DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING I'm usually a sarcastic person, but the title of this entry is not dripping with sarcasm. Rather, it is my reaction upon reading this news (check where it says "Relief on the way"). Moving on from that exciting tidbit, the past two days of Yankee minor league action have been mostly unexciting, especially at the upper levels. Dioner Navarro, the man of the moment, did not play Monday night and then DHed in Tuesday's game. The result was an 0 for 2 night, though he did manage to draw a walk and seemingly finds a way to make SOME type of offensive contribution each night. Navarro's season will be looked down upon by many prospect analysts this offseason, and realistically, it was a letdown following his outstanding 2003, but I'm still very impressed by him as a prospect. Robinson Cano, no doubt motivated my recent souring on him, seems to be doing his best to end his AAA career the way it started. The enigmatic 21-year-old 2B was a combined 4 for 8 with a double and a home run as he played in both games. Since moving to AAA, Cano has actually done a better job driving the ball over the fence and controlling the strike zone, but seemingly hasn't been hitting the ball into the gaps as often. This may be the result of some pressing on his part. As a result of being so close to the big leagues he may have attempted to change his offensive game towards hitting more home runs and actually messed himself up. I don't know how likely this is, but it is something to consider based on his numbers. Bronson Sardinha seems to have hit another snag. Entrusted with playing defense once again Monday night, Sardinha made another error and was useless at the plate; 0 for 3 with a strikeout. In his defense, the entire team was mowed down Monday night, but it would have been great to see him put together some type of errorless streak at the hot corner. Of course, on Tuesday night he was back to DH and had a mixed night. The positive was that he hit a double in 4 at bats; the negative was that he struck out twice and did not get a walk or any other hit. Sardinha is now at .278. For him to retain some semblance of import as a prospect, he needs to improve his defense greatly or start driving the ball even more. Otherwise, he is a player without a role above that of pinch-hitter. By far, the biggest disappointment in that Monday night game had to be Sean Henn. Henn was able to give his team an outing of 2.2-7-7-7-4-3-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR). Well, at least he didn't give up a home run. Coming into the season I had written off Henn. Sure he supposedly still had a ton of talent, but 2003 left too sour a taste in my mouth, especially considering how long it took him to rehab TJ. Then, he went out and impressed in Yankee ST '04 and I gained some mild optimism. He continued this throughout the first month or so of the season, making me think happy thoughts about big, powerful, left-handed SPs. Unfortunately, since that first month, Henn has struggled to put together consecutive good starts and in the last month has just become awful. I've said it enough times already, but I'll put it out there one time. The Yankees need to cut their losses with him as a SP and see if he can be useful out of the pen. I'm also beginning to wonder why the Yankees are sending a pitcher with a history of arm troubles to the AFL when he has already thrown 156.1 innings this year. Normally, that's not that many innings, but his previous career high is 80, so this is a big jump for him. I haven't seen any reports that say Matt DeSalvo's back injury is extremely serious so I would think he would be a more viable option for that assignment, provided he is recovered. Steven White continued to roll through the FSL Monday night. The 23-year-old RHP went 6-3-2-2-0-8-0 on the way to his 6th victory in the FSL. His progress in the FSL has been similar to what he did in the MWL in that he started off a bit shaky, but then just began to dominate. A Trenton rotation headed by him and Matt DeSalvo to open 2005 should be very interesting. Both guys, who will be in their age-24 seasons, should be on the fast track. Guillen, Duncan, and Cabrera were OK over the two games. Cabrera went 3 for 8 with 3 singles and a strikeout as he does his best to get his average back to its former lofty positions. Duncan was 1 for 7 with a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts as he continues to demonstrate that there are many ways to contribute to a team outside of a pretty batting average if you have power and patience. Guillen was 2 for 7 with 2 singles as he tries to get his average up since he lacks much power or patience, in the absolute sense, this season. I think it would be a good idea to keep this trio together, as I generally like prospects moving in groups, and think all 3 have shown enough to start 2005 in AA. Yes, even Guillen. His season has actually been encouraging in some aspects despite how ugly the final numbers may look. Hector Made and Erold Andrus have been making some serious noise for the past couple months and the opening of this week was no different. The dynamic duo beat up on Dayton Dragons' pitching as they lead the BC-playoff charge. Made was a combined 5 for 10 with 3 singles, a double, a home run, and a walk and has his average all the way up to .285 to go along with 31 doubles and 5 homers. Meanwhile, Andrus was a combined 5 for 11 with 3 singles, a double, a home run, and 2 strikeouts and has his average all the way up to .287 to go along with 33 doubles and 12 homers. Both should be solid contributors for Tampa next spring. Jeff Marquez lost on Monday, just to show that you can't be great every time out. The final line was not pretty, 3.2-6-7-5-3-4-0, but it does nothing to mar what has been an outstanding debut. If you force me to find a negative in the profile, I will say that Marquez didn't strike out many hitters in the NYPL, but I'll give him leeway based on being a sinkerballer and a teenager. Tim Battle and Estee Harris both bounced back a bit in their two games. Battle was 3 for 8 with 3 singles, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. Harris was 2 for 7 with a single, a home run, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, and a stolen base. Battle is at .242 and Harris at .238 for the NYPL season. The best news to come out of the system in recent days is what took place in the GCL. The GCL Yankees were able to sweep the GCL Red Sox and take home that league's championship. Christian Garcia had the most dominating pitching performance of the set. In starting and winning game 1 he went 6-1-1-1-3-3-0. The outing was the longest by any pitcher on that team this year. Garcia just overpowers hitters with serious heat. He reminds me of a Capellan type of prospect as his calling card is overpowering heat. Poterson was very good as he went 3 for 9 with a single, a double, a home run, and 3 strikeouts. It will be interesting to see where the organization places him to start '05. I think he should be held back until next year's NYPL, but thus far the organization has shown much more confidence in him than I have and he may start out at BC. Vech had a sub par series as he went 1 for 7 with a walk and a stolen base. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com   ¶ 3:03 PM