Mark Teixeira just might be the latest Wally Pipp.
No, Kelly Johnson is not about to become the Yankees’ regular first baseman and there is not a Lou Gehrig type waiting in reserve. Teixeira will start when he returns from his hamstring injury. But he might just be Pipp-ed out of his familiar lineup placement.
With Teixeira on the DL, Joe Girardi has used a lineup that begins Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter and Jacoby Ellsbury. When I asked Girardi about doing just that in December because, in part, I thought it might be important to lengthen the lineup and de-emphasize Teixeira down to seventh until (if?) he proved he was over his wrist injury, Girardi said he would not because Ellsbury was signed to lead off and that was where the speedster is comfortable.
So maybe this is just a temporary measure. Except Teixeira’s slide as a hitter pre-dated his injuries, and now combining that decline with what might be lost due to injury (even Teixeira says his wrist will never be the same again) and whatever age has robbed him of very well could mean Teixeira is mostly done as middle-of-the-order bat for the Yankees.
At this moment, a top six of Gardner, Jeter, Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Alfonso Soriano appears the strongest look, followed by Teixeira, Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts. That allows the Yankees lefty-righty-lefty-righty diversification throughout the lineup.
I think even hitting third in front of proven RBI men will not stop Ellsbury from running because he is such a high-percentage thief that he would not often be removing baserunners in front of those bats. Also, I don’t think, for example, the Yankees would mind Ellsbury stealing and the opponent walking Beltran to the open base. The Yanks would be comfortable with McCann in the RBI spot.
Teixeira has started 605 games for the Yankees. He hit second twice, third 485 times, fourth 49 times, fifth 66 times, sixth once and seventh twice. The sixth was on the final day of the 2012 season after he had missed most of the previous month with a calf ailment, as Girardi was trying to determine where to stick him in the lineup. On May 21-22 of that same year, Teixeira hit seventh — the lowest he had batted since his second season in 2004. He was struggling at the plate and with a bronchial condition, and the Yankees offense was struggling overall. So Girardi dropped Teixeira to see if he could jump-start the player and the team.
Teixeira is not Jeter. It would take quite a bit of failure — especially in his farewell season — for Jeter to be lowered. Girardi, though, will be forced to at least consider dropping Teixeira again when the first baseman returns. You wonder if this time, though, it would be for much more than two games.
Joe Nathan not bringing heat
Shouldn’t every sentence at this time of year come with this disclaimer: “It’s still early, but …”
In that category we have Joe Nathan’s fastball — or lack thereof.
With Mariano Rivera retired, Nathan (342) is the active saves leader, and there was even some push for the Yankees to replace Rivera with Nathan. Instead, in a move that seemed logical, the Tigers decided to try to solve their late-game shortcomings by signing Nathan to a two-year, $20 million deal.
However, Nathan is 39 and some executives who have seen him this year wonder if it is the chill of early season or if the heat is permanently gone from his fastball. His average fastball speed in his first three appearances is 90.2 mph. It was 92.2 last year and 94 in 2012. He had thrown 21 fastballs in those three games and got a swing and miss on just one.
And Nathan seems to know it. As one opponent said, “He threw a lot of 88s and 89s (mph) and stayed away from (his fastball).” He was throwing it 53.1 percent of the time. His career average is 61.3.
Again, it is early, but since Nathan was such a critical addition for a team with championship beliefs, it will bear watching.
And here is something to consider: The only closer in the majors older than Nathan is 41-year-old LaTroy Hawkins. The Mets decided not to bring him back, feeling his combination of age and pay (just $2.5 million guaranteed on a one-year contract with a 2015 option with the Rockies) wasn’t worth it. Now, of course, Bobby Parnell is out for the year (the Mets knew he was coming back from neck surgery when the Hawkins decision was made) and the Mets are hoping Jose Valverde can handle the closing duties.
Hawkins, by the way, was averaging 92.4 mph on his fastball early this year, which is right in line with his previous four seasons, and he was throwing it 80 percent of the time.
Rays’ rotation depth is remarkable
You can argue the Rays have the majors’ best rotation. But what makes it doubly impressive is the rotation they have traded away.
In their first starts this season, ex-Rays Matt Garza, Jason Hammel, Edwin Jackson, Scott Kazmir and James Shields each delivered a quality start and combined to allow just 14 hits and six earned runs in 32 1/3 innings (1.67 ERA). Shields and Kazmir were the first two to make a second start, and both were quality, as well, though Jackson was hit hard by the Pirates on Tuesday night.
The combined 2014 base salary price tag for that quintet is $50 million. The Rays’ fivesome of David Price, Matt Moore (who left Monday’s game complaining of elbow soreness), Alex Cobb, Jake Odorizzi and Chris Archer is due $16.62 million — $14 million of which is going to Price, who after this season likely will become the next big-time Tampa Bay pitcher traded.
The Rays have mastered the art of moving their starters at opportune times by either maximizing returns (Garza, Shields, in particular) or ridding themselves of a pitcher just before a downward turn (Jackson, Kazmir).
In case you want a scorecard of the main parts of the deals: Shields along with Wade Davis (who started for Tampa Bay, but relieves with Kansas City) were turned into Wil Myers and Odorizzi. Garza became Archer. Jackson was flipped for Matt Joyce. Kazmir was dealt for Sean Rodriguez (a useful, multi-positional player for several years) plus Alex Torres (who was a good lefty reliever for Tampa Bay before being part of the package of Logan Forsythe). Only Hammel did not net much — Aneury Rodriguez.
Melky’s success clouds PED conclusions
What will we think if Melky Cabrera has a good year or even one that looks something like his pre-suspension 2012 with the Giants?
I guess when you have been found guilty of using illegal performance enhancers, especially when the attempt to cover it up included making an amateurish fake website, you lose some or all of the presumed-innocent quotient. So maybe a good season for Cabrera can just be compartmentalized as a cheater found a new way to cheat without being detected (at least not yet).
But there is the tougher testing in place now and, for Cabrera, the threat of a second-strike, 162-game suspension. So, it also is possible to think he is clean and, well, then what? He hit three homers in three games over the weekend against the Yankees and is hitting .323 after a strong spring. In 2012, he was one of the best hitters in the game — the All-Star Game MVP — before being busted. Last year, after signing a two-year, $16 million deal with Toronto, Cabrera hit three homers all year with a .682 OPS. But he played just 88 games due to knee problems and had a benign tumor removed from near the base of his spine.
For a variety of reasons, including trying to determine how to vote for the Hall of Fame, we keep trying to come to peace with how corrupted stats have been over the past few decades. What would a good year by Cabrera mean to that process?