"It's nice. You always love to come back to the team that you kind of broke into the league with," said Proctor, who was released by the Braves in August. "To do it at this time of year in this series is kind of neat. To come full circle, it's been a long road, but I'm only looking forward from here."

Way to be strong, Scott. Way to be strong.


It just wasn't right.

Whelan just received an honorable mention in our latest Minor League Players of the Week. He's had a very good season so far.

For you slaves to the save, the 28-year old Whelan leads the International League with 18. He's pitched 27 innings with a 1.67 ERA and 3.09 FIP. He's K'd 30 and walked 6. Up until this season, Whelan's had a huge problem with walking hitters. During his minor league career, he's walked 5.2 BB/9. This season he's at 2.0 BB/9. Is this a case of him actually improving, or is this a fluky 27 innings in a 342 inning career? We shall see.

Another oddity with Whelan is his insanely high strand rate. It's so high we wonder if it's a misprint. According to Fangraphs, he's left 95.7% of runners on base. Maybe he hasn't been brought into many situations with runners on base, so the number is high -- but we thought it was worth noting.

Hopefully, he can offer some positive contributions out of a bullpen that was once viewed as a strong point of the team.

His ERA was an unimpressive 4.44 in 2010, but that probably had a lot to do with a .368 BABIP, given his 2.59 FIP and 2.62 xFIP in just over 50 innings.

His K/9 (10.42 in 2010; 8.08 career) and groundball (58.3% in 2010; 54.3% career) numbers are very impressive, and his control (BB/9 of 3.08 in 2010 and 2.90 career) is fine too. If he could be had for 1-year in the $3-$4M range, he's worth it. His general value should be slightly down given the spike in ERA. For reference, he made $7.5M last year.

He would be a solid addition to the pen.

1) Andy Sisco

The Sisco Kid is a towering (6'10", 270 lbs) lefty reliever who put up a monster rookie year for the Royals in 2005. He pitched 75 1/3 innings that year with a 3.11 ERA (142 ERA+). He couldn't repeat that success, having an awful year in 2006. However, he was likely impeded by an arm that was wearing down, because he went on to have Tommy John surgery in 2008. At 28-years old and a couple of years removed from TJS, the Yankees will give Sisco a chance to compete for a LOOGY role in 2011.

2) Brian Anderson

This name might sound familiar to you. If you google "Brian Anderson", the search brings up a former OF for the White Sox, once ranked as the 37th best prospect in baseball, whom Ozzie Guillen kept running out there despite a below replacement level bat (career .285 wOBA!). Well, guess what? Same guy.

After the Kansas City Royals told him he couldn't even make their team as an OF, Anderson wisely decided on a new career path: pitcher. While Anderson struck out as a hitter (over and over again), there's some reason for guarded optimism about his new endeavor. Anderson is an elite athlete, as evidenced by his first-round draft pedigree and ability to field a decent OF (per UZR & TotalZone). Also, in his brief pitching debut in 2010 (17 IP), the right-hander put up a 2.08 ERA with 17/5 K/BB ratio (split between Rookie Ball, Single A, and AAA Omaha).

Obviously, Sisco and Anderson don't figure into the Yankees immediate plans. Yet, it will be exciting if either of these players can blaze a comeback trail on the Yankees' dime. Instead of shelling out multi-year contracts to average middle relievers (a la Ed Wade and Dave Dombrowski), Cashman spreads the chump change around to longer-odds guys with high-end potential. It's a prudent and creative way to maximize the organization's immense resources.

"That's a game you can close out," said Eiland. "Especially with all the days off (ahead of them). Maybe if we had only one day off coming up, we would have done something different. But we just felt, 'Let's go ahead and put them away and be done with it.'"

Wood was not able to "close out" the game and was relieved by David Robertson, with Girardi once again shunning Chamberlain.

It's hard to argue that it's wrong for a manager not to trust a a reliever who only allowed two runs in his 26-inning debut with the club. But, is relegating Joba to spectator status the right move? If Girardi is basing his bullpen decisions on late season performances, has Wood even been better than Joba since the former Cubs phenom arrived in New York?

The answer to both of these questions is 'no'.

While Kerry Wood brought his notorious strikeout ability to New York (10.7 K/9 regular season post-trade), he also carried over his flyball tendencies (45% flyballs) and horrid control (6.2 BB/9 -- yikes!). His xFIP in pinstripes (4.20) says that he's more of an average reliever than the elite one his ERA (0.69) would have you believe. A luckbox trifecta of a .235 BABIP, 4% HR/FB, and an absurd 98% LOB% (the average pitcher strands 72% of runners, and Hamels and Halladay led the league by stranding 83% of runners this season) explain most of Wood's success.

