A little more than 25% of the 2015 baseball season is in the books. In Monday’s podcast, Scott and I handed out quarter-season grades to the Yankees (grades start at 40:28 of the podcast).
Scott and I graded based on expectations going into the season for each player, and then did an over/under prediction for the rest of the season. Note- podcast was recorded Saturday so the stats are as of 5/23.
Brian McCann: Sub .300 OBP for anyone is not good, but when you’re making $17M per year, a .290 OBP is unacceptable. The only silver lining is that he has produced RBIs.
-Scott’s grade: D
-Andrew’s grade: C-
-Over/Under: 85 RBIs; Scott is taking the under, Andrew is taking the over.
Mark Teixeira: Slugging a whopping .585 and on pace for 49 HR, 117 RBI. Tex is hitting for power again which is all that matters.
-Scott’s grade: A
-Andrew’s grade: A
-Over/Under: 39 HRs (which would tie his career high with Yanks); Scott is taking under, Andrew is taking over.
Stephen Drew: Hey, at least he doesn’t make a ton of errors.
-Scott’s grade: F- (if he could go lower, he would)
-Andrew’s grade: D
-Over/Under: Will Drew be on the team after the trade deadline? Scott says no, Andrew says yes.
Didi Gregorius: Physical and mental errors stand out when watching Didi play this year.
-Scott’s grade: D
-Andrew’s grade: F
-Over/Under: Will Didi remain starting SS all year? Both say yes.
Chase Headley: Where is the run production we saw last year with this guy? Only a .289 OBP and a ton of errors.
-Scott’s grade: D
-Andrew’s grade: F
-Over/Under: .330 OBP for the season; Scott says yes, Andrew says no.
Brett Gardner: His numbers have dropped since Ells went on the DL but he is still one of the best offensive players on the team.
-Scott’s grade: B+
-Andrew’s grade: A-
-Over/Under: 148 hits (would be career high); Both say yes.
Jacoby Ellsbury: Could his injury have come at a worse time? When he went down he was leading the AL in hits with 48.
-Scott’s grade: A
-Andrew’s grade: A
-Over/Under: Will Ells spend more than 15 days on the DL? Unfortunately, we both think yes.
Carlos Beltran: Sure, he’s been heating up of late but he looks O-L-D in the field and there is no room at DH on this team.
-Scott’s grade: D+
-Andrew’s grade: D
-Over/Under: 125 games played; Scott says over, Andrew is taking the under…(I smell a DL stint for Beltran).
Alex Rodriguez: .555 SLG % which is his highest since 2008. Only negative is he has not hit with guys on base…yet.
-Scott’s grade: A-
-Andrew’s grade: A-
-Over/Under: 65 extra base hits (he’s on pace for 76); We forgot to do this one in the podcast, but Scott and Andrew are both taking the over.
Bench players– Chris Young, John Ryan Murphy, Garrett Jones, Gregorio Petit, Jose Pirela: Up until recently, the majority of the bench production was coming from Chris Young. Collectively they’ve just been ok.
-Scott’s grade: B-
-Andrew’s grade: B
-Over/Under: Will Jose Pirela play 75 games (basically, will he get a regular role on this team?); Scott and Andrew both took under but cannot understand why.
Michael Pineda: Where did our ace go?! Through 7 starts he was in Cy-Young contention but his last 2 starts have been awful. In that time his ERA and WHIP has increased significantly. He needs to get back on track.
-Scott’s grade: B
-Andrew’s grade: B+
-Over/Under: Will Big Mike receive Cy Young votes this year? Scott and Andrew both say yes.
CC Sabathia: He is on pace for 23 losses which would be the most ever since Elmer Myers and Lee Medows did it in 1916. Woof.
-Scott’s grade: F
-Andrew’s grade: D (I guess I went easy on him)
-Over/Under: 8 wins; Scott taking the over, Andrew taking under.
Nathan Eovaldi: Its up and down with him every time out. .311 batting average against is no bueno. Room for improvement, I guess…
-Scott’s grade: C
-Andrew’s grade: C
-Over/Under: 190 IP; Both say yes.
Andrew Miller: On pace for 50 saves (Mariano’s career high was 53 in 2004).
-Scott’s grade: A
-Andrew’s grade: A
-Over/Under: 40 saves; Both say no (but not because he will pitch poorly, mainly because the team’s performance won’t allow for it).
Dellin Betances: 35 Ks in 23 IP is preeeeeety, preeeeeeettttttyyyy, pppprrreeeeettttttaaaaaayyyyyy good.
-Scott’s grade: A
-Andrew’s grade: A+
-Over/Under: Will he keep up his 13.1 K/IP ratio? Both say hell yes.
Rest of the bullpen– David Carpenter, Esmil Rogers, Justin Wilson, Chasen Shreve: Carpenter and Rogers have been terrible, but the rest have been solid.
-Scott’s grade: C
-Andrew’s grade: C
And there it is, the 2015 New York Yankees quarterly report card. We will revisit this later in the season. Tweet us and comment to let us know where we messed up.
