Yanks Resign Thames

From George A. King III:

The Yankees signed 34-year-old Marcus Thames to a minor league contract. Recently released by the Dodgers, Thames will report to Tampa and work out at the minor league complex before being assigned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The former Yankee hit .197 (13-for-66) for Los Angeles in 36 games and was designated for assignment. A year ago in 82 games for the Yankees, Thames hit .288 with 12 homers and 33 RBIs.

Welcome back, Marcus.

Top 5 Yankees - Red Sox (Recent) Moments: #2

A-Rod Ties It, Thames Win It




Be Sure to check out the rest of the countdown later today.

Thames To Sign With Dodgers

Do you guys think the Yanks should have done more to sign Thames or are you happy with the idea of signing Jones instead?

Yankees Still Serious About Andruw Jones

Regardless of the money, who would you rather the Yankees signed? Damon, Jones, or Thames?

Thames Working on Deal with Japan's Softbank Hawks

I guess he wants to play everyday, because after the year he had I'm sure there are many American teams who would like him as a bench player.

Updates From The Disabled List

Here's a summary of some injury updates from Chad Jennings:

Marcus Thames - Is rehabbing with the SWB Yanks and will play a full game for them today. He could be back with the Yankees as soon as tomorrow.

Sergio Mitre - He threw a 10-pitch inning yesterday for the Single-A Tampa Yankees. On Monday, he is set to throw two-innngs for Tampa.

Girardi said it’s “reasonable to assume” that Mitre will be ready to join the team after the all-star break.

Alfredo Aceves - Monday, Aceves will throw his first “advanced” bullpen session, is scheduled for 40 to 45 pitches off a full mound, and will throw all of his pitches. He's still behind Mitre in returning to the Yankees, but this is a good sign.

Nick Johnson - Johnson is still a long way away. He's "scheduled take dry swings with a light fungo bat this afternoon," and he could he’ll hit up to 20 balls of a tee. If he gets through that with no problems, Johnson will go to Tampa to continue his rehab.

Girardi said Johnson is “weeks” from rejoining the team. “This is a process we understand is going to take a while,” Girardi said.

Out of this group, I think Aceves is the most important. I've said this many times, but he was one of the keys to last year's bullpen success, and the Yankees could use him desperately right now.

Thames Close To Returning

According to Chad Jennings, Marcus Thames did running drills yesterday, and if he reports no problems today he's scheduled to begin a rehab assignment in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tonight. Guys like Colin Curtis and Chad Huffman have filled in nicely, but with Thames hitting .302/.412/.442 against lefties this year, the Yankees could certainly use his bat.

More info later in the minor league report.

MRI On Thames Comes Back Negative

According to Chad Jennings, and MRI taken on Marcus Thames' injured hamstring came back negative, and he's listed as having a strain.

Apparently, the injury, although not serious, will force Thames to make a trip to the DL because Donnie Collins is reporting that Chad Huffman has been pulled from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lineup tonight and is headed to New York to replace Thames.

Jorge Getting Close To Resuming Catching Activities

From Tim Britton:

Manager Joe Girardi is hopeful that Jorge Posada can begin working behind the plate in the next week.

Girardi has yet to talk extensively about a timetable with Posada and trainer Gene Monahan, but the plan remains to work Posada back into catching shape soon.

"It's not like starting over, but it's getting back there," Girardi said, mentioning that Posada would have to catch a few bullpen sessions, throw to the bases and do some blocking exercises before returning behind the plate in a game. "My concern is how he responds to that. You probably want to see a couple days and see how he responds."

....

"You'd see how his foot would really react in certain situations," Girardi said of the hypothetical rehab. "We needed the bat, and he was able to come back sooner than we thought. It's worked out well; we just have to work him back to being a catcher."

It's good to hear that he's getting closer to 100%, but at the same time I don't think it's that important that they get him back behind the plate. I like the lineup with Posada as the DH and Francisco Cervelli behind the plate. Cervelli has done a great job offensively and defensively, and Jorge will have a better chance staying healthy if he's not catching. What do you think?

