AMAZEMENT As a result of the injury to Kevin Brown, Chien-Ming Wang and Brad Halsey are reportedly going to get shots at key roles down the stretch for the Yankees. This is just absolutely stunning news. It is somewhat saddening that it would take this extreme an occurrence for the organization to go with some youth, but encouraging in that instead of just one, they're planning on using both. Halsey will assume Brown's spot in the rotation and Wang will move into the bullpen as a long man. This move is huge for Halsey especially, because there is not much downside for him and a ton of upside. If he falters, the blame will not fall completely on his shoulders, but rather, Brown will just be blamed more heavily. If he succeeds, then I think he will have a '05 rotation spot locked up, which is what I have been hoping for for sometime. Just a good move by the organization and for both guys, I wish them the best of luck. The other side of this situation, of course, is that the Columbus Clippers just lost their starters for games 1 and 2 of the playoffs, and are in all likelihood dead in the water. This is despite their winning 2 of their last 3 games, none of which were started by the aforementioned duo, obviously. In the course of those 3 games, Robinson Cano has managed to end the regular season on a positive note by going 4 for 10, all singles, with a walk and no strikeouts. So, in 216 AAA at bats, he hit .259 while collecting 9 doubles, 2 triples, and 6 home runs to go along with an 18:27 BB:K ratio. All around it was a solid AAA debut for the 21-year-old and might be enough to get him a job as the better half of a '05 2B platoon. Trenton was 2-2 in their final 4 games of the season and Bronson Sardinha ended his year on a sour note. In his final work before a month layoff preceding the AFL season, Sardinha could only manage to go 0 for 6 with 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Sardinha's initial foray in AA was better than he has historically done at new levels, but still not anything to write home about as he hit .267 in 266 at bats with 11 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homer, 37 walks and 65 strikeouts. Sardinha, 22, will likely start '05 back in Trenton, barring an annihilation of the AFL. In the first of the 4-game swing, Sean Henn had the type of start that garners the attention of those still faithful to him. The left-hander put up a line of 7-5-2-1-1-6-1-. This start was still too little too late, in my opinion and his seasonal line is still only 163.1-173-94-80-63-118-11. The only one of those numbers that is encouraging is the HR-rate. Also, with that many innings pitched and considering his injury history, if the Yankees are really seriously considering sending Henn to the AFL, I am almost certain he will get hurt. Battle Creek's playoff aspirations came to a sudden halt on the final day of the season, but they were still the most successful team in the Yankee organization in some time. Why do I say that? They started the season as the youngest team in their league and throughout the year maintained a very young squad. Usually, when a squad is so young, they struggle, and this was the case early on, but the BC players ended the season well. The goal of a minor league operation is to develop talent for the ML and, in some cases, win. BC did a combination of this better than any Yankee affiliate. If you want proof, just observe their record and note the names that passed through: Erold Andrus, Melky Cabrera, Hector Made, Eric Duncan, Tyler Clippard, Abel Gomez, etc. The '05 Low-A team will have a lot to live up to. Oh yeah, as for what actually took place over the last 3 games, they won 2 and lost the season ender. Had they won the season ender, they still would not have made the playoffs since the team they were competing against won their game and they needed a loss. The best prospect news to come out of the stretch drive was that Hector Made and Erold Andrus both reached .290. It was actually .291 for Andrus, to be exact. Made reached the goal by going 7 for 14 with 2 walks and a strikeout, all of his hits were singles. Andrus reached .291 by going 6 for 13 with a walk and 3 strikeouts; all of his hits were also singles. Neither player's season ending totals will look THAT impressive, however, the context of their production is critical as both guys got better as the season went on, especially in terms of plate patience/discipline. Both should begin '05 in Tampa and look to make Trenton by the end of the year. One potential member of the '05 Low-A team is Jeff Marquez. Marquez had arguably the best debut of any '04 draftee, despite ending the season on a sour note. The CC product seemed to tire towards the end of the season and that trend continued in the last SI game of the year. Marquez could only go 4-9-4-3-2-4-0. Still, his 50.2-51-26-17-20-36-2 NYPL run in his age-19 season was very impressive. Look for Marquez to have a big '05. Estee Harris and Tim Battle should both be teammates with Marquez once again in '05. Neither OF had a great game in their final '04 outing though. Harris was the better of the two; he was 1 for 4 with a single, while Battle was 0 for 4 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Harris is the older of the two, by one baseball year, and had the better NYPL stint, but I actually feel safer about Battle entering next season. Both guys have a ton of talent though and should be watched closely. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@blogspot.com   ¶ 1:48 PM