2009 Reflection Part 1: The Bad Stuff

Robinson Cano’s April – Robinson Cano had the worst possible April known to mankind. His OPS for the month was .446 (check out his splits at B-R). The rest of the year he wavered between okay and really good but his April seriously dragged down his numbers for the season. He still has that whole not walking problem, but that’s just what we expect from him at this point. Strangely, April is when he had his best IsoD of the year proving that when he is hitting he does it Vlad style and can hit almost anything you throw at him.

Ian Kennedy: No Control Pitcher – IPK’s strong points coming into the season were that he was polished and ready to go and had excellent control with okay stuff (one plus pitch, his changeup). Well, he displayed none of that in MLB this year as he was struck down with a case of what I call Mussinitis (extreme nibbling, painful to watch) and just got battered around as he then just sort of lobbed strikes in. I never thought he was really anything special but he should really have been better than he was, he should be a solid #4 or an excellent #5 and instead he just melted down.

Phil Hughes Can’t See At Night And Is Also Hurt – Unlike IPK, Hughes really does have good stuff! That is why it was so frustrating to see him absolutely tank at the start of the season. I like that there was a “reason” for it and that he was allowed to work things out in AAA but I don’t like that the kid can’t stop getting hurt. Luckily, none of his injuries have been arm related and I think he can still come out very well.

Chien-Ming Wang Goes Down For The Year – This was the point of the season where I was ready to stick a fork in the Yankees. Wang had been having some problems but hey, hitting a rough patch isn’t a big deal because that can even out over the course of the year and he was looking really excellent in his start against Houston. Unfortunately, he failed to get down a bunt properly and so rather than sacrificing he was on base in a force out situation. He ran the bases and scored a run and also managed to destroy his Lisfranc in the process in some crazy freak way. And then he was out for the year. This was especially horrible for me as I had traveled all the way to Houston to see the Yankees play this game. I was ready to burst into tears in my seat.

Derek Jeter Hit By Baseball, Can’t Hit Baseballs – Derek Jeter was hitting like Derek Jeter typically does in the beginning of the year. Then, on May 20th he was hit by a pitch on the hand in a game against the Orioles. Suddenly, he is not so good at the hitting thing anymore (at least at the rate at which we expect him to) and everyone is very sad because a lot of offense goes out the window with that.

Hideki Matsui’s Other Knee Explodes – Hideki started off the season after having his right knee cleaned out. He was brought back before that knee was 100% and played more time in LF than you’d like (which is any, really, but that’s just me) and before long his left knee was giving out. This is what happens when you let people play before they’re really ready, I’d rather have missed him for the first two weeks of the season than have a virtually crippled one who missed a ton of time.

Jorge Posada’s Got A Gimp Shoulder – Another hit to the offense. Can’t play catcher if you can’t throw, can’t hit for power if your shoulder is dead. I love Jose Molina behind the plate so much, but he is mostly an offensive blackhole and not a starting catcher.

Sidney Ponson – Terrible pitcher, allowed to have too many starts. Got lucky for a bit, then revealed his true Ponsonian nature.