Going into their series with the Red Sox on June 1, the Yankees were 13 1/2 games back behind
After splitting the first two games of the
Since their win last Sunday,
There are a few factors that have lead to the Yankees’ sudden transformation. The most striking has to be that the Yanks have been able to stay away from their biggest weakness, the bullpen, and instead have relied on their offense to carry the bulk of the load. When you think about salary allocation, it makes sense that the focus of the last couple of offseasons has been on acquiring offense, and trying to rely on applying a patchwork starting rotation and bullpen as an attempt to try and keep them in the game for as long as possible. Here is a look at the 2007 salary figures for both the starting lineup and their pitching staff for this season:
Starting Lineup: | | | ||||
1 | Johnny Damon | | $13,000,000 | |||
2 | Derek Jeter | | $21,600,000 | |||
3 | Bobby Abreu | | $13,000,000 | |||
4 | Alex Rodriguez | | $27,708,525 | |||
5 | Jason Giambi | | $23,428,571 | |||
6 | Hideki Matsui | | $13,000,000 | |||
7 | Jorge Posada | | $12,000,000 | |||
8 | Robinson Cano | | $490,800 | |||
9 | Josh Phelps | | $600,000 | |||
| Total: | | $124,827,896 | |||
| | | | |||
Starting Pitching: | | | ||||
1 | Mike Mussina | | $11,070,423 | |||
2 | Carl Pavano | | $10,000,000 | |||
3 | Andy Pettitte | | $16,000,000 | |||
4 | Chien-Ming Wang | | $489,500 | |||
5 | Kei Igawa | | $4,000,000 | |||
6 | Darrell Rasner | | $384,523 | |||
7 | Jeff Karstens | | $389,495 | |||
8 | Tyler Clippard | | $380,0001 | |||
9 | Phillip Hughes | | $380,0001 | |||
10 | Roger Clemens | | $17,629,6302 | |||
| Total: | | $62,989,554 | |||
| | | | |||
Bullpen: | | | ||||
MR | Scott Proctor | | $445,923 | |||
MR | Kyle Farnsworth | | $5,666,667 | |||
MR | Luis Viscaino | | $3,000,000 | |||
MR | Brian Bruney | | $395,545 | |||
MR | Mike Myers | | $1,250,000 | |||
CL | Mariano Rivera | | $10,500,000 | |||
| Total: | | $21,258,135 | |||
| | | | |||
| Total Pitching Salaries: | $84,247,689 |
1: Because Clippard and Hughes both came up through the minors, and their salaries are unknown, I simply put the player minimum as their salary
2: Salary is pro-rated from $28,000,000; the amount of games I calculated Clemens will get paid for is 102
Starting Lineup: | | | |
1 | Julio Lugo | | $8,250,000 |
2 | Kevin Youkilis | | $424,500 |
3 | David Ortiz | | $13,250,000 |
4 | Manny Ramirez | | $17,016,381 |
5 | J.D. Drew | | $14,400,000 |
6 | Mike Lowell | | $9,000,000 |
7 | Jason Varitek | | $11,000,000 |
8 | | | $3,833,333 |
9 | Dustin Pedroia | | $380,000 |
| Total: | | $77,554,214 |
| | | |
Starting Pitching: | | | |
1 | Curt Schilling | | $13,000,000 |
2 | Josh Beckett | | $6,666,667 |
3 | Daisuke Matsuzaka | | $6,333,333 |
4 | Tim Wakefield | | $4,000,000 |
5 | Julian Tavarez | | $3,350,000 |
6 | Matt Clement | | $9,500,000 |
| Total: | | $42,850,000 |
| | | |
Bullpen: | | | |
MR | Joel Piniero | | $4,000,000 |
MR | Mike Timlin | | $2,800,000 |
MR | Brendan Donnelly | | $1,400,000 |
MR | Hideki Okajima | | $1,225,000 |
MR | Kyle Snyder | | $535,000 |
MR | Javier Lopez | | $402,500 |
CL | Jonathan Papelbon | | $425,500 |
| Total: | | $10,788,000 |
| | | |
| Total Pitching Salaries: | $53,638,000 |
Now, despite the Sox paying little-to-nothing for their bullpen help, and grossly underpaying for the services of Papelbon, arguably the game’s best closer, percentage-wise, the Red Sox spend more on pitching than the Yankees do (40.88% to 40.30%; to put that into perspective, .55% of the Yankees payroll is equal to about $1.15 million). This all means that the Yankees rely heavily on their bats, even more so than the Red Sox, so when their bats were running cold, it’s a fair indicator of how the team will fare. From May 10th to May 30th, the Yankees went 6-12, and their bats cooled considerably. In that time, the team average dropped by nine points (.281 to .272), their on base percentage dropped by 12 points (.361 to .349) and their OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) drop 20 points (.795 to .775). This translated into a drastic change in the amount of runs produced. Going into May 10th, the Yanks were averaging 5.8 runs per game, but in those 18 games, the Yankees only averaged 4.2 runs, and saw their season mark fall to 5.2 runs an outing. In mentioning this, it also can be noted that the Yankees pitching actually improved over this same length of time. The team ERA dropped from 4.80 to 4.62.
