Grading the Yankees' Front Office

 

We’ve been reminded continually of what a great job Yankee management has done this season to navigate through the injuries and declining production of an aging team. The story is going something like this:

"For the first time in seemingly forever, the mighty Yankees, victims of a series of unlucky injuries, were underdogs who hung around until late in September- just narrowly missing the playoffs. Cashman and Co. pushed the right buttons, dumpster dove for the right free agents, but fell just a little bit short. And hey, despite no playoffs, the results weren’t too bad; the ‘end of an era’ feeling was prevalent in the Bronx, anyways, so we weren’t expecting too much. Mariano Rivera’s summer-long retirement tour was a successful tribute to one of the classier athletes of our time, and the squad almost battled its way into to a storybook playoff run. Great in-season planning and decision making by the front office led the club to a respectable finish."

I'm not so sure I'm on board with that train of thought. As a lifelong fan, I closely watched the product the Yankees were rolling out this season, and I’m just not ready to buy that narrative. The Yankees surprised a lot of people with the way they hung around, and the brass is getting a lot of credit for the way they filled holes and planned for this season.

But how well did they really do?

I took a look at Yankee position player production this year by position using WAR and wRC+. Here's the breakdown as a win-loss record for management:

(All stats are from Fangraphs as of 9/25/13. For those who are unfamiliar with sabermetric stats, check the links to WAR and wRC+ for quick explanations)

CATCHER

Situation: No offer is made to resign Russell Martin, Pirates nab him for the reasonable price of 2 years, $17M (Yanks paid Martin $7.5M in 2012). Glaring hole ensues. 

Action: None. Career back-up Francisco Cervelli is left to assume catching duties.

Outcome: Cervelli is injured in late April after 61 PA. Chris Stewart and Austin Romine are only remaining options, and the numbers aren't pretty.

CATCHER	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Chris Stewart	107	332	4	27	25	4	0.5	58
Austin Romine	60	148	1	15	10	1	-0.2	47
Francisco Cervelli	17	61	3	12	8	0	0.7	143
TOTAL	184	541	8	54	43	5	1	65

A full season's worth of plate appearances and an offensive output that is 35% below league average. Meanwhile, Martin has an excellent season for the Pirates, amassing a WAR of 4.0, and 101 wRC+. The numbers here speak for themselves. The Yanks had nothing in reserve after the injury to Cervelli, and they paid for it. No moves were made in-season to address this hole. Record: 0-1

FIRST BASE

Situation: With established 1B, Mark Teixeira, under contract, no action to be taken here originally. However, a March injury to Teixeira requires a replacement signing.

Action: Lyle Overbay is added to take over while Teixeira recovers.

Outcome: After a brief return, Teixeira re-injures his wrist, and is lost for the season. Overbay racks up 478 PAs.

FIRSTBASE	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Lyle Overbay	138	478	14	43	58	1	0	87

With trade options, like Justin Morneau, available throughout the year, and no moves made to address this weakness until the signing of Mark Reynolds in mid-August, this is another loss for management. Replacement level WAR and below league-average offensive output from your first basemen is miserable. Also, the fact that Teixeira's injury cost him the season was not a complete surprise either. Injury experts like Will Carroll noted its severity early on. Moves could've been made. Record: 0-2

SECOND BASE

Situation: Robinson Cano resides here. No action necessary.

Outcome: Cano produces as expected.

SECONDBASE	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Robinson Cano	156	665	27	80	105	7	6	142

No move was made here so we'll call it a push. This could register as a huge loss next year if the Yanks are unable to resign Cano at a reasonable price. But that's not part of this exercise.

Record: 0-2-1

SHORT STOP & THIRD BASE

Situation: Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez are injured to start the year, but the belief is that they will return before too long.

Action: Kevin Youkillis is signed to fill in at 3B, while back ups Jayson Nix and Eduardo Nunez are set to man short. 

Outcome: Disaster. Jeter, at 37, is never healthy in '13. Youkillis, predictably is injured well before A-Rod is ready to return. Nix, as a result, sees more PAs at 3B than any Yankee, while Nunez plays short. Neither of them stay healthy for long, either. In all, 8 players, besides A-Rod, slot in at third for at least 1 inning in '13, the majority of them minor leaguers or cast-offs. Here's the bulk of the production from the left side of the infield:

THIRD&SHORT	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Alex Rodriguez	43	178	7	21	19	4	0.6	117
Derek Jeter	17	73	1	8	7	0	-0.6	48
TOTAL	60	251	8	29	26	4	0	97
Eduardo Nunez	85	312	2	33	25	10	-1.6	79
Kevin Youkilis	28	118	2	12	8	0	-0.4	78
Jayson Nix	87	303	3	32	24	13	0.7	70
TOTAL	200	733	7	77	57	23	-1.3	75

Nothing good to see here. Record: 0-4-1

OUTFIELD & DESIGNATED HITTER

Situation: Granderson returns. Nick Swisher does not and Ichiro is set to man right. Brett Gardner is slated to play Center. DH will be used to rest old-legs and hopefully avoid injuries.

