(The following is being syndicated from An A-Blog for A-Rod)
We’re just one day away from meaningful baseball games starting up again, and that time can’t pass quickly enough. It’s been absolutely brutal without them this week because there is NOTHING on TV. I barely paid attention to the HR Derby on Monday, started tuning out of the All Star Game around the 3rd inning and turned it off completely by the 5th on Tuesday, and don’t even get me started on how stupid the ESPYs are. The Yankees are coming back into my life at the perfect time, and as some people say, the season REALLY starts now. There are plenty of obvious second half storylines to follow, like the trade deadline, Andy’s return, September call-ups, and the always fun start of the magic number countdown, but there are plenty of other things I’ll be following as well. Like what, you might ask? Well, how about…
Joba’s Rehab
The comeback trail is still on a detour, but stepped up to fill that void and made his return to game action on Tuesday for the GCL Yanks. It’s been over a full calendar year since we last saw Joba pitch in the Majors, and I actually kind of miss the guy. He’s recovered quickly from both his TJS and ankle surgery, and appears to be in tremendous shape from the few pictures I’ve seen recently. If reports of him touching 97 on the gun on Tuesday are accurate, then following his trip back to the Majors is going to be even more exciting. Love him or hate him, Joba throwing smoke is always an entertaining watch, and even sans command, a smoke-throwing Joba would be a nice bullpen weapon to have on standby. It’s not even worth getting into the “should the Yankees strech him out as a starter” debate, because it’s not going to happen. I just want to see Joba on the mound again.
‘s Return
Speaking of seeing guys playing again, the timetable for Gardner’s return is starting to loosely take shape with the announcement yesterday that he could be back by July 27th “at the earliest.” That makes an early-to-mid August return more likely, but Gardner is another guy I think I’ve taken for granted a bit strictly from the “enjoyment of watching” standpoint. I get a little uneasy sometimes watching Swish track flyballs, I get downright nervous watching C-Grand, and I practically hide my eyes with my hands watching Raul, so it will be a refreshing change of pace to see somebody back out there who knows what he’s doing. The speed, versatility, and count-working skills that Gardner brings to the table will also be welcome additions to the Yankee lineup, and will allow Ibanez to shift back to the DH spot full-time to keep him fresh down the stretch. Just please, no more setbacks.
‘ Awakening
There was some squabbling last season after Jones got off to a slow start (.195/.278/.356 in the first half), and Jones made efforts to get into better shape before this season to try to combat that. Those efforts didn’t bring much of a return, as Jones was hitting just .206/.310/.412 on June 20th. In the 9 games since then, though, he has 11 hits (including 2 doubles and 5 homers), 6 R, and 9 RBI in 31 PA, raising his season line to .244/.326/.535 (.366 wOBA). Last season, Jones was a monster off the bench in the second half of the season (.291/.416/.612 w/ 9 HR), and the 4-homer barrage he had at Fenway just before the ASB, along with the much improved overall production over the past 9 games, may have been a sign that he’s fixing to repeat 2011′s monster performance.
‘s MVP Chase
It’s still a little bit too early to start really talking AL MVP, but if the award was being handed out today Cano would have to be right at the top of the list of legitimate candidates. Yes, is having an unbelievable season and is the sole reason that the Angels woke up, and yes, is putting up ridiculous numbers again, but Robbie’s case this season is stronger than it was in the past 2. He’s once again the best player on the team with the best record in baseball, he’s played out of his mind for the past 2+ months, and he’s on pace to set new career highs in hits, HR, R scored, wOBA, wRC+, and fWAR, where he happens to rank 2nd in the league right now at 4.3. With A-Rod on a serious decline, and Teix and Swish both having down years, Cano also won’t have as big of a battle to fight against the “he plays on a team full of All Stars” perception that always hampers Yankee MVP candidates.
Assuming he’s not too heartbroken from the boo beating he took in KC and can pick up where he left off before the break, Cano has a great chance to bring home the hardware this season. He’s always been a great second half player, and he’s coming off the best first half he’s had in his career. He’s finished top-6 in the last 2 seasons; it’d be cool to see him win the award this year and give himself that final push into mainstream recognition as one of the game’s best players.
So that’s what I got. What’s everybody else looking forward to in the second half of 2012?
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Reason #1,564,898 that the media is ridiculous. I thought Joba was supposed to die from blood loss after that trampoline accident? I thought He was never supposed to play again?! Here he is three months later throwing 97 in his first rehab start. I badly want Joba to come back and prove everybody wrong. Good for him.
I know most people don’t agree with me, but I wouldn’t mind if the yanks tired Joba as a starter again. Not now of course, but maybe during spring training.
Too late for that now. He is a FA after next season. It will be up to his next team to make him a starter. No time left on the clock for the Yankees to make a project out of JOba now. They will get as much value out of him while they can.
And what makes you think the yanks wont resign Joba?
I don’t think he’ll want to stay. The Yankees have made it very clear they have no intentions of ever letting him start again, and at this point Robertson seems to be looked at as a much more important pen piece. Because of this I think Joba will go somewhere else, to a team who promises him a chance to compete for a startingh job and I honestly don’t blame him. I’m actually kind of hoping he does leave because I want to see him get that chance.
You’re probably right, but I hope the Yankees don’t keep being pig-headed about it. If Chamberlain really wants to start, and won’t sign unless they let him start, they should promise to make him a starter. He might leave anyway, but they should try.
I really don’t see the point. We can’t guarantee him a rotation spot, he knows if he struggles even a tiny bit they’ll throw him right back into the pen and he’ll never be able to leave. If he goes somewhere like San Diego he’d get all the chances in the world and every pitch he throws won’t be under intense scrutiny.
I’d love to see Joba the starter make a return but at this point he has a very long way to go. He likely hasn’t even worked on his change in 2 years or so, his control is a problem as is, and he’d likely need close to a year in the minor leagues as a starter with us before they even considered him for a big league rotation spot. The Yankees made this bed when they fixed the so called “competition” between Hughes and Joba so that Hughes would be guaranteed the rotation spot. At this point I just hope he gets a legit shot somewhere else.
I don’t think Cano has any real chance at the MVP. The Yankee bias is always going to hold guys on this team down when it comes to MVP voting, some writers will simply never give credit to any single member of our lineup like that. Besides that I think many writers have already mentally given the MVP to Hamilton, unless he really tanks down the stretch I think it’s his award.