Grading The Yanks at the Halfway Point

Here are my grades for the Yankees so far. Let me know what you agree or disagree with.

Mariano Rivera (4-3, 23 SV, 1.06) - He's having one of his best seasons ever and he's may be headed for his first Cy Young award: Grade: A+

Joba Chamberlain (2-3, 2.62, 76 K in 65.1 IP) - Joba made the transition from reliever to starter look easy, and although it may be a year or two away, he's turning into the Yankees ace before our eyes. Grade: A

Mike Mussina (11-6, 3.61) - Did anyone think he's have an ERA under 5? I didn't. Well so far he's been the best pitcher on the staff: A

Edwar Ramirez (2-1, 2.73, 36 K in 33 IP) - Even with a few bad outings in June the guy has been the Yankees best reliever not named Rivera. Grade: B+

Jose Veras (2-1, 2.87) - Along with Ramirez and Farnsworth, Veras helped picked up the slack when Joba moved into the rotation, and has been a pleasant surprise. Grade: B+

Johnny Damon (.319, 6 HR, 37 RBI, 13 SB): Before injuring himself trying to make what would have been an outstanding catch Damon has been one of this team's MVPs. Grade: B+

Hideki Matsui (.323, 7 HR, 34 RBI) - Like Damon, Matsui had been great for this team before an injury put him on the shelf. He may now need season-ending surgery on his knee, which would be a huge blow for this team. Grade: B+

Jason Giambi (.253, 19 HR, 55 RBI, .386 OBP) - After he struggled so much in April and May Giambi grew the 'stache and turned his season around. Grade: B

Kyle Farnsworth (1-2, 3.51 ERA) - He may give everyone heart attacks, but the guy has been effective. Grade: B

Andy Pettitte (10-7, 4.03) - Solid as always. A few bad starts including the final start of the first half against the Jays cost him a B+ grade. Look for a big second half from the southpaw. Grade: B

Jose Molina (.226, 0 HR, 10 RBI) - He has no bat, but he's one of the better defensive catchers in the game and he's thrown out a league leading .48 % of runners trying to steal. Grade: B-

Sidney Ponson (1-0, 4.24 ERA) - Very little was expected from him, and he's surprised most with two out of three very solid outings. The Yankees are also 3-0 in games he's pitched Grade: B-

Dan Giese (1-3, 2.70) - As a reliever he's been great, and helped the Yankees a lot during Joba's transition to the rotation. Grade: B-

Chien-Ming Wang (8-2, 4.07 ERA) - He started off great, then cooled off, then as soon as he started pitched well again he wound up on the shelf until September. Grade: B-

Alex Rodriguez (.312, 19 HR, 53 RBI, 13 SB) - On the surface his numbers look very good, especially when you consider the time he missed. But between all the stupid distractions, embarrassing the organization, and his horrible batting average with RISP, he really hasn't been that great. Grade: C+

Chad Moeller (.242, 1 HR, 8 RBI) - Stepped in when Posada was out and did a decent job. Grade: C

Darrell Rasner (5-7, 4.97) - Not much was expected from him and he surprised everyone the first month or so, and gave the team a huge boost. But after falling back to Earth he's become what everyone thought he was, a AAAA pitcher. Grade: C-

Derek Jeter (.284, 5 HR, 42 RBI) - This has been a very un-Jeter like year for the captain. Much of his poor play can be attributed to an injury he sustained when he was hit on the hand by a Daniel Cabrera fastball, but nevertheless he's still be a disappointment. He does lead the team in hitting into double plays. Grade: C-

Bobby Abreu (.274, 10 HR, 59 RBI, 12 SB) - Has not been the same player since lining that ball of Nick Blackburn's head. He's hitting in the .220's since that day. His fielding has also been embarrassingly bad. Grade: C-

Jorge Posada (.272, 3 HR, 22 RBI) - He's missed six weeks, has no arm, and the Yankees just signed him to a 4-year deal this past offseason. Oh and he complained publicly about not catching. Grade: D+

Wilson Betemit (.243, 4 HR, 14 RBI) - Why is this guy on the roster? Grade: D

Robinson Cano (.246, 6 HR, 38 RBI) - Cano has been a major disappointment. He has been better the last couple months, but he's still not producing anywhere near his capabilities. Grade: D+

Melky Cabrera (.241, 8 HR, 34 RBI) - After a wonderful April where Melky hit .299, he has been awful. The one positive for Melky has been his defense. Grade: D

Ross Ohlendorf (1-1, 6.53) - He did eat up some innings, but he never really was effective at all this season. Grade: D-

Latroy Hawkins (1-1, 5.79) - As soon as he put on Paul O'Neill's number you knew things wouldn't be good for Hawkins in this town. He was so ineffective that he's now only used in blowouts. Grade: D-

Billy Traber (0-0, 6.00 ERA) - The Yankees are using him as a lefty specialist and lefties are hitting .360 against him, enough said. Grade: F

Phil Hughes (0-4, 9.00) - After all the hype this off-season he was a disaster early in the year before being place on the DL with a cracked rib. Grade: F

Ian Kennedy (0-3, 7.41) - Look at what I wrote for Hughes and it's all the same for Kennedy, well, besides the cracked rib part. Grade: F

Brett Gardner (.167, 6 RBI, 6 SB) - Way too early to tell. He's got blazing speed, and he does have very good at bats. He also got a walk off single off Papelbon. Grade: TBD

Justin Christian (.222, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB) - Again, too early to tell. He's got good speed, and could be a useful guy off the bench. Grade: TBD

David Robertson (0-0, 2.25 ERA) - He's off to a nice start in his Yankees career and I think he should be kept around for a while. But like Gardner and Christian it's too early to tell. Grade: TBD

Brain Bruney (1-0, 1.59) - Started the season great, and was becoming a major piece of the bullpen before injuring his foot. He's working his way back and should return to the Yankees very soon. But since it was such a small sample size I can't give him a grade yet. Grade: TBD

Joe Girardi - Between the constant lineup changes, and several odd decisions, I don't know what to make of Girardi. He has shown some signs of being a very solid manager, but they're too few and far between. Grade: C

(Apologies to the Daily News' Mark Feinsand for kinda stealing his layout, but I really couldn't think of anything better.)