Action: Granderson is the victim of a broken hand, and Vernon Wells is the answer. Travis Hafner is signed to DH, while Ben Francisco and Brennan Boesch are also signed as OF options. 

Outcome: Despite a rough '12 season, the Yanks opted to give Gardner a starting job in 2013, and were rewarded. This was a very good, albeit fairly obvious decision. The Yanks decided that Nick Swisher's production and contract demands were out of alignment and this was probably a good call, even though he clearly would've been useful with a 2.3 WAR and a 114 wRC+. I'll be generous and call this a push as they didn't lock down another bad contract to a declining player.  Here's the majority of the Bomber's OF and DH production this year: 

LEFTFIELD&DH	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Curtis Granderson	56	222	7	31	14	7	1.6	102
Vernon Wells	127	447	11	45	50	7	-0.3	73
Travis Hafner	81	293	12	31	37	2	-0.4	87
Ben Francisco	21	50	1	4	1	0	-0.5	13
Brennan Boesch	23	53	3	6	8	0	-0.2	124
TOTAL	252	843	27	86	96	9	-1.4	77
CENTERFIELD	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Brett Gardner	145	609	8	81	52	24	3.2	108
RIGHTFIELD	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Ichiro Suzuki	147	546	7	56	35	20	1.1	71

Granderson's injuries were unlucky. But those things happen and the Yanks did not even come close to pulling the right strings to solve the issue. Significantly below average offensive production and a negative WAR from two offense-heavy positions in DH and LF equals 2 more losses for management. Centerfield is an easy win though. Factoring in aforementioned reasons, plus the fact that Ichiro at least offered some degree of production through strong defense (despite his inability to hit), we'll call right field a push. Record: 1-6-2

TRADE DEADLINE

Ok, so I've been pretty critical thus far. And, yes I ignored Alfonso Soriano when I assessed the outfield. For the Soriano trade and the Mark Reynolds pick up I will give the Yanks a full win, despite the fact that they only combined for half a season's worth of plate appearances:

ON THE FLY PICK-UPS	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
Alfonso Soriano	54	228	17	36	50	8	1.7	134
Mark Reynolds	31	106	5	13	17	0	0.6	10

Soriano was on fire from the minute they got him. Record: 2-6-2

MINOR LEAGUE CALL-UPS

This is the last category that I want to assess. As of September 25th, the Yanks had gotten 286 plate appearances from players plucked out of the minors (players like Ben Francisco, who were signed to minor league deals, are ignored for this section). Here are their numbers:

MINOR CALL-UPS	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	WAR	wRC+
David Adams	41	142	2	10	11	0	-0.2	43
Zoilo Almonte	30	96	1	8	9	3	0.2	74
Melky Mesa	5	14	0	2	1	0	0.3	168
J.R. Murphy	13	14	0	3	0	0	-0.2	-1
Thomas Neal	4	13	0	1	0	0	-0.1	46
Corban Joseph	2	7	0	1	0	0	0	71
TOTAL	95	286	3	25	21	3	0	58

Not much there to write home about. Because these guys are minor leaguers, who aren't necessarily expected to produce at the major league level upon their first promotion, I won't give the front office a loss here. But it definitely doesn't show the Yankees farm system in a flattering light.
Final Record: 2-6-3

CONCLUSION

A generous 2-6-3 record for how the Yankee's handled each of their offensive positions and the trade deadline. Obviously my rating system wasn't exactly scientific, but the statistics are. In conclusion, the perception that the Yankees fell victim to bad luck is false. Injuries are unavoidable much of the time. Thus, planning for injuries is a necessity. So, I would argue that the blame for said "bad luck" actually falls in the lap of the Yankee's brass. As the only MLB team with an above .500 record, despite a negative run differential, the Yankees were actually very fortunate this season to achieve the record that they did. With that good fortune in winning a lot of close games, the argument can certainly be made that better acquisitions and planning could've led to a playoff berth.