Yankees Spring Training Report: A Look at the Veterans

Yankees camp has been all about the kids. But the team is a mix of both youth and experience, which can be a great combination. And everyone still needs to play at a high level for the Yankees to have a winning season. So, it is time to see if veterans like Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, and Michael Pineda look ready for big years.

Yankees spring training over the last few years has been mostly about older players and careers coming to a close. The talk focused on aging veterans—Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, etc.—players who have left—Mariano Rivera, Robinson Cano et al.—and incoming experienced free agents (Curtis Granderson, Brian McCann, and so many others) and the hope of one more run with the old gang.

Not so for the Yankees in 2017. Most of the talk out of spring training has been about the baby Yankees. That is an easy overview: the kids are alright (thank you, Pete Townshend). But for this team to win this year, not just be an exciting team on the come, the veterans have to play at a high level. And the message is clear: earn your contract or receive a ticket out of town. I hear the Minnesota Twins are looking for a few good men.

With that in mind, it is time for a look at how the veterans are doing in camp…and at the rising rookies who might replace them.

And we’ll start with some easy ones.

CC Sabathia

CC had a good year last year and is in the final year of his contract; that means he is in the rotation. And CC epitomizes the type of player whose spring training numbers are irrelevant. 2016 saw him put up his best ERA (3.91) since 2012 and his most innings pitched (179) since 2013. His home runs were high (22) but he did give up fewer hits than innings pitched (172/179).

His ERA in spring training is sky high; I am writing this on Saturday the 18^th, and he just lowered his to 9.45 to go with his eight strikeouts. But CC is a vet, and he seems likely to figure out what is wrong as he has in the past. He is having a rough spring, but his spot is secured.

Masahiro Tanaka

Tanaka had a great year last year and looks even better in spring training. The further he gets from his elbow injury, the better and stronger he looks. He has put up a 0.00 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 13 innings. And his whip is 0.38; wow.

It is unlikely that Tanaka will maintain this pace throughout the year. But even if he disappointingly gives up a run at some point during the regular season, he still looks every bit the ace the Yankees are paying him to be. He has done his part to keep hopes high in the spring.

Starlin Castro and Didi Gregorius

These two are so comfortable that they can be handled as a twofer. Didi is off with the Netherlands, but his spot is secure. He killed it last year, even with his only average defensive metrics, and looks great again. He has slashed .348/.385/.652 with four doubles and 8 RBI’s with the NED. He might not be facing the same level of pitching as he would in camp but showing you can dominate average pitching makes the same statement. Spring is showing Didi ready to either repeat last year or improve on it.

Starlin is still becoming the player he will be for the next ten years. He played well if not spectacularly last year and is going to get another full year to show what he can do. Gleyber Torres may well push Starlin out of the Bronx, but that does not mean Castro is the second coming of Stephen Drew.

That is particularly the case if Castro can come anywhere close to what he is doing in spring training. He is quietly slashing .313/.353/.884 with three home runs and 6 RBI’s. That is far better than what he did for the Yankees last year, hitting .270/.300/.734 with a very respectable 21 homers. Observers such as Paul O’Neil think he can be a star; Castro’s spring training numbers support that idea and could mean he is ready for a breakout year.

Now for the real intrigue.

Brett Gardner

How can any Yankees fan not pull for Gardy? He has had to prove it everywhere he has played and earned his playing time. And he earned it with an aggressive style of play. He was only a walk-on in college and the 109^th draft pick in 2005. But by 2010 his risk-taking made him a star for the Yankees. Gardner slashed .277/.383/.379 and scored 97 runs. And he wreaked havoc on the base paths when he stole 47.

We didn’t know it then, but that would be his best year.

Brett followed that with another good year in 2011 but with a diminution in most of his numbers. He hit .259/.345/.369 and scored 87 runs. But one number that did improve slightly was stolen bases, which went up to 49, his highest total to date. Excellence in one area, in this case, aggressive base running, can substantially lift a player’s significance.

2012, however, had proven to be the turning point in his career when his aggressive nature betrayed him. Gardy went hard for a ball on April, 17^th and dived to make the play; he would miss the rest of the season.

Are You Reading This, Jorge Mateo?

It seems to have shifted Brett’s mindset. He would never again even approach his old stolen base totals. His totals from 2013 to last year show a different player: 24, 21, 20 and 16. Instead, Gardy has focused on hitting for power as his slugging jumped into the .400’s for the first time in his career and stayed there for three years.

But his arms could never offset his below-average average, as his legs did in 2011. And now Brett Gardner has a problem. Unlike Ellsbury, Gardy has a young Yankees left fielder behind him who looks ready to produce at the big league level: Clint Frazier. Clint sounds like a big part of the next offensive machine and is contributing across all the columns. He’s batting .313, he’s got both a home run and a stolen base, along with 7 RBI’s; Clint’s also scored six times.

If he hadn’t come into camp a bit too pumped up, he might be threatening to take left field right now. But he looks like might go to Scranton in body only; his presence will be on the field, every night, at Yankees Stadium. And every time Brett grounds into a double play, or strikes out in a big situation, the Ghost of Clint Frazier will be felt.

Yankees Under Pressure

That’s why Brett Gardner needed to show he can play at a high level. Spring training numbers mean nothing and the least important is wins. And Gardy can still go out and have a monster season; we have to wait for the games to count. But Gardy always plays hard and is no Ryan Braun. He always tries to do his best.

And for those reasons, his production has to be a big disappointment. He is hitting .194. His OBP is all of .216. And worst of all he has stolen exactly zero bases. He is neither hitting nor running as well as Frazier. Gardy has to be the biggest disappointment in Yankees camp, perhaps signaling it will be his last with the Yankees.