In other injury news, Marcus Thames was scratched from today's lineup because of a stiff neck, and is day-to-day.

At least they admit their failures

Here's what the three goats of yesterday's game had to say about their performances via Mark Feinsand:

Joba:

"They have a right to (boo)," Chamberlain said. "They spend their hard-earned money and I didn't do my job. I made terrible pitches. That one is on me, nobody else. We don't have to fight back if I do my job."

Thames:

"I was coming in and I just took my eye off the ball," Thames said. "I looked at Robbie, but I called him off, and that has to be caught. I'm a major-league player and I have to catch that ball. It cost the team the win and it sucks. There's no excuses at all."

Can't argue with that.

Mariano had a little different take because he felt he actually struck out Jeremy Hermida on the 1-2 pitch, but also admitted he could have still gotten him out on the next pitch:

"Yeah, it was there," Rivera said. "The umpire was a little tight. You can do nothing about it. It happens."

...

"I had a chance to still do my job," Rivera said. "Still get that guy out and nothing would have happened. It's just part of the game."

Here's the pitch in question:

After watching a replay of the inning, looking at where MLB Gameday had the pitch, and this picture above, it appears that the pitch was in fact off the plate away. There are umps that would give Mariano that call and Cervelli did a good job at framing the pitch, but Mo really doesn't have an argument here. I'd defend him more if he was blaming Thames instead of the umpires.

(hat-tip to Pinstripe Alley)

Rosenthal: Nick Johnson Will Have Surgery

This tweet comes from Ken Rosenthal:

Sources: Yankees' Nick Johnson to undergo surgery on right wrist Tuesday. Likely out until July.

Here's a little more from Ben Shpigel:

“This is not a quick fix,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “This is going to be a while.”

Johnson said he would have the surgery “probably tomorrow.” He has been told that he will need four to six weeks of rest before he can swing a bat again. Johnson elected to have surgery after an injection of anti-inflammatory medication did not help, and after he reported no improvement from the exercises and treatment he was doing with the training staff.

“I’d rather not keep waiting and take care of it,” Johnson said.

...

“We’ve done all the treatments we can do,” said Johnson...

This is obviously bad news for the Yankees, who now are without a DH for the next 6-8 weeks. Juan Miranda is probably not the long-term answer, although I'm sure the Yankees will see what they can get from him over the next few weeks when they face right-handed pitching. Expect to see a lot of Marcus Thames against lefties, and Randy Winn will also get some more at-bats while Johnson is out.

Like I've said a few times over the last few days, I'd like to see the Yankees give Jorge Posada a few more games at DH while Johnson is out. Mainly because it will give Francisco Cervelli more playing time. So that's another option.

Fun with BABIP Regression

As I'm sure most of our dutiful readers already know, small sample sizes are often quite perilous, and cannot be trusted. There are countless reasons for this, and I don't think anyone really has the time or energy to dredge their way through a somewhat exhaustive list - and I'm sure that I don't really want to write it. That being said, BABIP is the quickest, dirtiest explanation for the issues with small sample sizes. With that in mind, I thought that I would look at a few Yankees who are bound to see a drastic change in their performance as their respective BABIPs regress to the mean. To do that, I'll compare their BABIPs to their expected BABIPs (xBABIP).

The Risers

Mark Teixeira

• BABIP - .221
• xBABIP - .322

Regressing Teixeira's BABIP to the mean would add a staggering .078 points onto his batting average, raising it from .189 to .267. While that may not be on-par with the Teixeira that we know and love, it's much more palatable, at the very least. It's also worth noting that his HR/FB is about eleven percent lower than his career norm, meaning that a real coming out party should be right around the corner.