Meanwhile over the same period, Chamberlain had a 9.1 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 for a 5.4 K/BB that easily bests Wood's 1.7. Joba also was steadily regaining his velocity, and his underlying numbers show it. Over the last 31 days of the season, Joba had an 11.9 K/9 (to Wood's 11.5), 1.3 BB/9 (to Wood's 6.5), 9.00 K/BB (to Wood's 1.8), and a 39%/15%/45% Groundball/Line Drive/Flyball profile (to Wood's 20%/25%/55%).

So this is what we don't get -- By electing to go to Wood in three straight games as the bridge to Mariano, Girardi is obviously making his decision based on what Kerry has done as a member of the Yankees. However, over that same time period, Joba has been the better pitcher. But, since we don't watch games and instead read Star Wars books, maybe Joba's vastly superior statistics aren't meaningful to Girardi for reasons unknown to us.

*Props to Louis Winthorpe III for also contributing to this post

Brian Cashman has done a nice job over the past several years of making sure his managers have good LOOGY (Lefty One Out Guy) and ROOGY (Righty One Out Guy) options to take advantage of in-game matchups. These are pitchers who are not great overall, but can be leveraged effectively against same-sided batters.

Has Joe Girardi properly utilized his high platoon-split relievers since becoming Yankees' manager?

That's the question we answer in this article.

Ideally, a LOOGY would face close to 100% lefties. However, that's not possible over the course of a real baseball season. Sometimes you get two good lefties sandwiching a righty, in which case it might be the right move to have your LOOGY face a righty (or switch-hitter) instead of burning more RPs. Also, sometimes the score is just so lopsided you don't care who pitches -- you just want someone to get outs and save your better relievers for a high-leverage situation.

About a third of batters on major league rosters are left-handed. This year the number was about 35%, so your LOOGYs should be facing lefties well over 35% of the time. If they are facing lefties around 35% of the time, that means a manager is essentially throwing them in there at random, with no regard to platoon splits. If it's anything less than 50%, then this is sheer malpractice.

We'd like to see the Yankees use ROOGYs against their own handedness at least 75% of the time. For southpaws, this isn't quite feasible, since much fewer MLB batters are left-handed. However, true LOOGYs should be used sparingly, and mostly against lefty hitters. Certainly, they should be facing lefties over 50% of the time, with something around 65% being closer to the ideal. Looking at the AL East Champion Rays for example, LOOGY Randy Choate faced LHBs 74% of the time this season.

Let's take a look at the high platoon split relievers on the Yankees roster:

Damaso Marte

Career vs LHB:
3.0 K/BB, 2.80 FIP

Career vs RHB:
1.9 K/BB, 4.32 FIP

Marte has been outstanding against lefties in his career. He has been a bit below average (for a reliever) against righties.

2008 % of LHB faced: 35% (Pirates/Yankees)
2009 % of LHB faced: 45%
2010 % of LHB faced: 59%

Marte came to the Yankees with an undeserved reputation as a guy who could pitch to either righties or lefties. True, he's better against righties than most LOOGYs, but that doesn't exactly mean you want him out there facing RHBs. Yet, in 2008, he faced RHB 65% of the time. It's as if the manager didn't notice at all that he was better vs lefties. Most of the blame here goes to Pittsburgh's inept manager, John Russell, but Girardi was similarly complicit.

Girardi seems to have realized the folly of this tact, as he has used Marte as a LOOGY with increasing frequency. Still, he has used Marte against too many RHs.

Boone Logan

Career vs LHB:
2.76 K/BB, 3.31 FIP

Career vs RHB:
1.1 K/BB, 5.49 FIP

Logan is effective against left-handed hitters, but he should never face a righty unless he's eating up innings.

2009 % of LHB faced: 54% (Braves)
2010 % of LHB faced: 53%

Bobby Cox made the wrong decision with Boone Logan almost half the time he let him pitch to a batter. He paid for it too (.364/.447 /.485, 0.60 K/BB vs. RHB in 2009). Girardi watched Cox walk himself off that cliff, and then followed right after him. Any Yankee fan who has watched Logan face righties knows that it is a painful experience to endure (.279/.372/.471). How can Girardi not notice this?

Chad Gaudin

Career vs LHB:
0.9 K/BB, 5.31 FIP

Career vs RHB:
2.77 K/BB, 4.13 FIP

Gaudin's 4.13 FIP against the strong side of his platoon is underwhelming. However, most of those PAs against came as a starter (relievers post better numbers than starters), so he's probably about a league-average pitcher when facing righties. He is totally ineffective against lefties.

2009 % of RHBs faced: 51% (Padres/Yankees)
2010 % of RHBs faced: 51%

Gaudin has faced way too many LHBs, against whom he is useless. True, this partly an artifact of him being used as a starter for most innings. But, that just begs the question. Why would you take a guy whose utility is strictly limited to getting out righties at an average clip, and use him as a starter?

