Minor Yankee Blog

2005-01-24T19:02:00.000-05:00

FINALLY HERE The top 25 should debut the week of Feb. 1st on the RLYW and it will begin at number 25 and end with the number 1 prospect. Thanks for being patient. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-12-19T17:58:00.000-05:00

NEW POST ALERT I have a new post up at the RLYW, it can be found right here. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-11-10T02:45:00.000-05:00

CLOSING TIME (Please excuse any typos, I am crunched for time) As many of you know, this Fall I became a college student. Since arriving in college, I have found it much more difficult to post consistently as my daily activities are more time consuming than they were during high school. As a result, I have not been able to post on this site nearly as much as I would have liked to and that is upsetting for me. It makes me feel as though I am letting down some of the loyal readers of this site and I don't want that. As a result, I have decided to shut down the Minor Yankee Blog and join the team over at Larry Mahnken's Replacement Level Yankees Weblog. For those of you who are fans of what I have been doing for the past 11 months, you can check out my work over there where I will continue to analyze the minor leagues (the top 25 will be over there) in addition to throwing in some major league comments. Good bye for now, thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope you check out RLYW. It's been fun. P.S.: If you are a Yankee fan and a prospect fan and haven't yet signed up for Pinstripes Plus, you must do so now. They are doing incredible work over there right now. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-11-03T21:11:00.000-05:00

HAPPY THOUGHTS As the groundwork on the Minor Yankee Blog Top 25 Yankee Prospects begins (expect it to begin coming out mid-December and be done by mid-January), let's think of some happy thoughts: Robinson Cano potentially making the team out of spring training or at being in the bigs for good by mid-year. Dioner Navarro having a big year and silencing his critics as he takes the final step in validating his status as the next great Yankee catcher. Eric Duncan and Melky Cabrera beginning the year in AA, with an outside shot of reaching the bigs by September. A Trenton rotation powered by Matt DeSalvo, Super Steven White (with his fastball now running 93-96 courtesy of BA), and Jeff Karstens tearing the EL apart. A Tampa rotation powered by Eric Abreu, Jesse Hoover, Tyler Clippard, and Abel Gomez creating heavy winds in Florida as opposing batters are consistently baffled. Hector Made and Erold Andrus carrying their blistering '04 finishes over to the FSL as the wave of solid Yankee talent begins to come in. A Riverdog offense powered by Vechionacci and Battle beating pitchers on the basepaths, over the fence, and in the gaps. A Riverdog rotation powered by Garcia, Hughes, and Stephens showing that a pitcher with low-to-mid 90s fastball always has to be appreciated. A return to greatness of the Yankee farm system. *** Feel free to add your own things or comment on some of mine in the Comments. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-10-23T15:59:00.000-04:00

DEREK AND ALEX (Disclaimer: Derek Jeter is my favorite player on the current Yankees, but much of this is the product of frustration.) So, in case you hadn't heard, the Yankees lost their ALCS to the Red Sox this past week. What makes the loss so huge is that it came after the Yankees had been up 3-0 and everyone, including me, was sure that the Red Sox were dead in the water. Following the loss, a blame game amongst Yankee fans and media began and it seems the most common whipping boy has been Alex Rodriguez, he of the .320/.414/.600/.336 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) postseason. While Rodriguez has taken the brunt of the blame, Derek Jeter has been praised, he of the .245/.339/.347/.239 postseason. So, if Rodriguez was being criticized and Jeter was being deified, despite A-Rod clearly outperforming him during the postseason, there has to be some deeper yet valid reason, right? Wrong. The Jeter backers point to Derek being the "only one who looked like he wanted to win Game 7". Were it not for some of the other arguments I've heard in the support of Derek Jeter through the years, that would be the stupidest thing I've ever read. The Yankees are a team built to win and anything less than a World Series title is a failure. I am almost 100% sure that everyone wanted to win, and just because they weren't being as much of a cheerleader as The Captain does not mean they didn't care. And as for all the support of Jeter that stems from his cheerleading...come on. Stepping outside of the world of stats for a second, in my history on athletic teams I have noticed two distinct styles of motivation/leadership. There is the extrovert, the leader/player who derives their motivation and ability to motivate others from cheering on and being vocal, and then there is the introvert, the leader/player who derives their motivation and ability to motivate others from being silent, focused, and getting their job done. I have always felt the extrovert is overrated. If you want to support Jeter for being that, go ahead, but I won't be joining that camp. Those types of leaders are nothing more than a joke to me. Do your job and shut up and I'll appreciate you more. Making that situation even more ridiculous was the media/fan outrage that A-Rod was beginning to try and be like Jeter. Process this for a minute: because Alex Rodriguez was cheering on his teammates and doing fist pumps...he was trying to be like Jeter, seeing as Derek Jeter is the first person ever to cheer on a teammate or do a fist pump. And what happened when the media asked The Captain about the team's failure? He gave a response that translated said, "past Yankee teams of the late '90s would have closed out this series, but not this team". Are you kidding me? You're the captain of the team and you did nothing all postseason long. You were an overall negative towards the goal of victory and you won't shoulder the blame? You'd rather pass it off on your newer teammates implicitly? That is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the media surging to defend Jeter by coming out with a wave of articles talking negatively of the new Yankees in comparison to the old Yankees. I love Derek Jeter as a baseball player. He is my favorite player on my favorite team. Sometimes, it is tough to accept that though because the media and many Yankee fans feel this insatiable desire to build Derek up to be more than he is, especially in reference to other players. Derek is a likely HoFer and has been a great postseason player over the course of his career. That said, he is nowhere near the regular season performer that Alex Rodriguez has been, he is nowhere near the postseason performer that Alex Rodriguez has been, he is nowhere near the baseball player that Alex Rodriguez is and has been. If you think Derek Jeter is better than Alex Rodriguez, I'm going to have to question your sanity. If you think Derek Jeter should be praised for anything he did this postseason and more so than Alex Rodriguez, I'm going to have to question your sanity. If you think Derek Jeter is a better pick to start a franchise than Alex Rodriguez, I'm going to have to question your sanity. Derek Jeter is many things, so it is sad that what he should be known for most commonly is being ridiculously overrated by the media and Yankee fans. *** School is back under control so more frequent posting will begin. In negative prospect news, Bronson Sardinha never made it to the AFL so the Yankees have no one worth tracking over there. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-10-17T13:51:00.000-04:00

... Sorry I haven't updated in a while, school is beckoning, but here is some great info on the Yankee farm system courtesy of Pinstripes Plus. Check it out, and let me know what you think of the developments in Comments. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-10-03T16:16:00.000-04:00

BREAKOUT PROSPECT OF THE YEAR: '04 The qualifications for this award are that the guy needs to be someone who was not hyped much before this year, but had the type of performance that was impossible to ignore, and as a result made himself into a serious prospect. This was probably the most seriously contested award as many players emerged as potential prospects for the Yankees this year. There was Erold Andrus, who started the year as an all-or-nothing A- slugger, turned into a slap hitting offensive negative, and then concluded the year hitting for average, hitting for power, getting on base, and just being an all around force. There was Hector Made, who also started out the year on that BC team doing absolutely nothing, but concluded the year on fire and beginning to live up to BA's selection of him as the system's sleeper prospect entering this season. There was Melky Cabrera who began to develop the 5th tool as the year went on and has began earning quite a reputation amongst prospect followers on the internet. In the end, none of these players were chosen. Melky was already too much of a known commodity to me, Made already received BA attention, and Andrus just missed making the cut. Amongst pitchers there was Eric Abreu, who some of the more avid Yankee minor league followers had already heard of, coming stateside and dominating 3 levels of minor league baseball. There was also Jesse Hoover, leaving a lasting impression on the NYPL in his pro debut and Matt DeSalvo, who quickly earned a name as one of the best pitchers in the FSL and the Yankee system. In the end, none of these guys were chosen, Hoover because of his age, though his performance was still outstanding, DeSalvo because his season was derailed by a back injury, and Abreu for the same reason as Hoover (though that was a much harder decision to make). So, who IS the winner? Well, for some of you who've been following this blog for some time, this is probably the most obvious award I've given out. Marcos Vechionacci, 3B, 18, R GCL Yankees/SS Staten Island/A+ Tampa

R: 131/.336/31.8%/.175/10.9/1:1.6/5/63% (AB/BA/XBH%/IsoP/AB:UiBB/UiBB:K/SB/SB%)
SS: 72/.292/23.8%/.069/6.6/1:1.2/0/0%
A+: 4/.250/0.0%/.000/-/-/-/-

So what was it that separated Marcos from all the others in my mind? A huge part of it is that though he is now 18, Marcos was 17 for most of the season and this qualified as his age-17 season. It is difficult to put a value on statistical performance in R ball, but I can find no problems with what Marcos did in the GCL. In addition, the lone fault I could possibly find with his NYPL performance is that there was not much, if any, power and then I remember that the league average IsoP was .113 in a league comprised mainly of college draftees age-21 and above. In addition, though he wasn't given much of a chance to participate at Tampa, it is important to remember that was where his whirlwind year started. The Yankee minor league brass was impressed enough by him to choose him as a fill-in on their A+ team when roster-filler was needed. That speaks volumes, and that is what started my obsession with him. Outside of his near faultless statistical performance, the other thing that must be considered with Marcos is his physical ability. According to BA, Marcos does not have an outstanding tool, but at the same time, he is not below average in any tool. In addition, what appears to be his best aspect thus far, outstanding plate discipline/patience does not count as a tool. Getting excited about what a player does in a small sample in a R or SS league is foolish. That said, I have a hard time conceiving of a measure in which Marcos does not have the look of an offensive stud. For those concerned about defense, don't be. Marcos played the majority of his games as a 3B this year, which is why I have that as his listed position, but whenever needed, he slid over to 2B and SS for his teams and did the job there as well. To put what Marcos did in '04 in his main leagues into some perspective, here are some numbers: Player A: .301/.364/.473/1:2.2 (AVG/OBP/SLG/UiBB:K) Player B: .320/.392/.458/1:1.4 Both players played in the same leagues, but Player A played in the lower league for 49 more ABs and Player B played in the higher league for 13 more ABs. Player B has the clear advantage in plate discipline and seems to be a more polished hitter while Player A has a clear power advantage. Both players play the same position though Player B does so much better than A. Lastly, Player B put up those numbers in his age-17 season while A did so in his age-18 season so the power advantage becomes smaller and perhaps even negligible. Player A is Eric Duncan in '03 and B is Vech in '04. That performance by Duncan was good enough for him to become the organization's number 2 prospect entering '04 (as ranked by both BA and myself), and it will be interesting to see where it leaves Vech entering '05. One last thing to keep an eye on in regards to Vech is where he begins next year. I had assumed that he would begin '05 at Charleston in the SAL, which would put him a year ahead of most prospects, but based on what BA has been saying, it seems the Yankees are seriously considering placing him at Tampa to begin the year. That is how impressed they are by the advancements he has made and is making at the plate. If he does start at Tampa, I might have to rename this the Vech Blog. And if he starts in the SAL, I will have a hard time not keeping track of his numbers and comparing them to what B.J. Upton and Delmon Young, two of the best prospects in recent memory, did on that same team during '03 and '04 respectively. *** YANKEE PROSPECT 1st TEAM: '04 C: Dioner Navarro, 20, AA/AAA .263/.340/.366 (AVG/OBP/SLG) 1B: Eric Duncan, 19, A-/A+ .258/.357/.473 2B: Robinson Cano, 21, AA/AAA .283/.337/.457 3B: Marcos Vechionacci, 18, R/SS/A+ .319/.390/.454 SS: Hector Made, 19, A- .289/.336/.381 0F: Erold Andrus, 20, A- .291/.338/.421 OF: Melky Cabrera, 20, A-/A+ .304/.355/.446 OF: Bronson Sardinha, 21, A+/AA .290/.372/.393 LH: Brad Halsey, 23, AAA 2.63/6.8/2.3/8.0/0.5 (ERA/K:9/BB:9/H:9/HR:9) RH: Tyler Clippard, 19, A- 3.44/8.8/1.9/9.2/0.7 This team was based on performance in age context. There was a minimum of 75 IP for the starters and 225 PAs for the hitters. In addition, I tried to place guys in positions that they spent the majority of their minor league season at with some flexibility when it comes multiple top performers at one position. In those cases, I took the liberty to shift guys to less demanding defensive positions, but never more difficult ones. Overall, this gives a good idea of the positions that the system is lacking in (power-hitting COF, I'm looking at, or more appropriately, for you). *** The AFL starts on Tuesday so I will most likely begin updating more frequently on the multitude of respectable prospects the Yankees sent there, i.e. Bronson Sardinha. In addition, I will begin doing the research for the updated top prospect list. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-30T17:31:00.000-04:00

'SPLAININ As you probably notice, there is now an ad at the top of the site. I know some people out there probably hate ads with a passion, but I hope that those of you who do don't stop reading my site because of it. This was what I felt to be a good decision on my part and I hope everyone is understanding. Thank you and that is all. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-28T16:36:00.000-04:00

OFFENSIVE PROSPECT OF THE YEAR: '04 To be truthful, going into the process of choosing this award, I thought there were only two contenders worth considering. In my mind this award was going to clearly be a battle between Melky Cabrera and Eric Duncan, keeping in mind that the award should go to the offensive prospect who had the best year in my opinion. Then when I went into the process of analyzing the performances I realized that there was another viable contender. Not only was he a viable contender, he legitimately deserved the award, so without further ado I present the MYBOPotY: Robinson Cano, 2B, 21, AA Trenton/AAA Columbus

AA: 292/.301/39.8%/.195/12.7/1:1.7/2/33%(AB/BA/XBH%/IsoP/AB:UiBB/UiBB:K/SB/SB%)
AAA: 216/.259/30.4%/.144/12.7/1:1.6/0/0%

Duncan, Cabrera, etc. lovers, please hear me out. Detractors of Cano's year will point out several valid concerns that I agree with. The most obvious would be that he started out on fire, posting an OPS in the 1.000 range into May and then cooled off considerably. While it would have been great for Cano to keep that pace up, and if he had done it he would be arguably a top 10 prospect in baseball, it was unrealistic. What is important is to look at what he DID manage to do. After spending the end of May through the early portions of mid-June tailing off Cano found his game and was able to raise his average from .285 to .301 in his final week at AA. A huge part of sorting through prospects is finding players who make adjustments and crediting them for that adjustment. Cano started out on fire and the league adjusted to him, making him a non-factor in the AA lineup for some time until he was able to re-adjust to the league. To be cautious, it should still be noted that that final adjustment by Cano was in a very small sample size. The other point that is often made against him is that in addition to tailing off in comparison to how he started his '04 AA stint, he also tailed off in AAA. I don't think it's as simple as that. As the numbers cited above show Cano maintained the same control of the strike zone, which is very important, but lost a lot of his power and BA. Digging further one will see that it's not as simple as that. The lost power that Cano experienced was in terms of doubles and triples as he actually increased his home run rate from once every 41.7 AA at bats to once every 36 AAA at bats. Meanwhile his doubles and triples per at bat went from once every 10.4 AA at bats to once every 19.6 AAA at bats. So, what happened here? As Baseball Prospectus and others have shown, aspects of the game where the defense comes into play, singles, doubles, and triples in this case, are prone to fluctuation. In other words, noting Cano's improved over-the-fence power and maintained plate discipline/patience it becomes apparent that perhaps some of his decline was hitting in front of better defense's rather than through some fault of his own. While I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this, readers of the site who were regular attendees at Clippers' games can share observations on whether or not he seemed to be a victim of the "ol' attem ball" since that is what the statistical evidence seems to point to. The other negative to consider with Cano's AAA performance is that he started off incredibly hot, going 8 for his first 10 and then seemed lost for a long period, which once again points to him being figured out by a league's pitchers. Then, just like in AA, he closed his stint on a brief hot streak that points to a possible readjustment on his part; including the playoffs, Cano was 10 for his last 21. As evidenced by my feelings about the most glaring negatives of Robinson Cano's game, I do like him as a prospect. He was always a favorite of mine for his 2002 season and coming into this year I promised to be more positive about him if "he corrects either the plate discipline or power 'problems'". Apparently, he has and his reward for that is the 2004 MYBOPotY. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-27T13:26:00.000-04:00

