THE FINAL PUSH For those of you who don't know, August is the final month of the minor league season. As I've previously stated, it is a month that holds a lot of weight both in offseason prospect rankings and organizational thought process. As far as organizational thought process, players who are successful on the lower levels sometimes find themselves promoted to a higher level, if that level makes the playoffs and the organization feels they need more firepower. For example, Bronson Sardinha has played very well for Trenton, but Trenton has no chance of making the playoff, however, if Columbus does make the playoffs and feel they need one more hitter, Sardinha may get called up. Due to a combination of this and how prospect evaluators often look for progress, August is an extremely important month. With that said, let's see what's happened in the first two days of this critical month. Robinson Cano continued his recent hot streak the past two days. The 2B, who seems determined to get to the Bronx this September, was a combined 3 for 8 with 2 singles, a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. Cano, coming into the season, was criticized for offensively being nothing more than a singles-hitting, contact-making, hacker. In response he's put 25 doubles, 8 triples, 11 home runs, 34 walks, and 52 strikeouts on the board in 401 at bats. In addition, Cano was criticized for inconsistent defense at 2B, after being solid at AA, an error about every 7 games; Cano has been outstanding at AAA, 1 error in 30 games. Cano has had his character/work ethic questioned in the past, but with the huge strides he's made this year one could be inclined to take those whispers with a grain of salt. After not playing on Sunday, Navarro played in tonight's game and did what I feel would do on a more regular basis were the Clippers to give him the chance, hit. Navarro went 2 for 4 with a double and a single and continues to give the Clippers reason to stop and think why they keep benching him (though he did allow a passed ball, an error, and 3 stolen bases), especially in favor Sal Fasano. That said, expect him to be benched tomorrow as winning in the minors is what's most important, right (though it's debatable who gives that team a greater chance of victory)? Trenton's Monday game was canceled, but they managed to get their Sunday one in. The Thunder did better against Matt Cain than I thought they would, as they managed 5 hits, 3 walks, and included in the 5 hits was a home run. Unfortunately, Bronson Sardinha's 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout did not include any of the "damage" to Cain. Sardinha also made his 15th error in 38 games. Eric Duncan has been very streaky thus far in his Tampa career. He started off in a way that had many wondering whether the Yankees promoted him too quickly, then turned it around and made the Yankees brain trust look like geniuses, and is once again slumping. Tampa's Sunday game was postponed and then in today's game he went 0 for 3 with a walk. He is now 1 for his last 12 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. At the very least, he is making contact. As of late, that contact hasn't been typical Duncan as it has featured a lot of groundballs. I never thought Melky Cabrera would be a big time home run hitter, despite his gaudy doubles totals, and I still don't, but it seems as though he may be beginning to turn his doubles into home runs. After hitting none in 171 A- at bats, Cabrera has knocked 4 in 227 A+ at bats, including 1 in each of his last 2 games. Power is the only average or below tool in Cabrera's current arsenal, so it will be interesting to see if this is an anomaly or a harbinger of great things to come. In the past month or so of games, Erold Andrus and Hector Made have begun turning into superstars up the middle for Battle Creek. Made had a recent 15-game hitting streak snapped and was poor on Sunday, 0 for 5, but came back strong Monday night. The solid young SS was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and 2 singles. Made is now 4th in the league with 26 doubles. Andrus was not as poor as Made on Sunday, he was 2 for 5 with 2 singles, and not as spectacular on Monday, 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. The double was Andrus' 25th. In today's telecast of the SI Yankees game, Joe Girardi let the audience know that Marcos Vechionacci had been demoted. Marcos will most likely finish the rest of the season in the Rookie-Gulf Coast League. It might just be my man-crush on Vech talking here, but I don't see how this is a good move. There tend to be two schools of thought on minor league assignments. One is that you assign players in order to challenge them and accelerate development, and the other is that you assign players in order for them to be successful and contribute to winning teams. If the Yankees want to take SI in the player development route, then you obviously keep the 17-year-old there. If the Yankees want to take SI in the winning route, Vech still belongs. Despite my displeasure with the move Vech playing in the GCL will not be that huge of a disappointment as he was destined to start 2004 in the MWL regardless and now he will be able to dominate more readily, despite still being young for his league. The Vech-less SI Yanks lost a heart-breaking game today. After leading for most of the night, they fell behind and in the latter innings of the game and were eventually pummeled by a score of 10 to 5. Tim Battle had a decent offensive outing, 1 for 4 with a single, 2 strikeouts, and a stolen base. SI has stuck with Battle despite his offensive struggles, a .250 average and 31 strikeouts in 100 at bats, and hopefully it will pay off. Watching Battle play, it is obvious why scouts like him so much; he just oozes tools. The "other" tools-oozing SI outfielder is Estee Harris. After a rough MWL half-season, and a rough GCL trial, followed by a rough NYPL beginning, Estee is finally starting to hit again. Estee was 2 for 3 with a home run, a single, a walk, and a strikeout in the 10-5 loss. According to reader ICEBERG18, Harris has altered his stance, which is probably just part of the process for a player attempting to find himself. Though HS draftees as a whole tend to be raw, Harris rawer than normal as he comes from NY state, and this must be kept in mind when evaluating his progress. Harris also displayed his speed tonight by stealing 2 bases to bring his NYPL total to 6. Jesse Hoover made his 2nd start since being freed from the bullpen and was more impressive than the first go-round. Hoover had a final line of 5.1-3-3-2-3-7-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR). I'll let the words of MYB reader Phil the Thrill describe Hoover's performance:

Hoover was great in innings 1,2, 4 and 5. In three[,] he walked the lead off guy and gave up two hits, then in the 6th he walked the leadoff guy again...He has the goods though[,] including a 12-6 curveball he used as an out pitch. He had 7K's... and myriad of pop-ups.

Hoover has been exciting many of the readers of this blog, but at 22, will need to move quickly. In other words, he will need to be on the Matt DeSalvo track, without the injuries of course. The GCL Yankees had their game postponed. When I received this news I was shocked, absolutely stunned. Them losing a game to inclement whether is incredible. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com   ¶ 10:41 PM