Curtis Granderson

• BABIP - .262
• xBABIP - .353

I'm hoping that this will at least temporarily stymie the hindsight patrol in regards to the dealing of Austin Jackson (whose BABIP is around .150 higher than expected). Regressing Granderson's BABIP to the mean results in his average jumping from .221 to .282. Assuming all singles, Granderson's triple-slash line would be .282/.352/.436. While that's still a bit below what we'd all like to see, it lends an iota of hope, at the very least.

David Robertson

• BABIP - .556
• xBABIP - .227

Robertson is my dark horse for the dreaded 'Heir to Mo' discussion… and he's seemingly becoming darker and darker by the day. This, however, makes me feel a bit better. Robertson's batting average against stands at .408 - regression drops it all the way down to .190. Factor in his improved control and still dominant strikeout numbers and there's still a whole lot to like here.

The Fallers

Phil Hughes

• BABIP - .162
• xBABIP - .247

Luckily, Hughes' xBABIP is still very low - he simply hasn't been hit too hard too often this year. His batting average against would rise to a still stellar .157 (it's .124 now) with regression, which leaves me feeling pretty confident. The more pressing concern, in my mind, is his HR/FB (sitting at 3.3%, league average tends to be 10%) and his LOB% (87%, tends to be closer to 72%).

Marcus Thames

• BABIP - .556
• xBABIP - .262

This is the small sample size to end all small sample sizes… but I really don't like Thames, and I'm really worried about him lumbering around left field for the next couple of weeks. A bit of regression with Thames drops his average from .458 to .167. Here's hoping his luck continues.

Robinson Cano

• BABIP - .365
• xBABIP - .338

Breathe deep Yankee fans - it's going to be alright. Cano's swing data doesn't show him as making a flukish amount of contact or anything of the sort, so this career year does appear to be for real. His HR/FB is unsustainable, but he's hitting a ton of line drives, which means the hits should keep coming. Regression would drop his average to .355… I'll take it.

I must note that this is far from an exact science - nothing ever goes exactly by the numbers in baseball. Zack Greinke maintained a 4.5% HR/FB in 2009. Joey Votto sustained a .372 BABIP (fifty points higher than his xBABIP). The likelihood of these things happening isn't terribly high, but, with the exception of Thames, nothing here is really an impossibility.

Granderson Headed To DL

LoHud's Josh Thomson is reporting that the results for Curtis Granderson's MRI are back and show that he has a Grade 2 strain of the left groin. He will be placed on the 15-day DL either and the Yanks will callup Mark Melancon from Scranton-Wilkes Barre. There is no timetable for his return at the moment.

You figure Brett Gardner will start in center everyday now, with Randy Winn and Marcus Thames splitting the left field duties. As of now I assume Thames will start against lefties and Winn will start against righties.

If there's a positive in all of this, it's that Mark Melancon will get another shot in the big leagues, and with the way the bullpen has looked lately they could use another arm. In 13 games for the Yankees last year, Melancon went 0-1, with a 3.86 ERA. In 16.1 innings he allowed 7 ER on 13 hits, walked 10, and struck out 10. This year for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre he's 3-0, with a 1.76 ERA in ten games. In 15.1 innings pitched, he's allowed 3 ER on 13 hits, walked 5, and struck out 15.

Thames Shouldn't Start Tonight (Update: Gardner Gets The Start)

UPDATE 8:00 p.m.: Gardner is in the lineup tonight. Good job, Joe.

There was a report today from Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, where he says that Marcus Thames should get a lot of playing time this road trip.

As the part of the left-field platoon that faces left-handed pitching, Marcus Thames has picked up just 10 at-bats so far this year. He's acquitted himself well in that limited time, picking up five hits. But it's been Brett Gardner who's gotten most of the time, with 30 ABs.

Things should be a little more equitable during the Yankees' six-game swing out west. Two of the three games in Oakland will feature lefty starters for the A's, Gonzalez and Dallas Braden. He'll get one more start in Los Angeles against the Angels.

Well, tonight shouldn't be one of those nights.