PITCHING PROSPECT OF THE YEAR: '04 Halfway through the season it seemed as though Matt DeSalvo would run away with this award. Unfortunately, his season was derailed by back injuries following a promotion to AA. With him gone the field seemed much more open, that is until Brad Halsey went on a season ending tear. With his struggles in the major leagues fresh in the minds of many, it may seem like a reach to name Halsey the pitching prospect of the year, but based on my criteria, there was no other choice. Despite the lack of overwhelming physical talent, Halsey was able to put up the best pitching performance of anyone in the system and at an age where he can be considered a legitimate prospect. What he is a legitimate prospect to become still remains to be seen. At the very least, his big league performance thus far warrants him consideration as a lefty arm out of someone's bullpen and if he can develop in the bigs like he did over the course of the AAA season he could be a decent 3 or 4. Brad Halsey, LHP, 23, AAA Columbus

AAA: 144/8.0/2.3/6.8/0.5/3:1 (IP/Hper9/BBper9/Kper9/HRper9/K:BB)

Overall, the lefty had an outstanding season that was actually 4 parts. When the season opened it seemed that Halsey was overmatched at AAA as he sported a hefty 6.53 ERA in April. Coming on the heels of a middling 2003, when hits allowed are given heavy consideration, Halsey seemed destined to return to AA. Fortunately for him, something clicked and he went on a tear that eventually led to his promotion to the ML level. After that brief stint in the majors Halsey returned to the minors and upon his return once again struggled. After giving up only 2 homers in his first 80+ AAA innings, Halsey began letting the long balls fly, before once again finding his self. This time, when he righted the ship, not only was Halsey not allowing the opposition to score, he was also striking out more than his fair share of batters to conclude the minor league season. In the grand scheme of evaluating players, this may mean nothing as every player has their different ups and downs through the course of a season, but it may mean something in Halsey's case. Based on how he performed in April and in the middle of the summer upon returning to AAA it would seem that Halsey is not one to quickly adjust to changes in leagues/hitters. This would seem to go hand-in-hand with his less than great stuff as he would need to learn leagues/hitters in order to take advantage of what he does have, which is good control and decent secondary pitches. I'm sure most readers of this blog know where I'm going by now, but I'll say it outright nonetheless. The Yankees should give Brad Halsey a shot. To those that say he has been given a shot, what he was given was not a shot. It was more like an opportunity to start a game. Giving him a shot would entail Joe Torre trusting him to stay in games when options include bringing in someone from the Circus of Ridiculously Atrocious Pitchers that is the back end of the Yankee bullpen. Giving him a shot would entail perhaps working him into a situation where he can be tested as a potential playoff LOOGY when you, the manager, are determined to have one and thus far big league lefties have "3" hits off him in 26 at bats. 2 of those hits were gifts to David Ortiz courtesy of the Yankees outfield defense. I've given up on him having a shot this year, but with next year's rotation being potentially more injury-susceptible than this year's Halsey should at least be with the team from the start and take the Ramiro Mendoza role of year's past. Just somehow get him on the team as it's inefficient use of resources to keep him at a level that he has demonstrated he is better than in addition to the fact that the bullpen isn't compromised of a bunch of worldbeaters. In the end, though Halsey does not have the highest ceiling of the main competitors he had for this award (it came down to him, Abel Gomez, and Tyler Clippard in my mind), his performance and assurance of being worth an ML role with some team somewhere makes him both a safe and solid pick. Oh yeah, and to put his '04 performance into more perspective, Baseball Prospectus, the premier number crunchers on the internet, have a system of rating pitching prospects. In that system, "STUFF", a pitcher gets a rating based on his peripheral numbers and age. Brad Halsey's 2004 was given a 31 on a scale where above 30 is considered "truly elite". *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

COMEBACK PROSPECT OF THE YEAR: '04 (I apologize for any font inconveniences ahead of time. If you have any suggestions please post them in Comments or e-mail me) *Ahem*. The purpose of the Comeback Prospect of the Year award is to commemorate that prospect that was highly thought of in the past, only to see his stock plummet, before rising again. With this in mind, the award does not necessarily have to go to a player with great performance or who projects to be an All-Star, just one who did a lot to re-establish some of the stock he formerly possessed. Without further ado, the Minor Yankee Blog Comeback Prospect of the Year '04 (or MYBCPotY'04 for short) is... Bronson Sardinha, 3B, 21, A+ Tampa/AA Trenton

A+: 248/.315/20.5%/.088/9.54/1:1.5/9/81% (AB/BA/XBH%/IsoP/AB:UiBB/UiBB:K/SB/SB%) AA: 266/.267/25.4%/.116/7.82/1:1.91/4/80%

First things first, Bronson Sardinha is a 3B in the same way that if you put Jason Giambi at SS, he'd be a SS. 43 errors in 118 games at the hot corner will do that for your defensive rep, not that he had much of one to begin with considering his career has seen him go SS to LF to CF to LF to 3B. Defensive contributions aside, Sardinha broke his mold in '04 and that's what led to arguably his best pro season. For those of you out of the know, the mold for Sardinha had been to struggle initially at a level leading to demotion before finding himself ('03) or just taking a really long time to find himself ('02). In '04 Sardinha got out of the gate very quickly and did enough to maintain himself that had he spent more time in the FSL, his BA would have placed 2nd. The most confusing aspect of the year was the general lack of power that Sardinha displayed. While he's never been a big time power prospect, '04 saw Sardinha become a singles hitter in the FSL before rediscovering his power stroke somewhat in the EL. The power rediscovery is somewhat tempered by the average FSL IsoP being .118 and the average EL IsoP being .147. To be completely fair to Sardinha, Tampa has historically been a roughly neutral FSL park and that trend continued through the first 100 or so games of the season meanwhile Trenton, which is also historically neutral, became overwhelmingly pitcher-favored through the season's first 100 games. As more postseason statistical ratings come out, this picture will be clearer. When he did regain that power his BA went down. Due to the inconsistent nature of BA I am not too worried about that development though an increase in strikeout rate does make it more worrisome. The key for Sardinha going forward will be to consolidate his '04 stints. He needs to continue showing the strike zone control and BA-prowess that he had in the FSL, while hitting for at least his AA power. Bronson does have some time on his hands though as he will most likely start the year in AA and turn 22 in the first same month. For comparison's sake, Jeremy Reed, who was a consensus top 15 prospect in baseball this past offseason attained that status on the strength of an outstanding year split between A+ and AA at the age of 22. Not to insinuate Sardinha is the same caliber of prospect, but he does bear some similarities in that his likely future is as an OF corner, he controls the strike zone, and has less than optimal power for a corner. Sardinha would also seem to be ahead of Reed at the same stage, though I doubt he will have a year like Reed's '03. I think the most likely future for Sardinha is that he has another good year, maybe getting some September exposure and will eventually settle into a pinch-hitting or platoon role on a better team due to his lack of power. If the power comes, he could have a more pronounced role. Overall, I still see Sardinha as a John Vander Wal type of player though. Very useful in short stretches, handy if someone goes down due to injury, but not great enough to play an everyday role. *** There will be no formal schedule for the awards, I will post them as soon as I have time to write them and I encourage feedback, both positive and negative. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-14T14:30:00.000-04:00

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Well, as far as the Yankee minor league affiliates are concerned, the 2004 season is now officially in the books. To summarize, Columbus was a huge success as they had their first winning season in a while despite being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. Trenton was a disappointment as their season was just perpetually frustrating due to a combination of pitching injuries and general ineffectiveness. Tampa had a great season in terms of prospect talent and performance that concluded in their being named the FSL co-champions and Battle Creek had a great season as they started off very rough due to being the youngest team in their league, but finished the year with an above .500 record and just barely missing the playoffs. As for the short-season leagues, SI was shockingly bad and the GCL Yankees were a dominant force in their league leading to a GCL championship. From the postseason series that the Yankee affiliates were involved in, Robinson Cano was the most impressive player, the 2B capped his eye-opening '04 with a 7 for 13 playoff stint. Now, about what will happen with this site. Daily updates, which were becoming increasingly rare, will now be a thing of the past as the minor league offseason begins. I will keep you updated on the AFL when that starts in the next few weeks as well as on winter league performances when those leagues begin. Until and during that span of time I'm going to be putting a lot of work into a new Top X Yankee prospect list, the final one of the year. I'm not sure how many prospects I will list, but at this point, 20-25 seems about right. You will want to keep an eye out for that towards the end of the year. I'm also going to hand out some organizational hardware. Look for Pitching Prospect of the Year, Offensive Prospect of the Year, Comeback Prospect of the Year, and Breakout Prospect of the Year awards. In addition, I will create an all Yankee Prospect 1st Team. Hopefully, you're as excited about reading about these things as I am about researching and publishing them. One more thing I am considering doing is looking back at big Yankee prospects of the past and trying to see why they failed or whether or not it could have been predicted. In addition, I may look back at guys on the current Yankee squad and see how they have performed thus far in their career compared to how one would have felt about their ceiling as they progressed through the minors. I'm undecided about this though, so if you could give me some feedback as to whether or not you would like to see that, that'd be great. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, congratulations to Dioner Navarro on his major league hit. Navarro, batting RH, singled to left last night on the second pitch of his first career major league AB. Hopefully that is the first of many. Navarro's hit was the highlight of an awful night that saw Brad Halsey perform poorly once more, though Joe Torre made a questionable move in pulling him so early in my opinion. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-06T13:48:00.000-04:00

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

2004-09-04T14:09:00.000-04:00

HE'S ON FIRE!!! NBA Jam was a great game, and like the exceptionally effective characters in that game, "Tiger" Wang has officially reached "he's on fire" status. Wang had perhaps his most dominant start in what has been a stellar AAA stint by going 9-7-0-0-2-8-0 on Friday night. His overall AAA numbers are now 40.1-31-9-9-8-35-3. This recent stretch is Wang's most dominant since owning the NYPL a while back. It has been so good that Wang has gone from being amongst the "dead" Yankee pitching prospects, in my mind, to moving near the front of the class. When the IL-playoffs are over, I would like to see him get a shot in the bigs. Another starter that has been as dominant as Wang is Brad Halsey, albeit with lesser physical talent. As far as my feelings about Halsey's ML aspirations, those are well known, so I would just like to take the time to point out that on Thursday he went 6-1-1-0-4-7-0. His final AAA regular season line is 144-128-46-42-37-109-8. Performance-wise, I have no complaints. Robinson Cano was 0 for 4 with a strikeout in the Halsey game. That Navarro was promoted without much hand wringing and Cano is still in AAA despite having a superior statistical performance speaks volumes. These are the types of moves that allow for insight into management's thought process and it seems like the Yankees really do foresee Navarro being a significant contributor down the line. Cano, on the other hand, will have to show more. TLE™ had a good start on Thursday, 7-7-2-2-1-7-1. With his struggles with overall consistency and the long ball, yet overwhelming strikeout rate and good control, I think Ramirez would be an absolute stud reliever. Though at 22, and a converted OF, he still has time to figure out the whole SP thing. Sardinha hit 3rd again on Thursday and disappointed again. By going 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts, though he did play errorless defense, he was demoted to 7th for Friday's game. Hitting 7th he was 1 for 4 with a single. Tampa played Thursday, but may not be playing again for a brief bit due to hurricane concerns. To be exact, the rest of their regular season has been cancelled and their next game will be their first playoff contest. Having a franchise in the FSL seems really wasteful to me considering all the weather concerns that need to be managed. Then again, having a facility like Legends Field there does tie you to the spot. I guess I can't help be jealous of the other High-A leagues getting their schedules in. Anyway, in the game that Tampa did play there was more negative than positive amongst the players that matter. Melky Cabrera's downward trend continued as the CF was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. I have to assume that Cabrera's struggles may not be as bad as they look statistically since he is still holding on to the 3-spot despite not doing much, but hitting the occasional single or home run as of late. Eric Duncan, on the other hand, is closing the year strong. The 3B was 1 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Duncan has 20 doubles in just 173 FSL at bats. This is after hitting 23 doubles in 288 MWL at bats. On the year his outstanding extra base hit numbers total 43 doubles, 4 triples, and 16 home runs. I think it's fairly certain that Duncan begins '05 in AA. If the Yankees keep him there the whole year, I feel fairly certain he will lead the league in homers. Whatever "it" is, Duncan has it. Rudy Guillen's night was close to Melky's. The RF was 0 for 4 with a strikeout, which dropped his average to .264. Guillen also has outstanding raw power, according to scouting reports, but has not been able to show it in games as much as Duncan has. Like many Yankee affiliates, BC is in a playoff-run. Unfortunately, it seems they picked the wrong time to hit a snag. The goal for the team was to finish second, gain playoff entrance, and take it from there. Instead they have been losing to the worst team in their division. The blame for this is both for the offense and the defense (re: pitching). Tyler Clippard and Abel Gomez, the losers of the last two games, have both had very good years, but did not end them on a positive note. Clippard had one of the worst outings of his pro career, 3-5-5-5-3-0-0, really battling his control, and Abel had one of his lesser outings this year, 5-5-4-4-4-6-0, also battling his control. Though it must be said that it is more normal for Abel to battle his control than it is for T-Clip to do so. Both pitchers seemed to tire down the stretch, which is bad news for the BC Yanks because if they were to make the playoffs, they're who you would want to go to war with at number 1 and 2. Nevertheless, in the scope of full-season debuts both teenagers have much to be proud of. For the season, Clippard finishes 149-153-71-57-32-145-12 and Gomez finishes 142.2-115-73-58-73-149-7. Unless my math is more off than normal, this places Gomez as the '05 organizational strikeout leader, with T-Clip tied for 2nd. Not too shabby. The Erold Andrus .300 dream is over. Following my publishing of what he needed to do to reach the magical mark, the CF responded by going 1 for 9 with 2 strikeouts. Hector Made, for whom I did not make similar proclamations, did well. The SS was 3 for 9 with 3 singles and a walk. With 3 games left in the season, I think the new goal for both players should be .290 (I am knocking on wood as I type this to avoid further jinxing anyone). Made, hitting .283, would have to go 7 for 12, assuming 4 at bats per game. Andrus, hitting .287, would have to go 5 for 12. Jesse Hoover started the Friday SI game and struggles with his control led to a short, but somewhat impressive outing. The big right-hander went 3.2-2-1-1-3-7-0. This is his final appearance of the year and his final line is 55.2-28-14-11-26-90-0. That would make him 2nd in the league in strikeouts, which is amazing considering that the leader only managed 11 more strikeouts in 20.2 more innings. If his control develops... Tim Battle was 1 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout on Thursday and then 0 for 2 with a strikeout on Friday. Estee Harris was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts on Thursday and then 2 for 3 with 2 doubles and a strikeout on Friday. Harris is still having similar problems to what he had in the beginning of the year at BC, but has rediscovered his power stroke. The organization leader in strikeouts will be under pressure to perform in '05. Battle on the other hand will look to really take off in '05 and I think he will succeed. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-02T15:09:00.000-04:00