In summary, Girardi's usage of his current high platoon split relievers has not been good. Yet, is this just a 2010 occurrence or a pattern evident in his relievers of yesteryear? Let's examine:

Chan Ho Park

Career vs LHB:
1.35 K/BB, 5.01 FIP

Career vs RHB:
2.37 K/BB, 4.17 FIP

Chan Ho did not display very large splits...

2010 % of RHBs faced: 56%

...but he clearly would have had a better shot at success facing more righties than this.

Phil Coke

Career vs LHB:
5.1 K/BB, 3.11 FIP

Career vs RHB:
1.3 K/BB, 4.37 FIP

Pretty straightforward: Phil Coke is an excellent LOOGY.

2008 % of LHBs faced: 58%
2009 % of LHBs faced: 56%

This is terrible mismanagement. Surely the Yankees had better options against all those righties than Phil Coke.

Brian Bruney

Career vs LHB:
1.0 K/BB, 5.78 FIP

Career vs RHB:
1.7 K/BB, 3.99 FIP

Looking at these numbers, anyone can see that Brian Bruney should never have been within 60 feet, 6 inches of a LHB.

2008 % of RHBs faced: 57%
2009 % of RHBs faced: 54%

Bruney is a marginal major league pitcher. Yet, the fact that he struggled so much is not entirely his fault. He was ordered to pitch against lefties close to half the time he took the mound.

Edwar Ramirez

Career vs LHB:
1.4 K/BB, 5.58 FIP

Career vs RHB:
2.9 K/BB, 4.74 FIP

Similar story here -- marginal major league pitcher who fares somewhat better against righties. However, the example is incredible.

2008 % of RHB faced: 35%
2009 % of RHB faced: 42%

A pitcher with a career K/9 of over 12 against RHB was used more against lefties than righties, despite the fact that there are so many more righties to face in MLB. It's almost masochistic.

This is a blind spot for Girardi. He is not optimizing all the tools in his bullpen. The problem is magnified when your main rivals are squeezing extra wins out of their roster simply by using their relievers correctly.

The acquisition sounds like another case of scouting versus stats, because Wood has eaten corn the long way this season. To his defense, he's only pitched 20 innings, but that's because he's been on the DL twice. He's walked 4.95 batters per nine innings, which is higher than anyone on the Yankees' staff. His strikeouts are down by over 2 per nine innings compared to 2009. His xFIP is a ballooned 5.04.

The last time the Yankees relied on scouting to acquire a reliever was with the late Chan Ho Park, in which they basically ignored a career's worth of stats. That didn't work out well.

It's a low cost (it's only money) acquisition, but we wouldn't let Wood touch important situations until he proves himself. If he has been obtained for high-leverage situations, this is a move that could easily backfire.

Since May 15, he has pitched 25.1 innings, striking out 26 (9.24 K/9) and walking 14 (4.98 BB/9). While the 1.86 K/BB is less than impressive, his BABIP is a much more earthly .328, and he's allowed zero HRs. Thus, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that his ERA over this period is a cool 2.49.

Of course, there isn't always a lot to be said about taking an arbitrary selection of outings for a reliever, but the point now is the same as it was then: relievers deal in small sample sizes. It was perfectly reasonable to expect Robertson's numbers to normalize given his age and ability. We applaud Girardi for recognizing this. There is little doubt that Robertson would have been left to rot in the bullpen and probably sent to the minors under the Green Tea Regime.

With Sergio Mitre making his first start off the disabled list on Saturday, the Yankees decided to option reliever Jonathan Albaladejo to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

After hearing the news, the 27-year-old was visibly disappointed as he cleaned out his locker and packed his belongings before Saturday's game.

Source

Girardi to Albaladejo: "Screw you, creepo."

What would you think the ERA would be of someone who had those?

3.00? 3.50? Something pretty solid?

Well if you guessed 5.79, then you win the prize. Because those are the numbers of Joba Chamberlain.

Surprised that someone with over a strikeout per inning has such an awful ERA? It doesn't really make sense.

What's made it worse for faithful Yankee fans is that Joba has blown up at the worst of times. Being the Yankees' primary setup man, he gets used in very high leverage situations. And when the game has been on the line, Joba has given it up like a working girl in Hunts Point. So what is wrong with Joba? Why does he suck? Fans and media types have suggested the following possibilities:

*The Yankees have messed with his head by jerking him around from bullpen to rotation to bullpen.

*He hasn't been the same since his shoulder injury in 2008. He's just not that good of a pitcher anymore.

Here's another possibility:

Joba Chamberlain hasn't been pitching all that poorly. Maybe he's actually been pitching quite well, but his ERA contains all the noise one might expect to find in a miniscule 37-inning sample size.

So, unless you think that a .380 BABIP and a 58% Strand Rate are all of a sudden part of his permanent skill set, let's all just chill out. We're not saying he should be lighting the world on fire, but as the numbers indicate, he really isn't anywhere close to being this bad. Set aside the fretting and psychoanalyzing, and just enjoy the regression.