Michael Pineda

Oh, Big Mike. Following your career has been a crazy roller coaster ride, rising to the heights of wild optimism and then plummeting to the depths of disoriented despair. And that journey started before he joined the Yankees.

As a Mariner in 2011, he pitched a shut-out inning in the All-Star Game and finished fifth in Rookie of the Year. When he was traded for Jesus Montero, who was the number three prospect in all of baseball at the time, Yankees fans were riding high.

But the journey had just started. He joined the Yankees big league club in 2014, and when he pitched, he pitched brilliantly. Over his first 13 games, he sported a gaudy 1.89 ERA, gave up almost 20 fewer hits than innings pitched, and surrendered only five homers. Big Mike looked like the best pitcher in baseball, and we screamed with excitement.

Those were not just the first 13 games of the year. However, they were only 13 games of the year. Pineda decided to put pine tar on his neck one cold night against the Red Sox and was quickly suspended. And then he hurt himself during his comeback and missed most of the season. It felt like we got on the Kiddie version of the ride and, now that we were in line for the real one, the park was closed.

Go Yanks Go Yard

But the optimism of the off-season soon returned and so Yankees and Yankees fans all expected him to come back and be that guy. Instead, the results have continued to be maddeningly perplexing.

Two years ago he had a 16-strikeout game in May. Big Mike received a standing ovation from the sports writers of America, Kat Frye serving here as the exemplar.

This dominant performance along with an injury to Masahiro Tanaka and the struggles of CC Sabathia is moving him into position to claim the title of staff Ace.  He is beginning to become the pitcher that Brian Cashman hoped for when he sent popular catching prospect Jesus Montero to Seattle in exchange for Pineda in 2011.

But by the end of the year, Pineda’s ERA was 4.37, and he had given up 16 more hits than innings pitched. He also gave up 21 home runs.

Now Yankees and Yankees fans wondered who Pineda was. If 2016 is the answer, I want off this ride and my money refunded. His ERA ballooned to 4.82, and he continued to have more hits than innings pitched (184/175). And just to be consistent, Pineda also gave up more homers: 27. But of course, he also finished fifth in strikeouts per nine innings. And that was not just in the AL; no, that is in all of baseball.

My grandpa used to say that I had to accept the sweet with the sour. I think he was referring to rooting for Michael Pineda.

Moot Means Debatable

So it was possible that enough pitchers would do well enough in spring training that Pineda might lose his job. That has not happened. Luis Severino and Bryan Mitchell still look like the frontrunners, but no one has dominated ala Masahiro Tanaka. Jordan Montgomery is getting a long look and surprise start but is still destined to start in the minors or, at least, the Bronx bullpen. James Kaprielian is going to come for someone’s job sometime in August, but this is about spring training.

All of that is moot, however, as Pineda is in excellent form and Mr. Mike’s Wild Ride has returned. I have often criticized his lack of focus, but that is not the case in spring training. He says he has worked all off-season on focusing with two strikes and two outs. And it shows in not only his countenance on the mound but his numbers in the box.

Pineda has thrown ten innings and has an even gaudier 1.80 ERA. He has 14 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.40; he is Big Mike again. At least so far in the spring. Again, we have to wait and see, but if BM is going to pitch anything like this, he will take the entire Yankees organization on a real, fun ride. And he can do that because we have seen it before. Spring is about hope and Pineda is filling Yankees Universe with it.

Note to self: never use BM as an abbreviation for Big Mike again.

Chase Headley

I just watched Pride, Power, and Pinstripes. Both Ken Singleton and Paul O’Neil made it clear that the third base position has to produce power. Chase Headley has not done that and looks increasingly like he will not ever be able to. His slash last year was below average for most positions, except catcher and shortstop: .253/.331/.385. But his power numbers show his real deficiencies as he hit 14 home runs and collected 51 RBI’s.

Normally Headley would be in the same category as Sabathia. But not with the youth movement going on. Right now there are the four regular infield starters—Bird, Castro, Didi and Chase—and a reserve who threatens no one: Ronald Torreyes.

But Gleyber Torres is making it clear he intends on playing for the Yankees in 2017. That means someone has to go.

Headley is performing at the lowest level and might be the odd man out. The only saving grace is that it is not clear whether any of the others could man the hot corner. The Yankees keep saying Castro can do it but I have not seen him play a lot of third base this spring. [Note to fans: please let me know if he has played more than I think].

How Long Will Headley man the Yankees Hot Corner?

So while, like CC, spring training should not mean that much to a veteran, there is extra incentive to play well. Chase seems not to have noticed: he is batting .200, and his OBP is .242. He has filled up the columns and has everything from a home run and 6 RBI’s to 3 runs scored and even a steal. But you cannot be a complete player and hit .200.

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The problem for Headley is that it shows that if he is needed to perform, this might be his best under pressure. Gleyber and the rest of the infield are showing they can hit well above their career numbers. That could make the difference when it comes time to decide who to trade. But that is for a later date.

This is a spring training report, and the report is simple: Chase Headley is having a poor spring. He might have a great year, but if he gets off to a slow start, the spring of his discontent might become the summer of his goodbye.

Yankees Jorge Mateo is Making a Career-Threatening Decision

Yankees Mateo should have spent that off-season learning how to choke up on the bat and understanding the nuances of the Baltimore Chop.

Clearly, the veterans are mostly performing below expectations. That does not mean they will do so during the regular season. Once again, spring training numbers mean nothing and particularly wins and losses. But their numbers show how important it is for the Yankees to have great young replacements in the minors.

It seems that no matter what kind of article I try to write about the camp, the focus always comes back to the youth. That is just the kind of spring training it has been.