FINAL WEEK Trenton picked up their 3rd straight loss as they near the completion of an incredibly disappointing season. If it's any consolation, they went down to one of baseball's better pitching prospects, Zach Duke, and by scoring one run in the 5 innings that he pitched they actually made his ERA go up. Bronson Sardinha had another mixed night except this night was heavily weighted towards the negative. Back to his natural position, DH, the 21-year-old got a single, good, and struck out in all 3 of his remaining at bats, very bad. His walk rate and power have gone up since being promoted to AA, but not nearly as much as his strikeout rate, which is alarming. It also hurts his overall AA performance that his BA has dropped some .037 points. The best prospect news of the night came from Tampa. Strangely, it wasn't from one of the 3 position prospects. Rather, it was from the right-hand of Eric Abreu. Abreu was dominant in picking up his second victory at that level as he went 6-3-1-1-2-7-1. The right-hander with a big time fastball has now gone 17-7-2-2-6-15-1 at Tampa after going 27.2-24-5-5-6-47-1 at SI. This doesn't even include his dominant stint in the GCL that started his emergence. Abreu is earning a very nice reputation in my mind and were I in charge of the Yankees, I would be tempted to start the 21-year-old at AA next year. He has been that dominant. Each of the position prospects picked up a single in 4 at bats last night. Cabrera had a walk and a strikeout to go along with his single and Duncan had a sac fly in addition to his. Last night's game was a strange one for BC, despite a huge team offensive output, the Hector Made show actually hit a snag. The SS was 0 for 5 with a strikeout, though on the positive side he did draw a walk. The night saw his average drop down to .282. Erold Andrus, on the other hand, was a big part of the 13-run, 19-hit night. The CF was 3 for 5 with 2 singles, a double, and a walk. Andrus' BA is now nearing the magical .300 mark, but still a bit away at .290. Though BAs aren't indicative of "real" production, it is a nice round number for the switch-hitter to aspire to and he has a small shot at it with 5 games to go. Assuming he gets 4 at bats per game, which is reasonable, he will need to turn it up just a bit and go 12 for 20. Likely? No, but given his recent performance it is still possible. SI lost again, but Battle and Harris did their part to work towards a victory. Harris continues to tantalize, as he was 1 for 2 with yet another home run, yet another strikeout, and 2 more walks. Harris. Only twice in the last four games has a Harris plate appearance ended in something other than a home run, a walk, or a strikeout. You would also have to go back 6 games to find a contest where he made an out that was not a strikeout. Battle, who does not have nearly as much game power as Harris at this point, still had a very good night. The speedy CF was 3 for 4 with 3 singles and a strikeout. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-09-01T15:03:00.000-04:00

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

2004-08-30T12:54:00.000-04:00

LONG TIME COMING Columbus emerged victorious in their contest Sunday afternoon by a score of 8 to 1. Offensively, Robinson Cano had another poor effort, going 0 for 3 with a walk, and Dioner Navarro was solid with a single in 3 at bats to go along with a walk. Cano has really struggled overall since his promotion to AAA, especially considering how hot he was to begin the stint and his average now sits at .247. The struggles have led to my finding some merit in Baseball Prospectus' statement that any team interested in Cano would be sure to find "Yankee Fool's Gold". Navarro, despite being in a bit of slump that dropped his average to .254, has gotten more comfortable as his time in AAA has increased. With that in mind, I would say he is a better bet going forward than Cano, though because of the big league team's needs, I would still like to see Robinson have a shot at platooning at 2B. The starting pitcher for the game was Chien-Ming Wang. The start was Wang's first since returning from a very good Olympic performance and he continued to roll at AAA, as he went 6-3-1-1-2-6-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR). After being in my doghouse since midway through the '03 season, he is really starting to make me rethink my view of him. Such is the case when you combine great stuff and a 31.1-24-9-9-6-27-3 start to your AAA career. Coming on to relieve Wang was Brad Halsey. The reason the lefty was pitching in relief was in hopes of getting properly slotted for the soon-to-start IL playoffs. The left-hander went 2-0-0-0-1-2-0 as he lowered his ERA to 2.74. Any discussion of top pitching prospects in the Yankee organization has to include Halsey, regardless of his lack of overwhelming stuff. Moving down to AA, the Thunder actually managed a victory on Sunday. They defeated the Binghamton Mets 6-3. Bronson Sardinha, who had been in a slump that saw him lose .060 odd points of average and get dropped from 3rd in the order to bottom of the lineup, had a good offensive game. The 3B was 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and a strikeout, getting his average back up to .282. On the negative side, he also made an error, which was his 19th in 53 games at 3B in Trenton. This is after he made 23 errors in 61 games at 3B in Tampa. If you feel like being REALLY optimistic, there is some improvement there. Battle Creek lost their Sunday game, but Erold Andrus continued to roll. Andrus seems to be firmly entrenched in the 3-hole now, and with good reason. The CF was 2 for 5 with 2 singles on Sunday and now has his average all the way up to .283. Hector Made was given the day off, which usually happens about once a week. The SI Yankees produced an exciting extra-innings victory in their Sunday contest. They scored a run in the bottom of the 10th to close a game that starred Jesse Hoover, as is usually the case whenever he starts. The hard-throwing right-hander went 5-2-0-0-1-5-0. For the season his line is now 52-26-13-10-23-83-0. To say that I am expecting a big 2005 from him would be an understatement. Estee Harris had a productive day and Tim Battle not so much. Harris was 2 for 4 with a single and his fourth home run while striking out twice. Battle was 0 for 3 with a walk and 3 strikeouts. For the NYPL season, Battle's average stands at .236 and Harris' is at .235. Neither has been great at SI, which could be said about almost any position player on that team, but Harris' superior control of the strike zone and greater power has him ahead of Battle in regards to productivity. Tampa did not have a Sunday game and the GCL Yankees start their GCL Championship Series today. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-20T00:53:00.000-04:00

OPERATION SHUTDOWN This is the final update for the next week...ish. I might post something here and there in "Comments", but don't look for any full updates. That said, here are the updates for the past couple days of action: Columbus lost on Wednesday and split a doubleheader Thursday. The doubleheader victory was almost solely the result of Brad Halsey. The Columbus offense could only manage 2 runs, but Halsey was up for the job and went 6-4-0-0-0-5-0, which gives him his second streak of 20+ innings without allowing a run this season. The 23-year-old left-hander's ERA now sits at 2.88, which is good for 2nd in the IL. I will be very upset if Halsey is not given a spot in the '05 rotation, much less having to compete for one. On the offensive side, the last 3 games have seemed to illustrate the cream rising to the top theory. The cream, in this case, is represented by Dioner Navarro. Navarro has had a disappointing season overall, but of late he has really come on. Navarro was 2 for 4 with a single, a double on Wednesday and 1 for 2 with a single and a walk in the capper of Thursday's doubleheader. Conversely, Robinson Cano has gone 2 for 10 with a single, a double, and 3 strikeouts. Just like that, Cano's batting average is currently .264 and Navarro's is .270. Clearly, batting average is not the most telling stat, but considering where their AAA careers started it is noteworthy. Tonight was a momentous one as Sean Henn picked up a victory for the first time since July 5th. Yeah, it's been that long. The victory was not particularly pretty either as the left-hander's final line of 7-6-2-2-4-1-1 can attest. Understanding that he did get the job done by allowing only 2 runs, 4 walks and 1 strikeout in 7 innings is just deplorable. The Trenton offensive attack placed 18 runs on the board through the strength of 16 hits and 12 (!) walks. Of this, Bronson Sardinha had a single in 4 at bats and walked twice. Tampa lost Wednesday and pulled out the victory on Thursday. In the first contest, Melky Cabrera was 1 for 4 with a single and in the second he was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout. Cabrera's average now sits at .300 and it is becoming increasingly clear that he is magnetically attracted to that number as far as A+ is concerned, never straying too far in either direction from it. Another thing of note is that after having a ridiculously high double rate early in the year, Melky saw his doubles turn into homers for about a month and is now just hitting singles. It is probably just sample size fluke, but something to keep an eye on nonetheless. Eric Duncan was 1 for 4 with a single and 2 strikeouts on Wednesday and then had a more typical Duncan performance on Thursday by going 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, a single, and a strikeout. Of course, the "typical" aspect I am referring to is the extra base hits. Duncan is averaging an extra base hit every 7.17 at bats during his FSL stint. Rudy Guillen's season continues to be stuck in neutral. The RF was 2 for 9 with a single, a double, and 3 strikeouts. Another prospect not doing enough to enhance their status, Jose Valdez, was the starter on Thursday and could only muster 3-6-4-4-1-2-2. The Battle Creek Yankees are in the midst of their most impressive series of the season. Facing the Kane County Tigers, the team that annihilated them by the combined scores of about 40-3 in a 3-game set earlier this year; they have won 2 of the 3 games they played the past 2 days. The one game they lost was only a one-run loss and bad luck more than anything else. Tyler Clippard, who had been owned by the Kane County Tigers, producing the worst line of his pro career, came out of the gate rolling, continuing his recent stretch of dominance and through the first third of the game had compiled a line of 3-0-0-0-0-2-0...and then the game was suspended. When the game continued Wednesday afternoon, Abel Gomez, who was the lone pitcher with success against the Tigers in the earlier series, went 5.1-6-2-2-2-9-0 for his most impressive performance to date, only to have the man who relieved him allow the 2 runners he left on to score. That brought his runs and earned run totals to 4, obviously, and made his night look so-so, when it was one of his finer moments this season. T-Clip is now 9th in WHIP and 6th in strikeouts while Abel is 2 strikeouts ahead of him for the 5th spot on that list. Erold Andrus heated up a bit in the past 3 games while Made cooled off a bit, which makes sense considering how hot Made had been and how relatively mediocre Andrus was. Made was 2 for 11 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts as his average dropped to .282, and Andrus was 4 for 12 with 3 singles, a double, and 2 strikeouts, raising his average to .277. In typical SI fashion, Jesse Hoover was at least solid, Tim Battle was inconsistent, and the team lost. To be more exact, Hoover started Wednesday's game and battled control issues, which resulted in a final line of 4-1-1-1-4-6-0. That was the game in which Estee Harris was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts and Tim Battle was an even worse 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts. Then, on Thursday, Battle woke up to go 2 for 3 with a strikeout and 2 singles. Something very important to keep in mind with Battle is that despite being drafted in '03, he is the age of a typical '04 draftee. Therefore, him hitting as he has in SI is not a big negative considering that it would be similar to the Yankees sending Jon Poterson, their top high school positional pick this year, to SI. So he will require more patience as far as day-to-day performance, but it should be validated with a very good '05. In GCL news, Marcos Vechionacci has slowed somewhat, 1 for 7 with a homer and 2 strikeouts in his last couple games, but still has a lofty .320 batting average and the star pitchers continue to do well. On Wednesday, Christian Garcia went 4-0-0-0-3-6-0 in relief of Jay Stephens who went 4-2-0-0-1-5-0. BC and Tampa should be loaded next year as the system continues to work its way back to prominence. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-18T15:13:00.000-04:00

LETDOWN Columbus won on Monday and Tuesday as Robinson Cano and Dioner Navarro continue making progress in different aspects of their offensive games. On Monday, Cano had a poor game as he went 0 for 3 while Navarro was decent, 1 for 3 with a single and a strikeout. Then on Tuesday, Cano had a huge game where he went 2 for 4 with a single, a home run, a walk, and a strikeout. The home run was a monster shot over the CF fence that according to "Sam M" of BTF went 410 feet. Navarro had a quieter Tuesday night, but still showed some progress by going 1 for 5 with a double and 2 strikeouts. Clearly, the progress is in the increased power he is showing in his AAA stint. I expect Navarro to have a very good 2005 at AAA. TLE™ continued his confusing 2004 by pitching a gem last night. The final line of 9-2-1-1-1-7-0 is pretty much all you could ask out of Ramon Ramirez. I've probably said this a ton of times already, but it'd be really great if this was the start of a great stretch. That 4.61 AA ERA is just not right. After going 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout on Monday night, Bronson Sardinha found himself demoted from the 3-spot in the lineup. Tuesday he hit 7th and was 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. Following that, he was moved down to 8th for today's game and went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk (more on Sardinha further down this entry). In a seemingly futile quest to make up all the games lost due to weather, the Tampa Yankees played a doubleheader yesterday after playing one game on Monday night. The star pitching performances during this stretch were turned in by Jeff Karstens and Steven White. Karstens, the 21-year-old RHP went 6-8-2-2-1-9-0 to pick up his 6th win of the year and lower his ERA to 3.78. White, a 23-year-old RHP went 7-2-0-0-2-4-0 and lowered his ERA to 2.83 while picking up his 5th win. Much like he was near the end of his MWL stint, White has really been rolling. He has no shot at a promotion this year, but ending the season on a hot stretch is always good. Melky Cabrera was a disappointing 3 for 10 with a walk, 2 strikeouts, and 3 singles. I say disappointing, as there were no extra base hits for him in the stretch. Still, at .303, he has his average back to its more normal levels and is hitting better than Eric Duncan has been of late. Duncan has been inconsistent since his promotion to High-A, destroying the ball in stretches and then seeming very lost in others, then again, I guess this should be expected of any teenager playing in A+; Duncan was 1 for 7 with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. No matter how disappointed I have been in Duncan's batting average, currently at .233, the secondary skills he has shown since his promotion to Tampa keep me very interested. The forgotten Tampa prospect, Rudy Guillen, was 2 for 7 with a double and a single. Battle Creek and SI both had their lone games suspended. *** Today, the Yankees, through Baseball America, released their 2004 Arizona Fall League rosters. The AFL is seen as a prospect finishing school, where guys go to put the final touches on their games. With that in mind, I am very disappointed in the 6 players chosen to represent the organization this fall. The names include Sean Henn, Ben Julianel, and Javier Ortiz on the pitching side and Bronson Sardinha, Mitch Jones, and Kevin Thompson on the position player side. Perhaps my lone pitching complaint is that I would have liked to see Matt DeSalvo in the AFL, provided he recovers from his back problems in time. That said, I don't have that much of a problem with the pitching selections due to a combination of lack of upper level pitching prospects and not wanting to wear out the decent arms, but the hitting...that's another story. Bronson Sardinha, I don't mind because he needs to work on his fielding and I want him to get more ABs in as he refines his offensive game. In fact, I had him on my theoretical AFL Yankee representatives team. It's the other two that make me scratch my head. Kevin Thompson looks like a decent 4th OF defensive replacement type and Mitch Jones could be a nice PH with pop off the bench, that said, I think the Yankees had better choices for the AFL available, namely, Robinson Cano and Dioner Navarro. Cano is in position to get at least a shot at the big league 2B job in 2005 and I think the AFL would have been a great place for him to continue to refine the rougher aspects of his game. Also, while Navarro's major league contribution is not as close to being on hand, considering the amount of rest he has gotten in the latter parts of 2004 due to Sal Fasano I would have liked to see him get some more ABs in before the year was over. Overall, the announcement of the AFL rosters, something I look forward to each year, was very disappointing for me in '04. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-16T17:56:00.000-04:00

OLYMPIC UPDATE Here is a report on Chien-Ming Wang's first Olympic outing, courtesy of reader Ching-Chih Lu:

Wang went 7-3-0-0-0-1-0, and picked up the win against Australia. Among those 21 outs, there [were] 16 ground outs and 4 fly outs. He hit low-90s consistently, with occasional mid-90 fastballs. [The] Aussies [were] not patient tonight. Wang [used just] 84 pitches to go through 7 innings, 61 strikes, 23 balls. The lineup of Australia includes 5 minor leaguers (3 Class A, 1 AA, 1 AAA), 2 independent league players, the former major leaguer Dave Nilsson, and one player I couldn't find any info [on]. BP has MjEqA for those minor leaguers and independent league players. The highest is Glenn Willimas (Jays AAA player) at 0.228. The others are around .200, with van Buizen (LA A player) only 0.093. The competition is lower than AAA, so the results can't tell much. In Wang's AA stint, it looked like he became a groundball specialist at one point, then he found the way to strike out people in AAA suddenly. G/F at 4 tonight is crazy, I don't know if that's what he's going to do in the future.

*** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-16T13:07:00.000-04:00

AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME (This entry is being typed with a malfunctioning "b" key, you have been warned) With about 2.5 weeks left in the minor league regular seasons for Yankee affiliates it is time to get caught up on what transpired this past weekend. But before that, it is time to talk about something else. Columbus, Tampa, and Battle Creek are the three Yankee affiliates in serious postseason contention. Often, when minor league teams are in playoff contention, something that will happen is that players will be promoted or demoted to help with the playoff push, so if any type of completely unanticipated transactions with the aforementioned clubs occurs in the next few days, you know why. Now, on to the action. On Friday, Brad Halsey was outstanding against the Mets' AAA farm team; the 23-year-old left-hander went 7-5-0-0-1-8-0 and lowered his ERA to 3.02. After struggling following his demotion from the major league club, it seems that Halsey has gotten back into the pre-promotion groove he was in with 15 straight scoreless innings. I will be shocked if Halsey is not back in NY come September as, at the very least, he deserves to have the job of one of CtJ™, PP™/TTAS™, or _____™ from here on out. Andy Phillips, who I had given up covering due to there seemingly being no hope for him making the majors, went 1 for 4 with a single on Friday and was promptly promoted. He leaves after hitting .357/.383/.738/.357 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) in 42 AA at bats and .294/.368/.537/.300 in 367 AAA at bats. He also sported a combined UiBB:K ratio of 43:49 and17 doubles, 5 triples, and 26 homers. Phillips is not much of a defender, but has significant experience at all non-SS infield positions and should definitely hit more than Enrique Wilson, which is valuable. I think where Phillips could/should pick up some playing time is at 1B against LHP because Olderud™ and Pumpkin™ have struggled against the portsiders this year. Robinson Cano's hot streak has halted. In his last 3 games, Cano is 0 for 9 with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. The clearest sign that it is over is the 3 strikeouts as Cano is a tough guy to strikeout despite being a relatively free-swinger and even in his worst days of controlling the strike zone he never struck out much. Dioner Navarro only played in the Saturday game and continues to chug along after an extremely slow start to his AAA career. The 20-year-old C went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk in the lone game he played in. If he manages to get a little hotter, Navarro, currently at .257 in 101 AAA at bats, has a decent shot at a .300 BA in AAA. I hope he gets there, as that is impressive for someone so young. I also hope he plays in tonight's game, which should happen since he didn't play on Sunday as I want to get a close look at what he's doing both at and behind the plate these days. Trenton played on Friday and Saturday before enjoying an off-day Sunday. They lost the first game and won the second. Fittingly enough, the games were started by pitchers moving in opposite directions as Sean Henn went 7-6-4-4-4-4-0 for the Friday loss and Justin Pope went 6-5-1-1-2-4-1 for the Saturday victory. Henn has not had a dominant outing in a while and could really use one, as his year just seems to be looking worse and worse based on preseason expectations. A lack of much, if any, preseason expectations is the greatest reason why Pope's stock is going up. It's all about perspective in the prospect world, and really, this time next year, when Henn is as old as Pope is now, his stock may be going up too. Bronson Sardinha, the team's star hitter, seems on the verge of righting the ship, as far as hit prolonged hitting slump. In the two games, he was 1 for 6 with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. The strikeouts are a small concern, but I'm looking past that and at the walks as reason for hope that he's regained his strike zone control and will start mashing again. Tampa did not play once during my down time, for obvious reasons. The Made and Andrus show at Battle Creek continued through the weekend. While Andrus has been good, 4 for 10 with 3 singles, a double, and 2 walks, Made, 4 for 9 with 3 singles, a double, 3 singles, and a walk has been slightly better for slightly longer. That their current numbers are so close are a testament to how far Made has come in a short time. That, coupled with his more positive reviews from scouts going into the season make me lean towards him as a better prospect. It would be icing on the cake if he could get to a .300 BA by the end of the season; he is currently at .284. The highlight of Friday's SI game was Jesse Hoover's continued domination of the NYPL. I have been cautious about mentioning Hoover on the site because of my personal bias against "old" prospects, but Hoover's numbers are so dominant that I can't really ignore them anymore. On Friday he went 5-2-0-0-1-9-0. In total, his NYPL numbers are 33.1-20-11-9-17-57!!!-0. The Yankees need to put the 22-year-old on the Matt DeSalvo path and I think they will. If he can perform like DeSalvo has, barring the back injury of course, he will begin garnering even more hype here. On Saturday, SI had a doubleheader and Jeff Marquez did his job in the opening game, but SI could not win. Marquez, who turned 20 on August 10th, has been arguably the most impressive Yankee draftee thus far. On Saturday he went 5-2-0-0-3-4-0 to bring his NYPL numbers to 32-29-13-8-12-22-2 after going 14.1-10-1-1-4-18-0 in the GCL. It'll be interesting to see where the Yankees place Marquez to open '05 because he has performed at the level of a college draftee despite being a very young JUCO pick. The last, and most important to the major league club, bit of pitching news to come out of SI in recent days is the performance of Steve Karsay. Karsay did well on back-to-back days going 1-0-0-0-0-1-0 on Friday and 1-0-0-0-0-1-0 on Saturday. I hope I don't jinx anything, but Karsay could be back as soon as the Yankees return from their road trip. Both young SI OFs, Tim Battle and Estee Harris, struggled over the weekend. Harris was 1 for 7 with 2 strikeouts before being benched for the doubleheader capper and Battle was 1 for 9 with a triple, a walk, and 4 strikeouts as he managed to get into all the games. The GCL Yankees did not play, for obvious reasons. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-12T23:04:00.000-04:00

MAKE UP Columbus lost in 13 innings by a score of 7 to 4. Robinson Cano and Dioner Navarro would like to forget the game though. Despite both recently being hot, Cano was 0 for 5 and Navarro was just 1 for 6. Navarro's lone hit was a single and he struck out once while Cano did not strike out at all. Trenton went down to New Britain by a score of 7 to 3, but there was no pitching prospect damage done, so that helps, and Bronson Sardinha had a good night, which helps even more. Sardinha had his best game in days by going 2 for 3 with a single, a double, and a walk. The night put his average at .299. Tampa had a "doubleheader" today. I say so with trepidation because the first game was a completion of a suspended game from some time back. In the completion, Eric Duncan was 0 for 3 with a strikeout to drop his average to .239. Then, in the second game, Duncan made a pinch-hitting appearance and was promptly intentionally walked. That he was intentionally walked despite a .239 batting average shows a lot of respect for Duncan and the power and patience that does not show up in the AVG. Melky Cabrera was 2 for 3 with a single and a double in the completion and then 1 for 3 with a single and a walk in the second game of the day. Cabrera seems allergic to hitting below .300 as every time he has dipped below that mark this season he has quickly gotten himself back above it. After today's games he is sitting at .303. Rudy Guillen did not play at all in the first game, but was very good in the second. The struggling RF was 2 for 4 with a double as he attempts to salvage his season. The completion was that of a suspended game started by Steven White. While he was in the game, White was solid and produced a line of 4-4-1-1-1-2-0 and his fast-plummeting Tampa ERA is now 3.32. The BC game was rained out and will be made up as part of a doubleheader in two weeks. Staten Island won and Tim Battle and Estee Harris were "ok". Harris went 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout and Battle went 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Harris also stole a base and was caught stealing. The Gulf Coast Yankees were victorious today and decent-to-good offensive performances were had by many on this 7-run 12-hit day. Marcos Vechionacci was 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout and Hector Gonzalez was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a strikeout. Vech has been playing more SS of late due to the presence of Gonzalez and I wonder how that will work out when both are on Battle Creek to start next season. Jon Poterson was 1 for 4 with a double and a strikeout. An encouraging sign about Poterson is that despite his struggles and they have been plenty, the Yankees still have him hitting 4th so the organization clearly has a ton of faith in him. Whether that faith is misplaced has yet to be truly seen. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

BEAST FROM THE EAST It was an all-around very successful night for Yankee prospects. The good vibes began at the highest level, AAA Columbus. The starter for tonight's game was Mike Mussina, making his first rehab appearance; the right-hander went 3-2-0-0-0-5-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR). The most shocking thing about Moose's start, as far as I was concerned, was that the organization let Navarro catch him, more on that later. After Mussina left the game, the regularly scheduled starter entered. I had thought Chien-Ming Wang had been whisked away for the Olympics already, but apparently not. This means one of two things, either Taiwan just doesn't do anything for a little while longer, or perhaps the Yankees were intrigued by how well Wang was doing during his first 3 starts and decided it was better for the organization that they got a longer look at him at AAA. I hope it's the latter. Tonight's game further enhanced Wang's AAA credentials, as he was very good in relief, 6-3-1-1-1-3-0. I had already written off Wang's career as a starter, but his AAA success, 25.1-21-8-8-4-21-3, is giving me food for thought. I would still love to see him in a Yankee bullpen sometime soon though. The Columbus offense, 8 runs and 18 hits, had another great game, and this time Navarro and Cano were involved. Navarro is still hitting in the last spot in the order and managed to go 1 for 3 with a single and a walk. Robinson Cano is moving up the lineup again and tonight was 3 for 5 with 3 singles and a strikeout while hitting out of the seven-hole. Cano has his average up to .294 and Navarro is at .261. Navarro, seems to be on track as all 3 balls he put in play were up the middle. If Jose Contreras was The Big Enigma™, then Ramon Ramirez, the smallish AA Trenton right-hander, should be considered The Little Enigma™. Tonight was yet another outing where he struggled with his consistency and the end result was a line filled with both positives and negatives, 5-3-2-2-5-9-1. Since his injury return Ramirez's totals are now 70.2-70-38-37-21-87-8. The ERA shown by those numbers is rather ghastly (4.71), so I took it upon myself to calculate his DIPS and it came out to a much more comforting 3.16. Based on this I think it'd be a good idea to get Ramirez to AAA and see what he does with a seemingly superior defensive squad as that might be skewing his numbers. For those of you who may think I'm crazy for clearly still having a liking for Ramirez, I present this to you: 11.08. That is Ramirez's K rate since returning from injury and that is just something I won't give up on. Bronson Sardinha showed a sign of life, barely, by going 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. In a small step in the direction of making up for the time lost to inclement weather, the Tampa Yankees had a doubleheader today. The first game showcased just what makes Eric Duncan so exciting. In that contest, the Yankee 3B was 3 for 3 with a double, 2 home runs, and a walk. Since moving to the FSL, Duncan has a ridiculous extra base hit percentage of 59.3. That is coming on the heels of a MWL campaign that saw him send 49.3% of hits for extra bases, which is about as ridiculous. On the year, 52% of Duncan's hits have been of the extra base variety. Considering that the big-time power prospects generally have rates in the 40% area and that Duncan has played in severe pitcher's leagues, he easily has the most power potential of anyone in the Yankee system and is, in my opinion, one of the top power prospects in all of minor league baseball. He's also managed to cut down dramatically on his strikeouts while walking more at Tampa. Those things coupled with his recently getting raves for his defense leave me with only one leg to stand on as far as any criticism I want to make about Eric Duncan at this moment. His BA is low. After the first game it was .252, and then he went 0 for 3 in the second game to bring it down to .245. Melky Cabrera had a decent day by going a combined 2 for 7 with 2 singles. Cabrera now holds the honor of being the third place hitter in the Tampa lineup following his power-surge. Rudy Guillen did not play in the second half of the doubleheader, but managed a good game in the first by going 2 for 4 with 2 singles. Danny Borrel, who is still rehabbing, started the first game. Borrell could only manage 1-2-3-3-1-2-1. Steven White started the second game. White had not started in a while, but showed little to no signs of rust as he rattled off a 6-4-1-1-1-3-0 performance. The right-hander now has a 3.44 ERA in 36.2 Tampa innings. Abel Gomez had his first truly poor outing since July 7th's disaster against Peoria, the wild left-hander put up an unsightly line of 5-6-6-6-2-5-2. I was confused as to why the Yankees did not just let Abel pitch last night's completion of the game he had started and only thrown 3 pitches in, but assumed they were going to just skip his turn in the rotation. Clearly, they did not, and I have to wonder whether his performance was affected by his routine being off. The BC hitting duo of Erold Andrus and Hector Made produced non-descript nights. Andrus led off and went 1 for 5 with a single while Made hit second and was 1 for 4 with a single, a walk, and a strikeout. SI's scheduled game was rained out. Phil Hughes made his third start of the year for the GCL Yankees and was dominant. The 18-year-old right-hander went 2-1-0-0-0-4-0. Going into the draft it was said that Hughes was extremely advanced for a prep pitcher and it has shown, as he has not walked a batter in 5 pro innings while striking out 8 and allowing 4 hits. Following Hughes in the game was Christian Garcia. Garcia is much more raw as a pitcher despite being a year older and his results last night were not as impressive as Hughes'. Christian posted a line of 3-4-3-3-2-4-0 as he had his second bad outing in recent days. Despite this, Garcia still has only allowed 20 hits in 29 pro innings. Offensively, Marcos Vechionacci was 1 for 4 with a single. He was also caught stealing for the third time, but still had a better night than Anderson Amador. The toolsiest of the toolsy OF was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. The most encouraging hitting news of the night was the work done by Jon Poterson, though. Poterson was 2 for 3 with a single, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-11T21:21:00.000-04:00

LINKS FOR EVERYBODY! Inspired by this great piece, I went link happy. If you want to know why I do what I do, that article pretty much sums it up. Check it out and check out all the new links on the side. I put the team that each site is affiliated with in parentheses and MiLB stands for Minor League Baseball, just in case you don't know. Happy clicking. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-11T11:20:00.000-04:00