It’s an easy thing to say that the Yankees’ had a “grueling” schedule over that stretch, and you would be right in assuming so (the opposition they faced in that period are a combined 45 games over .500 compared to the teams they played before, who are just 14 games over .500), but in saying that, there is no way of justifying why their hitting went down and their pitching improved. Over that stretch, they had all of their most talented hitters in the lineup, with the exception of Giambi, who sat out a few games because of his on-going heel problem, and yet, their ERA went down even when they were pitching with spare parts (Wang, Pavano, and Mussina were all on the DL at this time).
Now let’s further break down the problems of the offense, and how, after the Red Sox series, they have been able to right the ship, at least for now. There is no way of getting around it, Alex Rodriguez is the best player in baseball, and when he does not show up, the Yankees are going to be in for some serious trouble. Here are some of the splits he has this season
Period | AVG | HR | RBI | OBP | OPS | ||||
April 1- May 9 | 0.352 | 15 | 39 | 0.428 | 1.212 | ||||
May 10- May 30 | 0.186 | 4 | 6 | 0.313 | 0.699 | ||||
June 1- June 10 | 0.371 | 5 | 18 | 0.511 | 1.368 |
Granted, A-Rod got off to one of the best starts in Major League history, but still, he is the game’s highest paid player, so he should probably play like he doesn’t have an equal. A-Rod, like him or not, is the catalyst of the Yankee offense. Sure, they did great things without him, but this is now his fourth season with
Another reason that the Yankees could possibly be turning the corner this year is their bullpen. Take a look at the relievers on the roster and what their numbers have been like over the past few months:
| | IP | ERA | WHIP | OBA |
Scott Proctor | April: | 14 | 5.14 | 1.43 | 0.235 |
| May-June: | 18.2 | 2.41 | 1.22 | 0.194 |
Kyle Farnsworth | April: | 9.1 | 5.79 | 1.71 | 0.270 |
| May-June: | 16 | 4.50 | 1.56 | 0.266 |
Brian Bruney | April: | 13.1 | 2.70 | 1.05 | 0.170 |
| May-June: | 14.2 | 1.84 | 1.50 | 0.224 |
Luis Viscaino | April: | 14 | 5.79 | 1.57 | 0.196 |
| May-June: | 16 | 7.31 | 1.88 | 0.300 |
Mike Myers | April: | 10.2 | 1.69 | 1.13 | 0.162 |
| May-June: | 15.2 | 3.45 | 1.34 | 0.300 |
Mariano Rivera | April: | 7.2 | 10.57 | 1.94 | 0.333 |
| May-June: | 16.1 | 1.10 | 0.81 | 0.193 |
You have to appreciate the differences in the numbers, especially of those of their best relievers: Proctor, Bruney, and Rivera. This is especially true about Rivera. Here is my opinion on why he has become so effective: At the beginning of the season, the Yankees were so scared about overworking Rivera that they did not use him unless it was absolutely necessary. It has to be tough for a guy to go that many innings in between appearances to really get into any kind of groove, and so, his work suffered. Now that Mo has been able to get some work in, he has been lights out over the past month and a half. Rivera had just one save in April, and blew two others. That has to get to someone’s confidence, even if he is one of the best of all time. Since then, he has gone 1-1, and in save opportunities, is six-for-six. Bruney has become increasingly reliable over the same time, and has really taken some of the load off of Proctor, whose 33 appearances is just one behind the league leaders (Chad Bradford and Shawn Camp). So now, what was once the biggest weakness has become a strength, especially when taking leads into the late innings.
However, this only deals with the best arms the Yanks have. When you look at the others, Myers, Viscaino, and Farnsworth, you’re talking about guys who come in early when the starters can’t go deep into games. A complimentary item to the bullpen will be the amount of innings that the starters can give them before they have to start digging into the bullpen. With Roger Clemens now on board, the Yankees trot out a rotation comprised of Clemens, Mussina, Pettitte, Wang, and Clippard, or whoever will be able to fill-in the fifth starter’s role.
So now, the Yankees are attempting to make a surge, and in doing so, they are hoping they won’t relapse into what was one of the worst stretches in recent history for the Bombers. The keys are Alex Rodriguez and the bullpen. If these one of the two, or both, start to deteriorate as the season goes on, the Yankees will have no chance to make the postseason. Although this team is full of talented guys, it all comes down to those two key items for the Yankees to make a serious run.
Peace.~Mell-o
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