We know Joe Girardi loves to look at splits, so here's a couple for him:

• Marcus Thames vs. Gio Gonzalez: 1-for-6, BB, 2 K
• Brett Gardner vs. Gio Gonzalez: 1-for-2, 3B, RBI, BB

Obviously these are minuscule sample sizes, but I still don't think Thames should start tonight. Let Gardner take the success he's had in a few ABs against Gonzalez and see if that can lead to more tonight. Also, according to Marc Carig, Gardner said he's seen a lot of Gonzalez in the minors.

Besides the obvious loss in the field with Gardner out of the lineup, sitting him out against a lefty that he has done well against can't help his confidence. And for the hundredth time, the Yankees will never find out if Garnder can play everyday if they don't give him a chance.

(Now watch Thames go 3-for-4 with a homer a double and three RBI tonight.)

Girardi's Inexplicable Lack of Trust in Gardner

For those of you not keeping score at home, the Yankees have faced two left-handed starters to-date – Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox and David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays. Another similarity in those games lay in Brett Gardner’s presence on the bench, as opposed to the starting line-up. Girardi has garnered a reputation as a statistically savvy manager, paying close attention to platoon splits, individual match-ups, and even performance against certain pitch-types. With that in mind, it would seem prudent to give Girardi the benefit of the doubt – there must be a good reason to keep Gardner out of the line-up against lefties. However, I cannot help but dig a bit deeper…

Take a look at Gardner’s triple-slash line (AVG/OBP/SLG) against LHP:

• Minors - .292/.361/.406 (397 AB)
• 2008 – .125/.125/.125 (24 AB)
• 2009 – .291/.381/.400 (55 AB)

There are a few issues with these numbers, which I will address briefly. The minor league numbers don’t mean too much, as they’re minor league numbers, and the sample sizes of 2008 and 2009 are incredibly small. That being said, there isn’t much there that suggests that Gardner cannot hit lefties – with the exception of twenty-five at-bats in 2008, he hasn’t shown much of a platoon split. While the minor league numbers shouldn’t get too much weight, I do think that they should add a bit of credence for playing the ‘which one of these things is not like the others?’ game of Sesame Street fame.

With that in mind, we should also address the sentiment of the YES Network announcers. That is, that keeping Gardner out against left-handed pitchers will help his confidence… and that just doesn’t make any sense at all. I suppose it could hurt his confidence if he went 0-for-8 against Lester and Price – but is being benched and essentially told “we don’t trust you to do anything against a lefty” that much better?

It is true that Thames is fairly strong against lefties, sporting an OPS of .843 against southpaws. It would be unreasonable to expect that out of Gardner. However, I do think that Gardner can better Thames’ career .329 OBP against LHP, and even take a chunk out of Thames’ SLG advantage with his speed – particularly if he can maintain his excellent 85.4% success rate in stealing. Toss in the difference in fielding (Thames has a -12.2/UZR 150 compared to Gardner’s 28.8 mark – and even if you don’t like defensive metrics, I direct your attention to Thames lumbering around LF on Friday night), and I cannot help but think that there isn’t a single good reason for Thames to start.

Hoffmann Headed Back To LA

According to Chad Jennings, Jamie Hoffmann has cleared waivers and is headed back to the Dodgers. I guess this just backs up George King's article from Saturday about Marcus Thames making the roster regardless of his spring performance. Prior to today, I really thought Hoffmann's defense would carry him onto the roster, but I guess the Yankees saw more value in having a better bat in that spot than a better glove.

King: Expect Thames To Make Opening Day Roster

From George A. King III:

When the Yankees inked Marcus Thames to a minor league contract, they believed his ability to hit lefties would enable him to make the club and play left field against southpaws. Nothing has changed, even if Thames is batting .120 (3-for-25) and leading the team with nine strikeouts.

"He has had good at-bats," manager Joe Girardi said "I don't get caught up in the numbers. It's a small sample."

King goes on to say that Thames "likely will make the club no matter how low his average dips." His numbers can't dip much further, he's now hitting .107/.107/.167 with a grand total of zero RBIs this spring, and has struck out 11 times.