BACK TO THE ACTION Columbus won on Monday, before dropping their Tuesday night game. In Monday's win, Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano continued to pick up the AAA baseknocks. Navarro was 1 for 4 with a single and Cano was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a strikeout. Despite Cano's solid night and Navarro's recent hot streak, both players found themselves on the bench for Tuesday night's effort. Despite the absence of the team's top two prospects Columbus went on to win with an offensive outburst as 6 hitters had 2 hits and Alex Graman provided a strong outing 7-5-2-2-2-8-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR). With Mike Mussina taking the hill for the Clippers tonight, I wouldn't expect Navarro to play, but Cano should definitely be back in the lineup and continue his quest for 50 extra base hits, he currently has 47. Trenton lost their last two games as their disappointing season continues downhill. In addition to the struggles of the team as a whole, Bronson Sardinha has also been mired in a deep slump. The slump began almost immediately after his 7 for 10 doubleheader and continued through yesterday's game, he sat out Monday. On Tuesday night, the DH was 1 for 5 with a single and 3 strikeouts. I might have to take back my statement about him breaking out and just observe the situation. Ramon Ramirez will take the mound for the Thunder tonight as he attempts to correct his own struggles. Tampa won on Monday and Tuesday. Monday's game was a shortened 5-inning affair (I wonder why), while Tuesday's went the customary 9-innings. On Monday, Melky Cabrera went 1 for 2 with a single and a strikeout, but could only muster an 0 for 4 with a strikeout on Tuesday. It was encouraging to see him take a walk in Tuesday's game though. Eric Duncan was 1 for 1 with a double and a walk on Monday, and followed that up with an 0 for 5 with 2-strikeout night on Tuesday. Duncan has had a very inconsistent FSL-stint, but that is to be somewhat expected with young players, especially one as relatively inexperienced as Duncan, who hails from the Northeast. Unlike the other two notable position prospects on the team, Guillen did not manage one positive game out of the two played; the RF was 0 for 5 with a walk and 2 strikeouts, his average is now down to .255 and without much of a walk rate or extra base hit total, he has had a lost season. The major Tampa hitting prospects had bad nights, but the offense still managed 8 runs. The way Jeff Karstens pitched, all those runs were unnecessary. The right-hander had one of his best outings of the year 7-5-2-2-0-10-1 as he lowered his ERA to 3.82. Karstens does not have any particularly eye-popping numbers, but is one of my favorite prospects in the organization, call it a hunch, I'm anticipating a big season at AA next year. Battle Creek's Monday game was rained out and made up as part of a Tuesday night doubleheader. They actually managed to play the top of the first inning on Monday night and after Abel Gomez threw straight balls to open the bottom of the first (credit to ICEBERG18) and the game was stopped. When play resumed on Tuesday, Tyler Clippard was in for Gomez. Pitching in front of his family (once again, credit to ICEBERG18), Clippard had another solid outing, 7-4-1-1-3-5-1. His ERA is down to 3.21, .004 behind Gomez. Picking up the victory allowed T-Clip to even his record at 9-9, but more importantly, to me at least, he is still tied for third in the MWL strikeout rankings. Over his last 6 starts his line is 40-28-9-8-8-42-3, pretty good for a guy who lacks an "overpowering out pitch". Erold Andrus had a solid doubleheader and Hector Made, the team's best performer in recent weeks, had an outstanding one. Andrus was 2 for 8 with a single, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Made was 4 for 8 with 3 singles, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Made was named as the organization's sleeper prospect by BA before the season and after starting off incredibly slow has been rolling for some time now. Since SI was last discussed on this site, Jesse Hoover (4-3-1-1-2-5-0), Eric Abreu (5-6-1-1-0-7-0), and Jeff Marquez (5-2-1-1-1-4-1) all had good starts. This trio of right-handers, 22, 21, and 19-years-old, respectively, are the shining stars of the SI pitching staff. All sport sub-3 ERAs and good-to-outstanding peripherals in addition to possessing good raw stuff. Look for Hoover and Abreu to open 2005 in Tampa while Marquez is likely Battle Creek bound. With the demotion of Marcos Vechionacci, the hitters of greatest note at SI are easily the outfield duo of Harris and Battle. This past week was great for Battle as he begins digging out of the hole he got himself into early in his SI campaign, the CF was 7 for 19 with 4 singles, 3 doubles, a walk, and 7 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Harris started slow, got hot, and is cold again as evidenced by his 2 for 13 with 2 singles, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts week. Then again, those numbers don't include last night's 3 for 4 with a double, which is hopefully a harbinger of another extended hot streak. The Gulf Coast Yankees won a pitching duel 1-0 yesterday afternoon. Befitting of such a contest, not many hitters had good nights, Vech was 0 for 4 with a strikeout, dropping his average to .325, Poterson was 0 for 3 with a walk and no strikeouts, and Amador was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Poterson, who is hitting .169, has 50 strikeouts in 154 at bats and Amador, who is hitting .234, has 49 strikeouts in 141 at bats. To Poterson's credit, he also has 18 walks while Amador has 3. In case anyone is wondering, the guy that ICEBERG18 wanted badly over Poterson, H.S. left-hander Gio Gonzalez, went 24-17-8-6-8-36-0 in the White Sox's equivalent of SI before being promoted to the A- South Atlantic League where he went 5-3-0-0-0-3-0 in his first start. The guy I wanted badly over Poterson, H.S. right-hander Jay Rainville, has put up 25.1-28-15-6-3-28-1 in Rookie-ball. It is going to be about half a decade before the draft can be properly assessed, but Poterson already has some ground to make up on these two. *** Just as a disclaimer, I don't mention a lot of guys who are on the GCL team because I can't get any completely assured DOB. Yankees.com use to have that data in season's past, but has taken that feature away for some reason this season. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-09T20:47:00.000-04:00

LOTS AND LOTS OF STUFF (Player ages referenced are their "seasonal ages". I would also like to apologize ahead of time if any of the information is too difficult to read, I really need to learn some more HTML) Let me preface everything that will follow by saying that in general I love Baseball America and that when it comes to their treatment of Yankee prospects, I am one of their biggest defenders. That said, I found great fault with some of the analysis presented by one of their columnists, Kevin Goldstein, in regards to the Yankees farm system during this past Friday's chat. In response to someone's question about Tyler Clippard's future, Goldstein states "Clippard has great control and a good feel for pitching, but still lacks the overpowering out pitch to project him as a star". I'm not saying that Tyler Clippard is a star-in-the-making, but to say that he has no "overpowering out pitch" seems a bit off to me. Every scouting report I have read on Clippard, who I have not had the chance to see play, has said that he has a very good curveball. In addition, when hitters from opposing teams have commented on Clippard following his starts, a common sentiment has been to point out how unhittable his curveball is. In fact, the general sentiment seems to be that Clippard's curveball is so advanced that he can use it to take advantage of younger hitters and resultantly his performance may not be truly assessed until he reaches a higher organizational level where can no longer fall back on that. The item relating to the Yankees that shocked me the most though was Goldman's choosing the Red Sox farm system over the Yankees. He felt justified in doing that "because of what they have at the lower levels". This immediately struck me as odd because most of the talent in the Yankee farm system is located in the lower levels so if a system is going to be better than the Yankees at anything, I had assumed it would be upper level talent. In addition, I was just of the general opinion that the Red Sox farm system was horrid at this point. Like any good "stathead", I decided to look into what Goldstein said. The names he brought up in defense of his choice were Dustin Pedroia, Brandon Moss, Mickey Hall, David Murphy, Jeremy West, Jon Palpebon, Manny Delcarmen and Hanley Ramirez. Let's see what we have here (The stats I will use to look at hitters are AB/AVG/XBH%/UiBB:K/AB:UiBB/AB:K): Moss: 430/.342/29.93%/1:1.76/10.24:1/5.81 Hall: 323/.241/46.15%/1:2.23/6.73:1/3.02 Both Moss and Hall are OF on Augusta Greenjackets squad, the Green Jackets are in the South Atlantic League, which is the other Low-A league. Though it is a Low-A league, like the Midwest League, it is different in that hitting standards there are higher. If you have a .255 BA, .329 OBP, and .382 SLG you are a league average hitter in the MWL. To be a league average hitter in the SAL you have to hit .260, .340, .401 respectively. This would mean that at first glance, the 19-year-old Hall would be an above average performer, due largely to his power, and the 20-year-old Moss is way above league averages. The Augusta home park playing as basically neutral, .994 Park Factor over the last 3 seasons, legitimizes these performances.. Moss did not make the Red Sox preseason top 30, as per BA, before the season so I don't know much about how he grades out according to the scouts. Hall did make the list, at number 11, and with a positive report along with decent stats I'm inclined to like him as a legit prospect. Not a stud that you put the hopes of your farm on, but a guy who while he might not hit as he goes up, unless he corrects his worrisome strikeout rate, has obvious projectability. Regardless of scouting reports, Moss's performance is too good to ignore so I definitely like him as a prospect. Thus far, BA seems to be 2 for 2 as far as the BoSox's lower level talent. Moving on to Sarasota, the Boston organization's FSL squad, here are the players mentioned: Murphy: 188/.255/22.92%/1:2.12/11.06:1/5.22:1 West: 371/.291/39.81%/1:2.38/12.79:1/5.38:1 Ramirez: 239/.310/17.57%/1:2.44/14.94:1/6.13:1 Firstly, Sarasota has a PF of 1.015 over the past 3 seasons, so it is a slight hitters park in the FSL. League average performance in the FSL would mean a BA of .257, OBP of .333 and SLG of .375. Ramirez and West have been above average performers in this regard while Murphey has been poor. Placing age into consideration, Ramirez is 20, Murphy is 22, and West is 22. Entering the season Ramirez was, as usual, highly rated, the number 1 Sox prospect according to BA, because of his immense physical talents while Murphy was also highly ranked within the Sox system, number 3. At 22, Murphy is said to have solid raw power, but has not displayed any statistical signs of good power in his pro career while struggling mightily since leaving the NYPL; I am going to pass on him as a solid prospect. Ramirez will retain his shine due to outstanding tools and solid performance. West, unlike the other two, did not make the Sox preseason top 30 and has been solid this season, but rates a bit below a solid prospect in my opinion because he is 22 and as a 1B I would like to see a bit more offense. I'll give BA 1 out of 3 here. The BA Chat in question also mentions Dustin Pedroia, but I will not rate Pedroia's performance this season as he has only had about 70 pro at bats and I don't feel comfortable rating someone with that few at bats. Prior to the draft, Pedroia was considered a David Eckstein type talent as he is a small SS whose main "tool" seems to be outperforming what scouts feel his ceiling is. Pedroia is 20. In addition to hitters, Goldstein also brings up some Sox pitchers that he feels are of note. Jon Papelbon, Jose Vaquedano, and Manny Delcarmen. All three are right-handed pitchers currently on the Sarasota Sox roster said to have good stuff with good pitcher's builds and all three were ranked amongst the top 30 in the preseason. Delcarmen was 10th, Papelbon 14th, and Vaquedano 28th. While Papelbon is 23, the other two are 22, so none of them is the ideal age for their league. When a player isn't ideal age for a league, I consider 20-21 ideal for the FSL, I want to see amazing performance for me to consider them legitimate. Here is what these three have done in the FSL (The stats I will use to look at pitchers are IP/Kper9/Hper9/UiBBper9/HRper9/K:UiBB): Papelbon: 104.2/11.09/7.22/2.75/0.52/4.03 Vaquedano: 43.0/7.53/9.42/2.30/0.42/3.27 Delcarmen: 57.2/10.14/10.46/2.65/1.25/3.82 Statistically, the pitcher that stands out the most is Papelbon, but he is also the oldest at 23-years-old, which takes some of the luster off his performance. It does help him that he has very good stuff and build. Delcarmen gets some slack because he is coming off surgery and Vaquedano is a non-factor in my estimation. Papelbon is interesting and Delcarmen has a track record so I will say those two have solid prospect status, or slightly below. I'll give BA 2 out of 3 in the pitchers. Keeping the guys who've earned solid prospect status based on performance this year and past scouting views the list becomes Hanley Ramirez, Jon Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Brandon Moss, and Mickey Hall. A comparable list of lower level Yankee prospects would give you the names Matthew DeSalvo, Tyler Clippard, Abel Gomez, Melky Cabrera, and Eric Duncan. The progress all of these players has been chronicled for some time on this blog and if you would like to learn about them feel free to go through the archives, I think the information there will say that the Yankees group deserves to be ahead of the Red Sox. I'm going to have to disagree with Kevin Goldstein here though I love his work. Also, in case you think I'm biased (That's unpossible!), here is a look at what Baseball Prospectus projects for the players during their prime big league years (hitters are done by AVG/OBP/SLG and pitchers by ERA with league used for projection in parentheses): H. Ramirez (FSL): .295/.351/.402 B. Moss (SAL): .309/.371/.509 M. Hall (SAL): .236/.323/.454 J. Papelbon (FSL): 4.37 M. Delcarmen (FSL): 6.30 M. DeSalvo (FSL): 3.75 E. Duncan (combined MWL and FSL): .248/.339/.489 T. Clippard (MWL): 4.69 A. Gomez (MWL): 4.27 M. Cabrera (MWL and FSL): .297/.356/.423 and .285/.344/.496 *** This "rant" was a lot harder to do than I thought. I *might* manage an update later, but starting Wednesday you should be prepared for about 9 days worth of consistent coverage followed by some slowing down around August 20th. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-08T19:53:00.000-04:00

