Go to any Yankees site, everyone's scrambling to find ways to blame this on Girardi. The amount of hate that the skipper gets is ridiculous, considering that the manager almost never directly effects the outcome of the game.
Yeah, I don't get it. He's a power-hitter. Why does everyone want him to hit .300? Sure, .300 hitters are nice, and .300 hitters with power are wonderful, but there are only so many Jose Bautistas in the world. In this lineup, it's a bit hard to get upset because a guy "only" hits home runs. Especially when he plays very well defensively. Wow. Seriously? I'm a pretty big critic of Girardi, but I can't really see a way to pin this one on him. Is it his fault that his pitchers don't do their jobs against one of the worst offensive teams in the sport? Or is it his fault that his hitters couldn't get to a guy who in his previous Yankee Stadium experience had a 27.00 ERA?
Maybe not .300, but here was his career line before joining the Yankees: .290/.378 /.541/.919 Here's his first year with the Yanks: .292/.383/.565/.948 Here's his line the past two years: .253/.356/.496/.852 Don't get me wrong. He's still a very good hitter, and I have no problems with a low BA if he's producing in other ways, but I think it's pretty clear that he hasn't performed as well for the past two years, when you compare his output to his career norms. That's probably what people see. (Also, just for the record, the guy has only reached 40 HRs once in his career. He's consistently good for 30-35, though.)
Yankees didn't get what they thought they were getting with Teixeira. I've been meaning to post this for a while. He's a good power hitter now and a guy who gets a lot of RBI because of the other guys in the lineup, but he was an elite hitter before he was signed. 2007: .306/.400/.563 2008: .308/.410/.552 2009: .292/.383/.565 (not bad, basically in line with pre-NY) 2010: .256/.365/.481 (huge drop-off) 2011: .248/.345/.515 (continues to get worse. No longer one of the best hitting 1Bs in baseball) Yankees fans will say "but he hits home runs and plays good defense." The Yankees didn't pay him 180 million to play good defense, bat .250, and hit 30 home runs. First basemen who are better hitters: Kevin Youkilis (when he plays first) Adrian Gonzalez Miguel Cabrera Joey Votto Prince Fielder Albert Pujols Ryan Howard He's on par with Billy Butler, who makes 1/3 of Teixeira's salary.
When did they start utilizing the shift against him as a LHB, I wonder? Because his splits were always fairly even. The past two years, it's been his numbers from the left side of the plate that have tanked. His RHB splits are still at that elite level (.940ish OPS).
Funny you mention that. That was another thing I thought about. I wonder if the dramatic drop in BA was caused partially by increased usage of the shift against him. I really don't remember how they handled him back when he was with anaheim/atlanta/texas. Doing a search now, I see a NY Times article about Teixeira and the shift, but I don't see a mention of how it used to be. Very stupid thing to write, considering it doesn't address the past. From my reading, it seems he was indeed getting the shift as a LHB in 2008, when he was quite a good hitter. I'd say the shift against Teixeira goes back a while, but teams have probably started using it more aggressively recently (and using the extreme version of the shift).
Yankees and Orioles are discussing options for this weekend's series. They're considering moving Saturday's doubleheader to Friday.
Oakland bullpen has been atrocious this series. Last night Bailey couldn't throw a strike, and now you have the middle relievers and setup men walking everybody and giving up tons of runs. It's a Yankees rout thanks to this brutal bullpen. All-time bad performance.
