A BITHDAY BUMMER
Rodriguez’s presence comes at cost of wins
J OE GIRARDI’S explanation was illogical because, really, there is no logic behind the Yankee manager’s decision to go with Masahiro Tanaka on four days of rest against the Giants and Madison Bumgarner at the Stadium on Friday night.
Every scintilla of available data proves the right-hander’s superiority when getting five days between starts — and mediocrity (or worse) when getting the standard four days. It is neither close nor a subject worthy of debate.
On five days, Tanaka has been an ace, pitching to a 1.05 ERA while allowing one home run and a .193 batting average against over 51 ¹/3 innings in seven starts. On four days, well, how does a 5.33 ERA with eight home runs allowed and a .293 batting average against over 49 innings in eight starts sound?
You don’t think Girardi is aware of this? Of course he is. And yet, he is going with Tanaka on a night when the Yankees will require his best against one of the best pitchers in the world. He is going with Tanaka because of the flawed roster he has been directing through the summer that does not otherwise grant him the alternatives and options he should have.
Girardi talked and talked, and circuitously so, before Thursday afternoon’s 4-1 defeat to Baltimore that put an end to the Yankees’ four-game winning streak about why he would likely use Chad Green in relief against the O’s rather than save this righthander for the start against San Francisco.
The manager referred to bullpen arms that needed saving. And then talked about saving Green for the Giants would necessarily create the need for corresponding moves and a 13-man pitching staff.
“I don’t think our club is equipped for that,” he said hours before calling on Green to pitch the final 2 ¹ /3 innings after replacing CC Sabathia with two out in the seventh and the deficit at 4-1. “We would still need seven relievers. It would create problems. I don’t think we’re constructed for a 13-man staff.
“Our starters don’t really give us seven, eight, nine innings. We just don’t get it.”
Ah, but the fact is the Yankees are eighth in the 15-team league in average innings per start. That’s not really the issue. The issue, which Girardi could not broach, and how could he, is the Yankees cannot survive with 12 position players because one of them on the roster cannot play a position.
That, of course, would be Alex Rodriguez, who five days from his 41st birthday, not only cannot play the field but apparently can no longer hit, either.
Designated Hitter? Designated Batter is more like it. Rodriguez hit the ball hard twice but still went 0-for-3 against Baltimore right-hander Chris Tillman. He is hitting .193 with six home runs in 140 at-bats against righties; .210 with nine home runs in 205 atbats overall.
Rodriguez’s lack of production and his inability to play the field mean the Yankees have to lean on Carlos Beltran to play right field far too often when the 39-year-old should optimally be a full-time DH. Maybe Beltran will be gone by the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline, but the more he plays in the field, the more chance he wears down.
And when Beltran is in right, that means that Aaron Hicks, an outstanding defender though impotent at the plate, is on the bench. It ultimately proved irrelevant in this defeat, but chances are Hicks could have tracked down Jonathan Schoop’s two-run double down the line in the seventh that extended the Baltimore lead to 4-1 quickly enough to prevent the second run from scoring.
Whether or not the Yankees are truly a contender for a wild-card spot, management — specifically ownership — owes it to the manager, the team, and yes, the fans, to construct the best roster its money can buy. If the Yankees need 13 pitchers so Tanaka can be at his best, that’s what they need. If they need Beltran to DHand Hicks to play the field, that’s what they need.
Releasing Rodriguez would come at the cost of approximately $27 million. That would be a Big Gulp for the Republican Party’s nominee for the presidency, let alone Hal Steinbrenner. Of course it would.
But if that’s what the Yankees need to do, that’s what they need to do.