RISING Columbus has played 6 games in the past 4 days, thanks in large part to two doubleheaders. The most important pitching appearances in this stretch of games were the starts made by Brad Halsey and Chien-Ming Wang. Wang and Halsey are the premiere pitching prospects on the team and pitched like it this week. Wang went 8-5-0-0-1-4-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR) in his most dominant outing of his short AAA career. His Columbus line of 19.1-18-7-7-3-18-3 might equal a September call-up, as long as he continues his progress through the end of this month. While I'm not completely sold on him as a starting pitcher, I think Wang could prove to be a dominant middle reliever and would like to see what he can do in the major leagues. Brad Halsey has been inconsistent since returning to AAA, but today's start was the high point of the inconsistency as he went 7-4-0-0-1-5-0. Halsey is a guy who I think could be a decent starter in the majors, with the ceiling of a 3, but wouldn't mind seeing him as a reliever. Either way, I would like to see him back in the bigs in September, partly because though it could be a small sample size issue lefties only hit .188/.176/.313/.157 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) against him in 16 ABs and one of the hits was a David Ortiz double that was botched by Hideki Matsui. If that performance is for real, the Yankees may have the LOOGY they have been searching for. Knowing them, they will probably stick with The Run Fairy™ and his Proven Veteran™ status, making all this moot. Robinson Cano and Dioner Navarro have both hit at least decently in the 6-game stretch and this hitting is a continuation of the work they had been doing for a little while now. The 21-year-old Cano, likely to receive a September call-up, has gone 5 for 18 with 4 singles, a triple, a walk, and a strikeout. 20-year-old Navarro, who I don't expect to be as lucky come September, is really on a tear, going 6 for 13 with 5 singles, a home run, and a strikeout. After a promotion that struck many as unwarranted and a slow start that made even more question his abilities, Navarro now finds himself hitting .259/.315/.390. That isn't much to in and of itself, but considering where he was just a week ago, it would seem that Navarro has righted the ship. On a side note, both Navarro and Cano were honored by Baseball America this past week as both were name the top defenders for their positions in the Eastern League. Trenton's 4-day schedule featured one less game than Columbus. Coming off the best day of his career, when he was 7 for 10 with extra base hits galore, Bronson Sardinha has struggled. These past few days have been a continuation of that struggle; Sardinha was 2 for 14 with a strikeout and 3 walks. While any hitting slump is bad news, what is positive is that Sardinha has been making contact and taking his walks. That all 3 of the walks came in today's game is a sign to me that Bronson may be headed in the direction of a hot streak that pushes his average back above .300, it currently sits at .297. Usually, when pitchers strike out a lot of batters and have good control, they tend to prevent runs at at least a solid rate. This has not been the case with Ramon Ramirez. A prime example of this is his last start, 4-8-7-7-1-6-1. This is not a random occurrence either, since coming back from injury Ramirez has totals of 65.2-67-36-35-16-78-7. Since I have had not the pleasure of seeing any of Ramirez's starts, this would tell me that while he's been throwing strikes, he has not always thrown quality strikes and hitters have been taking advantage of this, he may want to move out of the strike zone a bit. Another thing that could be at work here is that Ramirez may just be tiring later in his starts. Whatever the problem is, it spells trouble for Ramirez's career as a starter and could mean that those who pigeonholed him as a reliever due to his small stature may be correct. That would also mean that my touting him as the Official Sixth Starter of the Minor Yankee Blog was poorly thought out, or just a poor decision. The continued downward spiral of Sean Henn's AA season was on display Sunday. Henn's 5.2-7-5-4-3-5-1 performance was disappointing, which is fitting because that exemplifies his season. That the Yankees have allowed him to tread water in the AA rotation for so long is a testament to his considerably physical talent. It seems this talent would be better served in the bullpen though as Henn's season has gotten worse in the second half and he struggles to put together back-to-back solid starts. The Florida State League is troublesome to follow. Unlike the Gulf Coast League, the trouble is not a result of mysterious players and results, but rather a result of poor weather combined with roofless stadiums equaling tons of rainouts. This produces stretches like the past 4 days where the top two Yankee affiliates played 6 and 5 games while Tampa only got in 2 games. Eric Duncan was 2 for 8 with 2 doubles and 3 strikeouts as he attempts to hit his way out of his most recent slump. It bears noting that no matter how deep his different slumps have been this season, the constant with Duncan has been his considerable power. In addition, despite striking out more as of late, his Tampa strikeout rate is still below his Battle Creek one. The most encouraging news to come out of Tampa, through all the rainouts, is the emergence of Melky Cabrera's over-the-fence power. While he has been hitting doubles and triples all season long, I have "critiqued" Melky for being a 4-tool player. He could run, hit for average, throw, and field, but I didn't think the power would really come. Lo and behold after going 2 for 3 with a home run, a walk, and a strikeout yesterday, Melky has 6 home runs in the FSL. In about the same amount of FSL at bats, Bronson Sardinha hit 2 home runs and had about half as many doubles and triples yet has gone on to show a lot more power at AA. This is a roundabout way of saying that Melky's stock should skyrocket in '05. Rudy Guillen, one of the organization's stars as recently as last offseason, is now in the shadow of two players in the FSL alone. He had a solid couple of games by going 3 for 7 with 2 singles, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Guillen has had a lost season due to both injury and ineffectiveness, but could do himself a lot of good by ending the year strong. Tyler Clippard's poor outing a little over a week ago seems to have just been a blip on the radar as he was back to mowing them down on Thursday. The 19-year-old right-hander went 7-6-0-0-2-8-0 in his last start, and even factoring in his poor outing the previous start he has kicked things into high gear to close the season. The product is a line of 33-24-8-7-5-37-2 in his last 5 outings, very impressive. Hector Made and Erold Andrus were both solid to close the week. Neither player did anything to make you stand up and take notice, but both continued on their way to fine season ending numbers. Made was 3 for 12 with 2 singles, a triple, a walk, and a strikeout. Meanwhile, Andrus was 4 for 18 with 3 singles, a double, and 5 strikeouts. Rookie ball and Short Season leagues tomorrow, in addition to a rant! *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

(I CAN'T THINK OF A TITLE) Columbus was off tonight, but played Wednesday afternoon. Dioner Navarro did not play in that game, as I expected, it seems he is on the extreme version of the Joe Torre "Who's Hot"™ rest plan. I guess it's a Yankee organizational thing with Cs. Robinson Cano, who has been allowed to play through slumps and everything else in his time with the Clippers. This is paying off because after enduring a deep slump, Cano is on fire once more. In Tuesday's game the 21-year-old 2B was 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and 2 strikeouts. His average is up to .265 in 113 ABs and he has only 1 error in 31 AAA games. Brad Halsey continues to be off his game since returning to AAA. His outing produced the disappointing line of 5-10-5-5-2-5-2 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR). Following Halsey both last year and this, I am developing a theory about him. When he strikes people out (AA '03, MLB '04, since demotion '04) he struggles, when he lets his defense handle more chances (A+ '03, pre promotion '04) he gets good results. The only exception to this is SS-A '02. Why this happens, I'm not sure, but it's something to keep an eye on. Perhaps he's one of those pitchers that needs to pitch to the defense, as announcers are fond of saying. This is too comfy of a reason for me though, and I will try to see if I can find a more tangible explanation. Trenton played 3 games in the last two days, and won two of the three. Sean Henn pitched the first and was mediocre. The hard-throwing left-hander finished with 5-7-3-3-1-6. His ERA is up to 4.39, and after an encouraging start to 2004, he is going to have to go on a tear to salvage his year, at least statistically. Meanwhile, Bronson Sardinha is in the process of cooling off offensively, 1 for 8 with a single, a walk, and 3 strikeouts in the 3-game stretch. His defensive struggles, 1 error in the last 3 games and, 16 errors in 40 AA games, and 39 errors in 101 games on the season, have gotten to the point where Sardinha is now being replaced in the late innings of ballgames. I would really have liked to see Bronson make some more strides with his defense at the hot corner to enhance his trade value, but it seems as though he may not be long for the position. One turn through the rotation ago, it seemed as though Tyler Clippard was beginning to pull away from Abel Gomez in terms of overall 2004 performance. This was an intriguing development as the two had been side-by-side almost all season long. Now, one bad start by Clippard and a decent one by Gomez had Abel in the performance lead. Tonight, the left-hander padded his edge. Gomez, not one for long outings, went 7-3-1-1-2-5-0 as he stifled the Lansing Lugnuts. Abel's ERA is down to 3.17 and he is coming close to getting his walk rate in the 1 every 2 innings range, which is MUCH more acceptable. He did not pick up his 10th win though, as the Battle Creek offense was only good for 8 hits and 1 run in a 13-inning affair. (Tampa report forthcoming) Hector Made, 1 for 6 with a double and a strikeout, was decent, and Erold Andrus, 3 for 6 with 2 singles and a double, was very good. Made is now tied for 3rd in doubles and Andrus is 6th. Due to promotions for other players, both hitters have a shot at taking the league doubles title. In the shock of shocks, SI has lost their last two games. The "offense" has managed 0 runs and 10 hits over the stretch. This is the same offense that could somehow do without Marcos Vechionacci of course. Estee Harris has cooled off a bit, going 0 for 6 with 2 strikeouts in the 2 contests. Tim Battle, meanwhile, seems to have settled around the .250 range for batting average, though he was just 1 for 6 with a walk and a strikeout over the two games. Jeff Marquez, the 19-year-old RHP who was a first round selection of the Yankees this year, had one of his worst NYPL starts. He could only muster 4-7-5-3-2-2-0. His ERA rose to 2.86. After dominating the GCL, Marquez has been solid in the NYPL. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-08-02T22:41:00.000-04:00

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

2004-08-01T12:31:00.000-04:00

THE GANG'S ALL HERE I like prospects. I like following their progression through the minor leagues and dreaming of how good they can be. I like when they get called up to the big club and I can officially begin associating them with the organization. So of course, I don't like the trading deadline. Sure there are guys I would deal and there are players worth acquiring, but ideally, I would like to build a majority homegrown team. That said, I am extremely happy, and shocked, that no one left the Yankee system during all the trade rumblings. Hopefully, those guys can justify the Yankees keeping them...for now. Robinson Cano got off to a fast start at AAA before slumping horribly. The slump lasted for nearly a month, but it seems that Cano is back on track. His last two games, Cano has gone a combined 4 for 7 with a single, a double, and 2 home runs. His average is up .025 points to .248 and he still has a very good BB:K ratio of 9:10 in 101 AAA at bats. If he can close the season with a hot month of August he should receive a September call-up. It also helps his case that he's only made 1 error in 28 games at AAA. Dioner Navarro got off to a fast start at AAA, extra base hit wise, while otherwise slumping. Since then he has begun hitting singles and taking walks. Through all this, and after yesterday's 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout performance, Navarro is only sitting at .200. That .200 average has been compiled in just 65 at bats though, as Navarro has played very sporadically since his promotion. In the recent 5 game stretch, he did not play in games 1 and 3. Brad Halsey had his best start since returning to Columbus, and right on schedule too. Halsey went 6.2-4-0-0-3-8-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR) to lower his ERA to 3.25. This is important for Halsey, because with the recent trade of The Big Enigma™ and the arrival of Profoundly Pedestrian™, he may work himself into a rotation shot by September, or at the very least guarantee himself a shot at the 2005 rotation. And by guarantee I mean make sure the Yankees will give him a shot when Brown goes down to injury. Chien-Ming Wang was very good yesterday in his second AAA start. Wang had a line of 5.1-5-2-2-2-8-1 and has struck out 14 in 11.1 AAA innings. If he keeps up a strong K rate I would like to see him get a shot in September. Justin Pope is not a pitcher that regularly gets much publicity on this blog, but his Friday performance was too great to completely ignore. Pope pitched a gem, 9-1-0-0-1-10-0, and it was needed as the Thunder offense was also 1 hit, though they did pick up 2 runs and the victory. Since his huge night, Bronson Sardinha has just been ok. The result of this effort is 4 for 15 with 3 singles, a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Still, his average is at .322 despite playing his home games in what has thus far been the most severe pitchers park in baseball. His EL average would rank 4th if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. I wouldn't expect him to do much, if anything, tonight because he and the rest of the team are facing Matt Cain. Jose Valdez, 4.2-5-4-4-5-6-0, continues to have a rather mediocre season. Sure the ERA is only 3.90 (which isn't even all that great for the FSL), but he's yet to put together one long stretch where he not only is effective at stopping runs and, but also maintaining good peripherals. Tampa has played 2 games since the last update and the results aren't compelling one way or another. Eric Duncan was 1 for 9 with a single and 2 strikeouts, Rudy Guillen was 1 for 3 with a single, a walk, and 2 strikeouts, and Melky Cabrera was 3 for 9 with 2 singles, a home run, and 3 strikeouts. Melky is now hitting an even .300, while the others are down in the .250ish range. Abel Gomez, 6-2-2-1-3-4-0, was so-so and Tyler Clippard, 5-8-5-5-1-4-2, had a poor outing as the BC Yanks fell twice in their last 3 outings. Hector Made, 3 for 7 with 3 singles and 2 walks in the first two games, but 0 for 4 with a strikeout last night, saw his hitting streak of 2+ weeks come to an end. Made is still doing a great job of finishing the season strong, which is key when evaluating prospects and deciding whether or not they kicked into a higher gear or are a good candidate to do so going forward. Erold Andrus, 4 for 13 with 4 singles and 2 strikeouts, seems to be of the same philosophy as Made. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-27T22:52:00.000-04:00

THEY SHOULD BUILD MINOR LEAGUE STADIUMS WITH ROOFS... ...it'd be really expensive, but then we wouldn't have nights like tonight where the Clippers are rained out and the SI Yanks have a doubleheader rained out. There were mixed prospect results for clubs that did play. Ramon Ramirez was not outstanding tonight, 7-7-4-4-1-6-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR), but his numbers since coming back from injury have been: 54.2-53-24-24-15-64-3. That would be a nice low HR rate, a K:BB ratio in excess of 4, and 10.5 K/9. I take that as more indicative of Ramirez's ability than anything else he has done this season, as it is the only time he has been healthy. That type of work from a 22-year-old is pretty solid and worthy of a promotion to AAA. Sean Henn had another poor outing. Usually Henn mixes up good and bad outings, but this time around he had consecutive forgettable starts. Henn's line for the night was 5.2-7-4-4-2-5-1. I would say something about where he truly belongs, but at this point I think everyone knows where I stand on that issue. While tonight's Trenton pitching was nothing to write home about, Bronson Sardinha had himself a huge night. The error prone 3B, he added another during the course of two games today, was 7 for 10 with 3 doubles and a home run. After a brief resting period, Sardinha's average has shot all the way up to .328 in 134 AA at bats. He has 16 walks and 31 strikeouts in that span along with a .515 slugging percentage. He might not have a defensive position, but if he continues to hit like this someone will find somewhere to put him. Coming off of an embarrassing loss to Daytona that saw them get two-hit, the Tampa offense was somewhat better. They only put 2 runs on the board, but did manage 9 hits. Melky Cabrera was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and no strikeouts and at .299 is once again on the cusp of .300 though his power numbers have taken a bit of a hit as of late. Eric Duncan was 1 for 4 with a double and no strikeouts as his average sits at .253. Though he did not get one tonight, the most impressive aspect of Duncan's 75 Tampa at bats has been his 15:19 BB:K ratio as he has cut down on his Ks while dramatically improving his walk rate. The power indicators are also very nice as 10 of his 19 hits have been of the extra base variety. If he could get his batting average up, his numbers would truly stand out. While Duncan and Cabrera have, for the most part, been doing the kind of work that will have them considered for starting '05 in AA, Rudy Guillen has struggled to find himself following an initial hot streak. Guillen was 1 for 4 with a single as his average dropped to .258. Guillen does not have the walks or power numbers of Duncan to make that a productive average so he may be looking at a return to Tampa to start '05, barring a long season ending hot streak. Though 2 runs and 9 hits wouldn't rank as any type of great offensive production, a big part of the reason it did not hold up is that Jeff Karstens, who was hot for a long time, burning like a candle, has cooled. Tonight's start, 7.1-10-8-7-0-3-1, was a disastrous one for the righty. Karstens ERA ballooned to 3.87, which is nothing to write home about in the FSL. The one positive that can be taken from this start is that Karstens continues to be very stingy with walks. Battle Creek won on the strength of their offense, 7 to 6. The team pounded out 14 hits and is just really rolling right now. Despite the bevy of hits to be had, Erold Andrus was 0 for 5 as he continues to come back to Earth following a 14 game hitting streak. Hector Made is headed in the other direction. The SS was 2 for 5 with a single and his 24th double of the year and has his average up to .276. The 24 doubles are good for 6th in the MWL. Today's GCL Yankee game saw Danny Borrell make his 2004 debut. For those of you who don't know, Borrell was one of the top pitching prospects going into 2003 for a very weak Yankee farm system, but fell to a shoulder injury. Were it not for that he probably would have debuted in the majors already. Regardless, the now 25-year-old left-hander started the game for the GCL squad and went 3-3-0-0-0-5-0. Nice comeback. With a little over a month left in the minor league season it will be interesting to see how quickly the Yankees get him back to AAA. Borrell is a good candidate for an AFL stint. The GCL line of the day belonged to Christian Garcia. The 18-year-old RHP had a performance of 4-0-0-0-1-7-0. Thus far in the GCL, he is a cartoonish 19-5-3-2-11-22-0. Yes, he has control problems, but he's also limited opponents to a ridiculous 5 hits in 19 innings. Considering this is Garcia's 1st year on the mound, he is definitely one to keep an eye on. While the selection of Garcia was one 2004 draft pick that I definitely agreed with, the Jon Poterson pick was one I was not too pleased with, as I have said several times on this site. That said; Poterson had a decent day at the plate, as he was 2 for 4 with 2 singles. As is always the problem with Poterson, he struck out twice. That gives Poterson 37 strikeouts in 107 ABs. To his credit he has drawn 14 walks and has shown some pop with 3 doubles and 4 home runs despite a .187 average. Anderson Amador, another K prone GCL Yankee I don't think much of, was 3 for 4 with a home run. Amador has run his average up to .260 in 100 at bats, though he still only has 2 walks while striking out 32 times. The power, 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 homers, has also been nice. The best post-Battle/Vech hitter on the GCL Yanks has probably been 2B Reegie Corona. In an odd turn of events, Corona was recently added to the Tampa roster. This is odd because Corona was certainly playing well, .328/.361/.414 in 58 AB, but not dominant enough that he should get a 3 level promotion. The other odd thing is that this type of promotion was given to a guy, Corona, who doesn't turn 18 until November. Lastly, despite still being on the Tampa roster as of this writing, Corona is listed as having gone 0 for 4 for the GCL Yanks tonight. The moral of this story is that the GCL is really hard to get a handle on. Hector Gonzalez and Irwil Rojas were a combined 0 for 7 with a sacrifice fly. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-26T22:47:00.000-04:00

