State of the Yankees 4/29/08

Morning Yankee fans. Be sure to give Steveo's post below mine a read when you get a chance, that sure was a great day in Yankee history. So...the Yankees have been about average so far this season. And honestly, that's not too bad given the cold weather, the question marks in our rotation and bullpen, the injuries, and the insane April schedule. Coming out of that rough road stretch, the Yanks are sitting at 14-13, which puts them only a game out of first place.

So how is the Yankee lineup doing? Damon has turned it on, which is a great sign. Many thought he was done already, and he's kicking it on much earlier than he did last year to prove them wrong. Good for Damon, we really need our lead-off guy to get things clicking. He's raised his average up to .275, and leads the team in stolen bases (4), doubles (9), runs scored (18), and walks (16).

Jeter has cooled off a bit since his hot stint after his quad injury. In his last 7 games he's hitting only .226, but is still at .279 for the season. I'm not worried...Jeter is one of the most consistent guys in that lineup. I'm sure he'll be somewhere over .300 in time.

Abreu has also cooled off, hitting .214 in the last 7 games, but is still at .280 for the season. Abreu is also leading the team in hits (28) and RBIs (16). Overall he's off to a pretty good start, and that is key to A-Rod's success as well. Abreu is known for being a second half player, so if he can maintain .280 for the first half, I'll take that to his .263 average for the first half of 2007.

A-Rod has really slowed down...only hitting .154 in his last 7 games, but still at .286 for the season. He certainly has not even come close to last April's performance (not many people ever will). Lets hope he can pull out of his little slump. In last night's game A-Rod re-aggravated his quad strain again, and will likely sit out a few more games. How is it we can never start a season without a million injuries?

Oh Giambi...I am quite fed up with him. He's making far too much money to be hitting .167 on the season, especially when you factor in his lack of defense. In his defense, he has hit .300 over the last week, but he's still got a long way to go. He is also tied with Melky for the team lead in homers with 5.

Matsui has been the only truly consistent player so far this season, and he leads the team in batting average with .317, and has hit .294 over the last week. I think he is benefiting from being able to DH more often. Keep it up Matsui, we're really counting on you while we're waiting for the rest of the offense to click. He's also leading the team in on base percentage (.423).

Unfortunately, the Yankees got hit hard when we found out Posada would be heading to the DL for the first time in his career. It is unfortunate because Posada is, along with Jeter, one of the leaders of this team. Not to mention he's been hot this season, picking up where he left off in 2007. He's hitting a healthy .302 on the season, and .412 in his last 5 games with 5 RBIs in that stretch. We're still not sure how long he will be out for, but lets hope his shoulder problem isn't too serious. Good thing we have the best back up catcher ever in Jose Molina.

Ahh and now on of my favorite young players: Melky Cabrera. A lot of Yankee fans out there refuse to put much faith in Melky and wanted him traded. Well the Melk Man has responded by hitting .289 so far in 2008 (.308 in his last 7 games), and is showing some impressive power as he is tied with Giambi for the team lead in home runs at 5. Not to mention he's still only 23 years old, he switch hits, and has been playing some great defense out in center field. He's even been showing some good plate discipline with 10 walks so far.

Cano is still struggling mightily. He's hitting a meager .153 on the season so far. However, his fielding has still been excellent, and I think we all know this kid has enough talent to pull out of his funk soon. I stumbled across this article at another blog, and it is an interesting read. The guy is basically arguing that Cano's slow start is a product of the Yankees' schedule, cold weather, and bad luck. Check it out here.

Jose Molina, Morgan Ensberg, and Alberto Gonzalez have all done their jobs. Good thing Cashman got those guys for us...it turns out they've been pretty necessary components to this team. Here's an idea....get rid of Betemit. Ensberg is a better third basement than Betemit is, and Gonzalez is a better middle infielder than Betemit. We have Duncan, Giambi, an Ensberg who can play first, so what is Betemit's role again? I say we see if he can trade him away for a decent middle reliever who can eat innings and provide some security since we're not getting much depth out of about 60% of our rotation.

Thats it for now...next time I do this I'll take a closer look at pitchers. Take care everyone...go Yankees!