It was an eventful week in baseball with drama finally coming to New York (it’s about time, it’s already the middle of May after all) in the fashion of Jorge Posada asking out of the lineup. We also saw a sweep by a new division leader and the worst recorded pitching performance since 1900. Sorry, Vin. Time to ring ’em up out with the 3 Strikes Roundtable!
Strike 1: Whose side are you on in the Jorge Posada vs New York Yankees squabble? Are things coming apart in the Bronx?
Pat Lackey: Well, the Yankees have this problem where they have more money than Scrooge McDuck and so they can pay their aging stars as much as they want, even though they don’t deserve it. And so these aging stars think they’re worth more than they are, because they’re being paid like it. Should they have the sense to fade quietly into the night? Maybe, but why should a guy making $13.1 million who’s been a premier hitting catcher his whole career think he’s done? If you’re asking me to pick a side between Posada and the Yankees, well, can I take the side of the implosion? I want this Posada thing to get as ugly as possible. I want the looming Jeter thing to be ten times worse. The Yankees throw money around like drunken sailors and all I ever want as the fan of a small-market team is for it to come back and bite them in the ass every once in a while. I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts.
Mark Smith: I guess I’m on Cashman’s side. Posada completely overreacted to being put in the ninth spot in the order, and I think the “back stiffness” was bull honkey. That being said, there really wasn’t a reason for Cashman to say anything publicly about it, but maybe he’s fed up with some behind-the-scenes stuff. We never really know the full story, and this really seems like there was some other stuff going on that we don’t know about it. That Posada was the one who apologized tells me he was at fault. At this point, it’s pretty much a non-story. I don’t think Posada will throw another fit, and if he does, I don’t think anyone will side with him if he’s not hitting.
Daniel Moroz: Even if you grant that Posada had a legitimate quibble – Jeter isn’t hitting either, but he’s batting at the top of the line-up – his actions were… not so smart. But he’s human and all, with many of the failings that entails (even if he’s making a ton of money to play a game), so I think the let-bygones-be-bygones path would be best for everyone involved. That said, if it were to happen again I’d totally side with the team if they filed a grievance or whatnot.
Garrett Wilson: I’m on the side of comedy. Seeing Posada “taking his ball and going home” because he has to hit ninth even though he is hitting .165 and is lucky to be in the lineup at all is just so preposterous that I can’t help but laugh. The fact that the Yankees then somehow dragged Jeter into that mess and somehow ended up getting into a snit with him is just gravy. Humor aside, I do think that this is a very bad sign for Yanks. They are in a major slide right now and have a whole lot of locker room issues (let’s not forget that Rafael Soriano isn’t exactly Mr. Popular right now) to handle at the same time, and that just does not bode well for their playoff prospects this year.
Joe Lucia: I’m with the Yankees on this one. Posada is a supposed veteran leader, and he’s really struggling at the plate. They have every right to drop him in the lineup if he’s not hitting. What does he want them to do, keep him in the heart of the order even though he’s killing the team? By the same token, it’s ridiculous for them not to move Jeter out of the top of the lineup.
Strike 2: The Cincinnati Reds swept the Cardinals this week to take the NL Central lead. Is this a statement by the Reds and are they your favorites to win the division again in 2011?
Daniel: I think they were always contenders, having picked them to win the division before the season. St. Louis being right there – with Pujols not hitting like himself, no less – is a little more surprising, actually. Going forward, I think the Reds are the favorites – especially since they’re starting with a lead.
Joe: The Reds came into the season as the favorite or the runner-up (to Milwaukee, who has really struggled so far) in almost every projection I saw, so this doesn’t surprise me. Their offense started slow, but is now rolling on all cylinders. With Johnny Cueto back, and the Mike Leake distractions swept under the rug, I don’t think they leave the top of the standings for the rest of the year.
Pat: Well, I thought they were contenders and maybe the division favorite before the season even started. Winning the division last year was maybe a year earlier than I expected that group of guys to contend. They didn’t add much over the winter like the Brewers or Cubs or even Cardinals but when you’ve got talented young players like Votto, Bruce, Stubbs, Cueto, Volquez, Bailey, Leake, and Wood, you don’t need to add players to the mix so much as make sure all of your guys are still headed in the right direction.
Garrett: I seem to be in the minority here as a guy who thought that the Reds might take a step back this year. I didn’t like their pitching last year and I still don’t like it this year, but they keep on winning, so I’m just going to have to change my stance and consider them a legit playoff team until they prove otherwise in the standings.
Mark: I’m not sure why so many people thought they couldn’t contend again. It’s a young team that returned many of the same players, but unlike the Giants, their players were young and getting better not older and worse. I thought it was a pretty close three-way between Cincy, St. Louis, and Milwaukee heading into the year, but with Votto continuing to be just incredibly awesome, I think they’re the favorite now and for the next few seasons.
Strike 3: Royals reliever Vin Mazzaro gave up 14 earned runs in 2.1 IP on Monday in a 19-1 loss to the Indians. It was apparently the worst pitching performance since 1900. Cute statistical anomaly, or should Ned Yost have done something to prevent such embarrassment?
Garrett: It sucks to be Vin Mazzaro right now, but I can’t really criticize Yost too much. He has a whole season to manage for and needed to try and keep his bullpen from getting taxed, so somebody had to be the sacrificial lamb to eat up some innings and that lamb was Mazzaro. At this point, you just have to hope that the kid is able to mentally overcome that kind of a beating.
Joe: Mazzaro is a good young pitcher, and he was just off his game. I have no idea why Yost didn’t pull him earlier. It’s not as if he ate a lot of innings in the outing, anyway. I think he’ll be back, but you have to wonder how long this will fester in his mind.
Mark: Considering Mazzaro was trying to save the bullpen after Davies just left with an injury, I’m not surprised Yost let him go for awhile. Mazzaro’s appearance is just a coincidence–needing innings more than production, bad pitcher, and good offense in Indians. I guess Yost could have stopped it, but he needed innings.
Pat: What would possess you to send a guy that allowed ten runs in one inning out for a second inning? Seriously. I can’t figure that out. I’d like someone anywhere to give me the logic behind that decision.
Daniel: Giving up 14 runs is certainly a statistical anomaly for even a bad major league pitcher. I can understand letting Mazzaro come back out since the game was pretty much lost by that point, and KC was just hoping to save the bullpen some. At some point you have to expect that some balls will find gloves (he did strike out 2 batters), and it’s not like hanging him with 8 runs in 1.2 IP (or whatever) would have been all that much less embarassing than 14 runs in 2.1 IP. At least now Mazzaro really upped his name recognition.