WHY? That is the question on my mind right now. Why did the Yankees promote Dioner Navarro to AAA? Whether it was because they felt he was genuinely ready or whether it was just to enhance his trade value, he would have to play to accomplish these goals/ideas, right? In the beginning when he wasn't playing I blamed it on his struggles. He wasn't hitting much so the Clippers, who are in a pennant race, had reason to bench him. Well, today Columbus played a doubleheader. In game 1, Navarro was the C went 1 for 3 with a single and a strikeout, which made him 6 for his last 19 with 5 walks. So, of course, he was benched for the second game. I can understand not wanting Navarro to play 2 games at C, so DH him, don't bench him. Not when he seems to be figuring things out, what is the point? "Tiger" Wang made his AAA debut as pure trade bait in game 1, and did not do so swell. Wang gave up too many hits and homers, but at least seemed to be in the strike zone as he went 6-8-5-5-0-6-2 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR). As is usual after a Wang start I have to once again plead for his placement in a bullpen. While Navarro sat out game 2 after playing in game 1, Cano played in game 2 after sitting out game 1. Cano sat for a legitimate reason; he had been slumping badly as of late, but had a decent capper by going 1 for 3 with a single. Tampa went down to one of the best pitchers in the FSL, Jon Connolly. The hitters' performances were not pretty as the team was 2-hit. From bad to horrific: Melky Cabrera was 0 for 3, Rudy Guillen was 0 for 3 with 1 strikeout, and Eric Duncan was 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. Not much else needs to be said about this game. Battle Creek continued their winning second-half ways as they pulled out a 4 to 1 victory. Hector Made had the day off, perhaps the string of 1 for 5 nights was a sign of fatigue, but Erold Andrus did get to play. Unfortunately, Andrus was 0 for 4 with a strikeout as his 14-game hitting streak came to an end. Staten Island even managed to pick up a rare victory on the night. Jesse Hoover, who had been phenomenal out of the SI bullpen all season, made his starting rotation debut and got knocked around to the tune of 3-5-5-5-5-4-0, but was bailed out of picking up the loss by Eric Abreu who went 4-2-1-1-1-7-0 in relief. Abreu has now K'ed 21 men in 10.2 NYPL innings while allowing 4 hits. Tim Battle and Marcos Vechionacci, both recent slump victims, both had good nights. Vech was 2 for 5 with 2 singles while playing an errorless 3B and Battle was 3 for 5 with 3 singles, a strikeout, and a stolen base. This night means more to Battle in my estimation, as his slump had been direr. The strikeout for Vech means that for the first time in his NYPL career his Ks (12) outnumber his walks (11). In the most important piece of GCL news, Hector Gonzalez was 3 for 4 with 3 singles and is now hitting .333, though it is an empty .333. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

LIGHT DAY Columbus' game was postponed, the GCL Yanks never play on Sundays, nothing was scheduled for Tampa, and the Tampa box score from the doubleheader capper is still not available. The result of all this is there only being 3 games to recap today. Bronson Sardinha seems to have hit a bit of a snag. Most hitters would take getting hits in consecutive games, but in each game Sardinha was only able to manage 1 hit in 5 at bats so his average has dropped to .298. On the positive end, Sardinha did not make an error today and every game he goes without making an error is a small victory. The biggest star of the night, as far as Yankee prospects are concerned, was Tyler Clippard. Clippard had his best game as a pro as he pitched a 6-3-2-1-0-12-0 gem. Clippard was dominant from start to finish, as he struck out 4 of the first 6 hitters he faced and 2 in his last inning. Clippard's ERA is now 3.28 and he has leapfrogged Abel Gomez for the 5th spot in the MWL K crown race. Since struggling 3 starts ago, Clippard has gone 21-10-3-2-2-25-1. This is the kind of dominant season closing stretch that can lead to a promotion and/or some nice publicity in major magazines. It is very nice to see this happening for Clippard. Hector Made had a decent game, 1 for 5 with a single and a walk, and has seen his OPS drop as of late, but since the walks are coming in, expect him to start tearing things up again. Erold Andrus continued his emergence as a prospect by going 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and a walk. Andrus' was a guy I liked last year, based on his 2002 numbers, but soured on him after concluding he was a singles hitter with no discipline or patience. Perhaps I was a bit hasty, I certainly hope so. Tim Battle, 1 for 4 with a single, had his best game in a while for SI. Yeah, it's been that bad. Marcos Vechionacci did not play at all, which automatically makes that team a lot less exciting. At this point, Deivi Mendez has played 7 games for SI, following a stint in the GCL. Do the Yankees just not like him or does he really need this much rehab? Is it really worth it to have Ferdin Tejada playing SS at Tampa? These are the questions of the moment. Perhaps the most important news from the SI game was Kevin Brown's supposed final rehab outing. Brown had his best statistical outing, 6-6-4-2-1-6-0, which should be expected considering it was against mostly fresh college draftees, and you can look for him in a Yankee rotation near you very soon. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-24T23:43:00.000-04:00

PRETENDERS AND CONTENDERS Going over some of the prospects I have been very high on this season and observing their recent progress has taught me something. One of the beliefs that I hold very firmly is that at any moment prospects can have the switch turn on. They can go from a middling player into a small-scale version of the superstar they are bound to become. Well, it seems that as a result of the Yankee farm being so barren to begin the year, I was over-anxious in finding the prospects ready to turn the light on. I say this because, as of late, some of the guys who have been highly mentioned on this site have begun showing major cracks in the armor. A great, and somewhat confusing, example of this is Robinson Cano. During his stint in the AA Eastern League, Cano was one of the league's best players and improved his power, patience, and discipline from years past, allowing him to receive an initially well-received promotion to AAA. Well, after going 8 for his first 10 at AAA, Robinson is just 12 for 74, including going 0 for 3 with a sac fly and a sac bunt today. The silver lining for Cano, and my reason for hope that this is just a slump, is that he has drawn 9 walks against 9 strikeouts in his 84 AAA at bats, which is an improvement on the 24:40 BB:K mark he had in 292 AA at bats. The opposite of Cano's situation would be that of Dioner Navarro. After starting off doing nothing in AAA, which followed a controversial promotion from AA, Navarro is 5 for his last 16 with 5 singles and 5 walks. Navarro, for whatever reason, has played very sporadically since coming to the AAA level, but is still just a few more solid games away from surpassing Cano's AAA performance and his own AA performance. Who this is most reflective of is up to debate. Coming into the season I had a small amount of faith in Brad Halsey, but not enough to think very highly of him, he then started off slowly in AAA. Somewhere along the line he caught fire and after mowing down batters for about a month he was promoted to the majors. His promotion to the majors followed me proclaiming that the Yankees should free him on whichever Internet message board I found myself. While I was impressed with Halsey's performance while freed, the Yankees apparently were not as they sent him back to AAA in short order (No, I don't care for organization rhetoric about getting him prepped for the future or rampant RJ speculation, these things will be believed/acknowledged when they happen). Since that demotion Halsey has pitched very poorly. Today was the poorest of his post-demotion outings. While pitching against the Devil Rays' AAA club Halsey finished with a line of 3.2-8-7-7-2-3-3 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR). Halsey does not have overpowering stuff and as a result must survive on precision, add 2 HBP to the numbers I gave before and I doubt Halsey had his control with him today. The result is a disaster start and 3 home runs allowed after allowing 3 home runs in the 90+ AAA innings previous to tonight's start. Every pitcher goes through slumps and hopefully this is all it is for Halsey, at the least his seasonal numbers still look very good and I still have faith he can be a decent-to-good starter for the Yankees at some point. Not to mention that I wouldn't mind having him in the bullpen as The Run Fairy™ serves no purpose. Bronson Sardinha, .316/.395/.482 (AVG/OBP/SLG), had been making a general mockery of AA pitching coming into tonight, but met his match. The result was a night where his teammates piled up 11 hits and 5 walks and he managed neither in 5 at bats while striking out once. Sardinha still looks like a good hitter though, if only he could get it together on defense, 11 errors in 29 AA games, he would be a part of the phalanx of 3B quality 3B prospects currently in the minors and the Yankee farm system. Immediately on Sardinha's trail, as far as competition level in the Yankee system, is Eric Duncan. Duncan also has error problems, he's already committed 5 at Tampa and is nearing 30 on the season, though 12 occurred in the first 21 games, but is a better hitter than Sardinha. After going 1 for 3 with a single and an RBI in the first game of a doubleheader yesterday (I have no information for anyone from the second game, so keep that in mind; I will report on the second game tomorrow), Duncan is hitting .265 in 68 A+ at bats along with an excellent 15:16 BB:K ratio. It's also not as if he is a slap hitter, consider that half of his hits have gone for extra bases. Melky Cabrera was the victim of a recent slump that saw his average drop below .300 for the first time, but in the first game of the doubleheader he came back with a vengeance. Cabrera was 3 for 3 with 3 singles to pull his average up to .300 exactly. Rudy Guillen, the team's other top Latin talent, had also been mired in a recent slump and seemingly broke out last night. The first game saw him go 1 for 1 with a double and 2 walks. He had been lacking both extra base hits, weird for him, and walks, typical for him, so it was a very productive night. Abel Gomez did not have his best control with him tonight, but as is usually the case, got the job done regardless: 5-5-2-2-4-7. Gomez now has a pretty ridiculous 114 strikeouts in 103.1 innings. As is always the downside with him though, his K:BB ratio is barely over 2 as he has also walked 55 men in the same timeframe. Tomorrow Tyler Clippard will attempt to better Gomez's start as these two continue their season long "rivalry". Hector Made was only 1 for 5 with a single tonight, but had been hot as of late and his average is currently .276. He had even reached the .700 OPS mark before tonight's game dropped him to .697. As paltry a mark as that may seem it is actually decent for a SS in his first full season. The other major prospect left on the Battle Creek roster, is Erold Andrus. Andrus has become a different hitter of late; he walks, hits for power, hits for average, and has just been a huge part of Battle Creek's recent rise to mediocrity. Following a night where he was 2 for 4 with a single, a double, a walk, and a strikeout, the CF now has a .727 OPS. Last year Rudy Guillen had a .725 OPS. Anyone who bet against me when I made my statement about what Andrus' year-end numbers would look like should start searching for some money to pay me. In terms of what experts think versus what is said on this blog, the most hyped prospect has probably been Marcos Vechionacci. In fact, while I have been wildly supportive of Marcos, when I asked John Manuel about him in a recent BA chat he had the lukewarm response that "[Vechionacci] doesn't have one tool that really stands out, but he can hit from both sides, can play the left side of the infield, has good hands and poise for a player his age ". Despite this and despite Vech's recent slump, an 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts performance dropped him to .279 in the NYPL, I will continue to defend his greatness. It is not time to jump ship yet. He still plays good defense (recent ball-handling struggles at 2B be damned), he is still second on the SI team in walks, and perhaps most importantly, he is still 17-years-old. *** I think my writing inspiration has returned after a troublesome hiatus. Also, I will only write about the guys I want to focus on each day rather than trying to get to everyone. If I miss anyone that you would particularly like to hear more about, say something in the Comments and I will be sure to get to it. Lastly, for anyone who has not heard, "Tiger" Wang was promoted to AAA and is getting a start since the Diamondbacks have expressed some interest in acquiring him. *** For a site with some good minor league discussion, check out MLBCenter.com and this site, could be great. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-24T00:29:00.000-04:00

WHAT'S HAPPENING Lately, I find myself ready to start an entry, only to lose all my energy. As a result, I have not posted in a while. I will do my best to post more consistently in the near future, but I really feel like I've hit the wall when it comes to juggling this blog, work, and life, we'll see. Also, be prepared for te blog to go "silent" around the second half of August as I get used to college life. Thanks for your patience. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-20T20:45:00.000-04:00

