Should He Stay Or Should He Go?

The great Yankees dynasty of the late 90's, along with the championship run of 2009, was accompanied by four Yankee legends, nicknamed the "Cour Four." The unquestionable leader of the group is shortstop Derek Jeter, whose Ford commercials and girlfriends have become as synonymous with his name as his Silver Sluggers, All-Star appearances and World Series rings. Another first-ballot Hall Of Famer is closer Mariano Rivera. For the past decade and a half, when "Enter Sandman" was played, Yankees fans felt that the game was over. Then there is starting pitcher and Texas native Andy Pettitte, the big-game performer that is loved deep in the hearts of the Yankee faithful.

Finally, we have the Ringo Starr of the group, Jorge Posada. Jorge has been a clubhouse leader, as well as having success on the field. The five-time All-Star catcher has also been a five-time Silver-Slugger reciepient.




At left: Jorge has always been overshadowed by the other three members of the Core Four. This picture is extremely ironic.



This season, however, has been an entirely different story. Receiving $13.1m this year from the Yankees in the last year of a four-year contract, Posada was demoted from catcher to designated hitter before spring training. Through a controversial season between Posada and the Yankee brass, including moving him down to ninth in the batting order and demoting him to merely a pinch-hitter, Posada has mustered only a .239 batting average and a measly .388 slugging percentage. While he has popped 10 homers, this has been a sub-par season for Jorge.

The question becomes: do the Yankees bring the Yankee great back for another season or let him sign as a DH somewhere else in the off-season? Posada has already said that he wants to play next season, so retiring, for now, is out of the question.

The answer to this question is a flat-out, resounding no. The Yanks have a few directions that they could step in next season. The option that I think they will take is to keep Russell Martin at catcher and bring up Jesus Montero to become a designated hitter, spotting Martin at catcher about twice a week. This way, Yankee vets like Jeter and Alex Rodriguez will be able to use the DH role to their advantage.

Anyway you look at it, Posada doesn't fit in the Yankees plans for 2012. The chants of "Hip, Hip, Jorge!" should be no more after this season.

The Emergence of David Robertson

Early in the season, high-priced free agent signing Rafael Soriano was struggling, as the eighth inning was never a guarantee. By mid-May, Sori was on the shelf with an injured elbow. Seventh-inning man Joba Chamberlain was pitching to the tune of a 2.83 ERA before he went down, also with an elbow injury. Joba also needed Tommy John surgery and was out for the season. Soriano would be lost for over two months.

Someone needed to step up. That someone was Alabama native David Robertson.

Without his late-inning dominance, the bullpen would be in shambles behind Mariano. The first time All-Star, 26, has been nothing short of spectacular, as his 1.35 ERA and mind-blowing 13.7 K/9 ratio would suggest.





What's the secret behind David's recent success? Well, according to fangraphs.com, about three of every four of his pitches are fastballs. His average fastball is clocked at 93.1 MPH, but has a late jump that makes it seem like it is thrown at 95 or 96 MPH. The rest of his pitches are curveballs, thrown about 13 MPH slower than the fastball, so there is good velocity differential. He will occasionally mix in a hard 87 MPH changeup, but he is known as a fastball-curveball reliever.

His fastball is a valuable pitch, at 1.82 runs above average per 100 pitches. His curveball is also a solid 0.93 runs above average. While his changeup is great when thrown (3.47 runs above average), it shouldn't be paid as much attention because it is thrown only once out of every twenty pitches.

This link does a good job of explaining the above statistics:

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/index.php/pitching/linear-weights/

With Soriano back and looking better then before, the So-Ro-Mo combo can make Yankees games three innings shorter.

David has been lights out for the Yankees this year.