemming back to the Cy. In recent years, every time he pitches, I expect him to be lit up into oblivion.
And then he pitches a gem. Like today.
Yeah I never forgave the voters who decided that Colon deserved the Cy Young simply because he got 20 wins. Never mind the fact that both Santana and Rivera were much better pitcher than him that year in every other category or the fact that Colon got ridiculous run support that year.
Think he also had those experimental injections into his arm to repair a partial tear to his ulnar collateral ligament 2 seasons ago, right before Boston signed him? If so, he could be another ticking time bomb since has had multiple surgeries as it is to his shoulder, TJ already before am thinking as well.
Yes, but a colon without movement can be a very bad thing
Nice
We could really use Colon right now.
also – I bet if Phil Hughes is traded, he will win 15 to 18 games for a smaller market team, just like Ian Kennedy.
That may just be because he no longer has to face AL East lineups all the time.
You could get him for Montero…. Oh wait…
Hughes had been overrated since he was drafted I never ever thought this guy would be any better then a bullpen guy and I might even be wrong there
why do that yankees keep giving him chances ? Ivan Nova gets treated like the red headed step child. The yankee ”brain trust” knows little about pitching.
and then genius Cashman trades our best hitting prospect for a guy that might be done even before he started . Cashman is the luckiest man in baseball thats for sure
How is Nova being treated badly? He was sent down for a couple of weeks last season to work in his slider, which made him a better pitcher. Check his first and second half stats.
Can’t blame Cashman.
He made the most logical trades and signings, no one could have predicted Pineda’s injury or Garcia doing worse than Colon last off season.
So yea, there’s that. I think many good starters will become available come trade deadline till than Yankees have enough offense to carry their pitching woes.
This upcoming season my cash was on Bartolo being better so signing Freddy over him was dumb. The Pineda move was a great move and the fallout was unforeseeable.
Yankees should try and buy low on Jurrjens. He seems to have fixed quite a bit in his first aaa start
Once again its CC and the 4 ???? marks. Kuroda (sp?) hasnt been dominant, Hughes & Garcia have been awful. Nova hasnt been sharp. Hopefully Pettite will stabilize the rotation.
Its too bad they lost Pineda for the year, I would like to have seen how well he pitched for the Yanks. Colon should have been resigned. I like him over Garcia. Colon might fade in the 2nd half but then you can put him in the bullpen.
I expect a lot of 8-6, 7-5, 12-10 games this year from the Yanks
Outside of his last start, Nova has actually done well.