Based on what his manager and coaches are saying about him, King might not be so off.

“He hasn’t had any luck whatsoever,” Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long said.

...

In Tampa, both Long and manager Joe Girardi say they’ve been pleased with Thames, despite the strikeouts and lack of hits. But the manager wants to see production during the final 10 days of camp.

Long may have a point, results are not the only thing that matters in the spring. If a player is taking good swings and making good contact, hits will eventually start to fall, and that's what Long is talking about when he talks about luck. Maybe if Jamie Hoffmann was doing anything I might complain about this, but he's not so I won't. I like what Hoffmann can do defensively, but so far this spring he's hitting just .130/.174/.259, and also hasn't driven in a run. At least Thames should provide the Yankees with a little bit of pop off the bench.

Thames Looking To Impress

Via Mark Feinsand:

“I know what I’m coming in for and what’s ahead of me, so I’ll give it 100 percent and see what happens,” Thames said. “My last six years have pretty much been the same way. Nothing has been guaranteed, so I’ve gone into spring training with one goal: do what I can do, open some eyes up and whatever happens after that, happens.”

...

“I was 23 the last time I was in this camp, so it’s a whole lot different,” he said. “I’ve played against a majority of guys in here, I’ve played with Jeter, Mariano, Posada and some guys, so all of that makes it easier to relax, play well and have fun.”

I'm still trying to figure out what the Yankees truly need out of that final roster spot. Do they need the better defensive player with more speed (Hoffmann) or do they need the guy with more pop who has proven he can hit major league pitching (Thames)?

Earlier this week, I predicted Jamie Hoffmann was going to get the final spot on that roster, and I still feel that way. But you never know, it all depends on what the Yankees needs are.

Thames Can Opt Out If He Doesn't Make Roster

From Chad Jennings:

Thames signed a minor league contract, but he can opt out if he doesn’t make the major league roster.

“He was brought in to compete for a spot on the 25-man roster,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “And at the end of camp, if he makes it, great. If he doesn’t make it, he’s free.”

I'm sure this has been reported on somewhere else but this is the first time I'm hearing about it. It makes sense and it's the fair thing to do. They probably wouldn't have been able to sign him with out the opt out option.

Like Jennings says in his post, it will come down to either Thames or Rule 5 pick Jamie Hoffmanm. I'm not sure who the favorite is, but here's what Cash had to say about Hoffmann:

“It’s his spot to lose,” Cashman said. “Hoffmann is on the 25, with restrictions. He’s like an out-of-options guy. He either makes it or he loses it.”

That certainly sounds like he's the favorite, but in the end it performance will dictate this decision. Whichever player impresses the most this spring will make the team, Joe Girardi made that clear in this article from Bryan Hoch:

Girardi said that outfielder Jamie Hoffmann's Rule 5 Draft status will not affect his chances to make the team. "Maybe in some other camps, it might work one way or another, but here we're going to take what we feel gives us the best team," he said.

Who would you take as your 25th man?

Yanks Sign Thames (Updated)

UPDATED: I neglected to mention this when I originally posted this, but it also turns out that Winn was signed for less than the $2 million being reported when news of the deal first broke. He will actually be getting a $1.1 million base salary with an additional $900K in performance bonuses. It could still end up being $2 million, but at least it's not guaranteed.

The Yankees were pretty busy today as they not only made the Randy Winn signing official, but also snagged themselves another option for left field by adding Marcus Thames on a Minor League deal. If he makes the 25-man roster Thames will make $900K.

Thames has spent the last six seasons in Detroit, but made his MLB debut back in 2002 with the Yanks. You might remember his first career at-bat when he took Randy Johnson deep for a home run.

Last season with the Tigers, Thames hit .252/.323/.453 with 13 HR and 36 RBI in 258 at-bats. I'd be pretty surprised if he did not make the 25-man roster coming out of spring.