SINCE I LAST WROTE... There is a lot of stuff to catch up on. For clarity's sake, all stats referenced will be composite from Friday's games through Monday's, unless otherwise mentioned. Enjoy. When I last wrote about Columbus, I was in the process of lamenting Navarro's lacking AAA performance while praising Cano's. As is often the case over small sample sizes, the tables have turned. Since that wonderful night of Yankee prospect goodness, Cano has slumped down to a .292 AAA average by going 0 for 10 with a walk and a strikeout, until last night's game where he broke out with a 2 for 5 with a single, double, and strikeout performance. He then quickly followed that up with an 0 for 4 performance tonight. Dioner Navarro, meanwhile, is as hot as he has been during his brief AAA stay. Navarro is 4 for his last 9 with 4 walks and 1 strikeout. All 4 hits are singles, as his luck seems to be evening out, which is what I hinted at in my last post. Navarro also has an excellent 8:7 BB:K ratio in AAA and my faith in his being ready for the promotion he received is being reaffirmed. When it comes to certain prospects I like, Navarro would qualify, I can be an eternal optimist. That said, while Navarro has not hit for the power you would like and his average is very mediocre he has shown sensational strike zone discipline and patience in both his stops. Considering he is 20, I'll give him leeway on the other things to start showing up. Andy Phillips is suffering through one of his worst stretches of the year, 5 for 23 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. His average has dropped all the way down to .319 and none of his hits were for extra bases. Through this all, he is still the most useful immediately available player in the Yankee farm system. Unfortunately for him, his position is easily filled at the ML level. Brad Halsey, who has been OK, but not dominant, since returning to AAA had a decent start last Friday. In that game, Halsey went 5-4-2-2-3-5-1 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-K-HR). Before I cover the rest of the minor league pitchers, it's rant time. Not starting Halsey yesterday was stupid. Sending Halsey back down was stupid. Some will look at Halsey's ERA in his 4 starts and think he was bad, however, if anyone either watched his games or has a decent handle on some sabermetric principles they would realize his defense cheated him. A lot of the scoring done against Halsey was the result of mental errors by players in the field, plays that are normally made, but were not called errors when the players did not make them. With this in mind, and taking Halsey's much superior AAA season, when compared to Alex Graman, into account, there is no reason Halsey should not have been on the mound against the Rays, purported enhancement of trade value be damned. End rant. Colter Bean has been Colter Bean, which means getting the job done without so much as a whimper about a potential promotion, to the tune of 3.2-5-2-1-1-6-0. If Juan Padilla can get a shot, with no offense meant to him, then Bean should at least get consideration for a shot. Trenton Thunder=Bronson Sardinha. Bronson Sardinha=Hitter who has to leave the dugout when the opposing team comes to bat. Simple enough. In his last 5 games, Sardinha has 3 errors, which brings him to 11 in 26 AA games. In his last 5 games, Sardinha is 6 for 23 with 3 singles, a double, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. His AA OPS continues to hover around the .900 mark. I've said it all season long and I'll say it again; Sardinha can and should be a valuable trading chip, especially if someone can find a position for him to play. Ramon Ramirez, Sean Henn, and "Tiger" Wang all respectively had solid starts. Ramirez was 6-7-3-3-3-10-0, Henn was 7-3-4-2-3-3-0, and Wang was 7-6-2-2-0-8-0. According to nj.com Wang may be on the verge of a scheduled promotion. Matt DeSalvo ended the string of solid starts by decent pitching prospects tonight. The short right-hander had struggles with his control and command, which were not aided by a very inconsistent umpire strike zone. The end result was 3.2-5-6-6-4-2-0. Tampa's game tonight was canceled due to inclement weather, but in the period of time between my last post and this, their prospects had been doing a decent job on the whole. Eric Duncan has led the offensive charge by going 5 for 15 with 3 doubles, a home run, 5 walks, and 4 strikeouts. I had my reservations when the Yankees decided to promote Duncan, but thus far he has made the organization look smart, at least offensively (Also, when last I checked, Baseball America's stats for Duncan were incorrect, just so you all know, they missed a couple of his games). In the field, it seems his fielding yips may have returned. Melky Cabrera has only been decent, going 4 for his last 16 with 3 singles, a double, 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Despite an overall mediocre stretch, his last game was the one where he drew all 3 of those walks and has me one big game away from calling for his promotion to AA. Whether or not Melky does get that promotion to AA, I would still like him to start next year at the AA level. While Melky Cabrera and Eric Duncan were both making their strides in the proper direction, Rudy Guillen was stalling a bit. He came off the DL hot, but is now just 2 for 16 with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. Guillen's average has now dropped to .276 and his power production is personally non-existent. Of these two things, the one I care about is the average. With the memory of Bronson Sardinha fresh in my mind, all I want out of FSL Yankee prospects is a decent to good average as it's pretty clear that it's really tough to show serious pop in that league, which just makes Eric Duncan's performance all the more impressive. Jose Valdez and Jeffrey Karstens both continued their late season surges, though Karstens did so in much more impressive form. Karstens' volley was an incredible 9-2-0-0-1-9-0 outing. Valdez responded to this with an effective, but not overly impressive 7-7-2-2-1-1-0 performance. Karstens' ERA is now 3.38 and Valdez is at 3.48. While Valdez has the advantage in home run prevention, he needs to refine his control and up his K rate tremendously to keep up with Karstens. Karstens will take the mound tomorrow and attempt to continue the streak. Karstens and Valdez are a decent pitching duo in this system, but the truly impressive one is the Clippard-Gomez tandem. Their last turn through the BC rotation, each had one of their best starts of the year. This time through the rotation though both followed up with very good performances. Gomez was able to pick up his 8th win as a result of a 6.2-6-1-1-2-3-0 night and Clippard got a no-decision despite going 7-5-1-1-1-5-1. On several occasions in the past I've mentioned how close the two are in terms of the final result of their performances, so I would like to take the time to point out that Clippard's ERA is now 3.38 and Gomez's is 3.39. If Battle Creek were not in a pennant race, I would confidently advocate the promotion of both players to Tampa. However, BC is and Clippard and Gomez are needed. Outside of the pitching duo, the other thing to keep an eye on at BC is the hitting duo of Hector Made and Erold Andrus. In the 5 game stretch Made was 7 for 24 with 4 singles, 3 doubles, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Made's ISO Power is now nearing .100, which isn't impressive by itself, but he has had to come a long way as he started the season very slowly. Andrus on the other hand has just been hot and cold all year and this 5-game stretch, overall, was one of his hot ones. The switch-hitting CF was 9 for 23 with 6 singles, 2 doubles, a home run, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. More than anything else, the walks are encouraging to see, my prediction about Guillen's 2003 numbers and Andrus' 2004 ones also seems to be coming closer and closer to fruition. Now it's time for Staten Island. While Tim Battle's GCL production, in terms of counting and rate stats was impressive, his K rate laid doubt as to whether or not he could maintain that level. Despite this the Yankees promoted him to SI and at first he did well, since then, his lack of strike zone command has been his downfall. In his last 5 games he is 3 for 23 with 2 singles, 2 walks, and 10 strikeouts. Yeah, that's pretty bad and unfortunately, indicative of SI as a whole, other than Vechionacci that is. Vechionacci is 4 for 18 with 3 singles, a double, 5 walks, and 3 strikeouts. The average is down, but the discipline is there and he has been hitting some line drive outs so I am not worried about him in the least. Though, his flawlessness in the field HAS come to a conclusion it would seem considering he's mad a couple errors of late. Estee Harris still has not gotten it going by the way; witness his 3 for 17 with 7-strikeout stretch. Due to a combination of rainouts and the GCL being ridiculously hard to get information from, there is no new Rookie League info to mention. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-15T22:33:00.000-04:00

'TWAS A GOOD NIGHT The Columbus offense continued putting tons of runs on the board tonight. Sadly, 7 runs and 13 hits were not enough for the team to pull out the victory. Happily, Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano decided to get involved this time. Cano was 2 for 5 with 2 singles and a strikeout. Cano has clearly impressed the Columbus coaches as he has been moved from the 8-spot in the lineup, all the way up to number 2. Meanwhile, Dioner Navarro continues to have one of the most bizarre "slumps" I have ever seen. While in AA, Navarro collected singles and walks, but could not hit for power for some reason. Since being promoted to AAA, he has 0 singles in 36 at bats, but 5 hits. Those 5 hits consist of 3 doubles and 2 triples. This is after hitting only 14 doubles and 1 triple in 255 AA at bats. Because Navarro still has a decent walk rate and is not striking out excessively while hitting for power, I am going to assume that he is simply hitting into bad luck. Hopefully, I'm right. Aside from the major prospects, Andy Phillips continues to just hit. Phillips, the day after hitting the game-wining home run in the AAA All Star Game, was 1 for 2 with a single and 3 walks. As Phillips walks begin to really distance themselves from his strikeouts his performance becomes more and more impressive. Jason Anderson has really struggled since being reacquired from the Indians earlier this year. Tonight was a continuation of that struggle. In just 2 innings, Anderson managed to give up 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, and a home run. He did not walk any and struck out 1. His ERA is a very poor 4.82. Going into tonight's Trenton game, the big story was Kevin Brown's return to the pitching mound. That went horrendously, to the tune of 2 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, and no strikeouts, at least he didn't walk anyone either. The results of Brown's start aren't that important in the long run though, as rehab starts are often to work on specific things rather than to attempt to get the best results. Plus, it's not as if Trenton's playoff chances, long ago shot, could get worse as a result of Brown's disaster. Coming out of tonight's Trenton game, two things are becoming clearer. One is that Bronson Sardinha cannot field. Sardinha made his 8th error in 20 games at 3B. He is thought not to have excellent range so it's not as though this is a case of a guy getting to tons of balls others would not reach. He just seems to be shaky in the field. In the earlier portion of the season I was more worried about Sardinha's defense, because I felt 3B was his last shot because he was not a good enough hitter, especially in the power department, to man a COF position, which seemed to be the real last resort. Well, Bronson Sardinha went 3 for 5 with 2 singles and a home run last night. The home run was his 5th in 79 AA at bats, strangely; he only has 2 other extra base hits. I think it's fair to say the man has power. So, while it is becoming clearer that Bronson Sardinha can't field, it is also becoming clear that he CAN hit. The Tampa offense had themselves a feast. In just 9 innings of work they managed to put up 9 runs and 16 hits. Most importantly, all 3 of the major position prospects were a major part of the offensive outburst. Melky Cabrera was 4 for 5 with 3 singles and a double. I think it is fair to say that he has awoken after a slump that saw him drop below .300 for the first time in...a really long time. On the season, Cabrera now has 171 Battle Creek at bats, and 172 Tampa at bats. At Battle Creek he hit .333/.383/.462/.288 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) and at Tampa he has hit .314/.365/.471/.282. Considering that the FSL has been slightly tougher to hit in, that is just great consistency. His combined BB:K ratio is 27:48, which is solid, and his combined extra base hit total is 40. A very nice year for the 19-year-old CF. Eric Duncan, who had been struggling in his brief FSL stint, continues to break out. The 3B was 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and most importantly, did not strike out. He also did not make an error over 3B. Though he struggled for a few games, Duncan already has 5 extra base hits in 37 at bats. Rudy Guillen was 2 for 5 with a single and a double. After hitting for a low average and not much power to begin the season, Guillen has come back with a vengeance. Since the injury, Guillen is 16 for 47 with 5 of his hits being doubles. Unfortunately, he only has 2 walks over that same stretch though he has managed to keep his strikeouts, 7, under control. In a terrific turn of events, Tyler Clippard did exactly as I was hoping he would. Last time through the Battle Creek rotation, he and Abel Gomez both spit the bit. Gomez then followed up one of his worst performances of the year with a gem. Clippard did the same tonight; following his second worst start of the year, Clippard pitched arguably his best. In 8 innings, the right-hander limited the opposition to just 2 hits, both singles, and 1 walk while striking out 8. Clippard and Gomez seem destined to stay neck-and-neck in the Yankee system. Unfortunately, Battle Creek had some serious scoring issues so he could not pick up the win. Hector Made, fortunately, was not part of the offensive problem. The SS was 2 for 5 with 2 singles and a walk and a strikeout. With the walk making an appearance, expect Made to go on another tear. Erold Andrus, was a part of the problem as he went 0 for 5 with a strikeout to start the game. Then, he made up for it by collecting the game winning single. Staten Island won, which is incredible in and of itself, and they won by a lot, which is just mind-boggling. The final score was 7 to 0, and since the offense put up 7 runs and 13 hits, you would figure Vech had something to do with it. If you would/did, you were right of course. Playing his second game at 2B, Vech did not commit an error and was 2 for 5 with 2 singles and a strikeout. His average is up to .361 and he now holds an even 5:5 walk to strikeout ratio in 36 NYPL at bats. Tim Battle was 1 for 5 with a single from the leadoff spot. He also attempted a steal, but was caught doing so for the first time in the NYPL, and 3rd time overall this season. Estee Harris was 1 for 3 with a single, a walk, and a strikeout. In a wild game, the GCL Yankees went down to the GCL Phillies by a score of 16 to 12. The pitching was horrendous, obviously, and not worth mentioning. On the other hand, Hector Gonzalez was 1 for 3 with a single, Anderson Amador was 3 for 5 with 3 singles and a stolen base, and Jon Poterson was 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. Poterson and Amador were able to limit themselves to strikeout apiece today. One small step for prospect-kind. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-14T22:34:00.000-04:00

I REALLY DON'T LIKE THE RAIN I'll get the sad news out of the way first. The SI Yanks game got canceled due to inclement weather and I was left with no Vech to watch, thankfully there was "I Love The 90s". While there is still no word on the GCL Yanks game from Tuesday, 3 Yankee affiliates did play today. First was Tampa. Tampa won their game 9 to 1 as Steven White picked up the victory. White pitched 5 innings and allowed 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and struck out 6. The offensive prospects were the highlight though as 2 of the 3 had great nights. The one hitter who did not have a great night had a mixed one. Eric Duncan was 1 for 5 with a double and 2 strikeouts. He played 3B and did not make an error. Hopefully, the double is a sign of good things to come since it did not occur until his 4th at bat and was to CF. Melky Cabrera and Rudy Guillen, on the other hand, had excellent nights. Melky was 2 for 4 with a single, a home run, a walk and a strikeout and seems to be back on track after falling below .300 for the first time in a while. Guillen was not as patient, no walks or strikeouts, but collected 4 RBI by going 3 for 5 with 2 singles and a double. He has been hitting much better since coming off the DL and is up to .286 average. Though due to a lack of walks and extra base hits, it is a very empty .286. Moving down a level, Abel Gomez made quite the statement. Following arguably his worst start of the year, Gomez put together one of his top 3 starts this year. In 7 innings, Gomez only gave up 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 8. There was nothing else on his line. I have played down Gomez's season because of how many walks he was giving up and because I felt at some point, he had to start giving up more hits. Well, as the season has gone on Gomez has continued to limit hits, walk a lot of people, and strike out a ton. His K/9 is now north of 10 and he has a history of limiting hits, throw in being left-handed, and I am about to become a big Gomez fan. (GCL Results coming at some point...hopefully). *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-13T21:55:00.000-04:00

ALL STAR GAMES AND SUCH Due to the AAA and AA All Star Breaks, there is not much to report on today. Only Tampa, Staten Island, and the Gulf Coast Yankees saw action tonight. After some recent defensive struggles at Tampa, Eric Duncan found himself back in the DH role, but still hitting 3rd despite also experiencing offensive woes as of late. Since he couldn't have a poor defensive game, Duncan just made sure to have a poor offensive one at the least. Duncan was 0 for 4, but at the least did not strike out. Melky Cabrera, hitting ahead of Duncan, was not much better. Cabrera's 0 for 4 game, also with no strikeouts, was part of a less than stellar game for Tampa offensive prospects. The lone exception to this was Rudy Guillen. Of the 8 hits, Guillen had 3 of them. For the game, Rudy was 3 for 4 with 2 singles and a double and no strikeouts. At least everyone is making contact. Now, on to the highlight of my day, Marcos Vechionacci. Staten Island lost again, as usual, but Vech was a stand out amongst the rubble, as usual. Marcos was 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and no strikeouts. On top of hitting well, Marcos also moved over and played 2B without making an error. He can play 3B, he can play SS, he can play 2B, he has an excellent approach to hitting, he gets great results at the plate, he is still 17, he once pinch-hit for the Gulf Coast League Yankees then ran all the way back to Staten Island and played in a game that same day only to run back to the GCL for a pinch-running appearance before running back to SI for tonight's game. So, what is there that he can't do? I fashion myself a "stats guy", as such I should know the dangers of small sample sizes and the statistical anomalies they lead to. Despite this, I can't help, but smile at everything Vech has done so far. He is a special prospect. Tim Battle and Estee Harris have great tools, but have not come close to putting it together like Vech seems to be doing. Battle was 1 for 4 with a single and, surprisingly, no strikeouts or steals. Harris was 0 for 3 and was not lucky enough to avoid the strikeout; he went down by K once. In addition, Harris also made an error in the field. According the NY Daily News, the SI Yanks will be on YES, Wednesday at 7 PM EST so everyone should probably check that out just for more Vech. (Insert GCL Yankees Update here, when the info becomes available). *** On a non-Yankee note, I would just like to point out that David Wright got absolutely SCREWED on the Baseball America mid-season top 100 update, which is what upset me earlier today. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-12T20:50:00.000-04:00

YOU ARE NOW COMPLETELY UPDATED Columbus has played 3 games since the last update, they won one and lost two. Navarro and Cano only played in one of the 3 games, the Friday one, as both players headed to the Futures Game, which was played yesterday. In their lone game, Navarro and Cano continued their recent AAA slides...well, Navarro can't really slide since he has yet to get started at the level. In the game, Navarro was 0 for 4 with a walk and Cano was 0 for 3 with 2 walks. Don't get me wrong, Navarro has not been good in AAA, he only has 4 hits in 31 at bats, but he has been impressive in the sense that as a 20-year-old he has drawn 3 walks while only striking out 3 times. Of course, this is what you must be careful with when it comes to younger prospects. How long should they be given leeway in terms of less-than-great performance because they are so young for what the ARE managing to do? I have yet to come across an answer to this question, but I am still willing to give Navarro more leeway. One thing I have noticed about Navarro in the games I have seen him play in is that he has a tendency to top the ball and hit a lot of groundballs or low line drives. This can be a very effective hitting strategy, if you are a speed demon, but if you are not a very fast guy, this often leads to ground outs. Navarro needs to get the ball in the air more. Cano's 2 walks gave him a 6 walk to 4 strikeout ratio in 45 at bats, compared to the 24 walk to 40 strikeout one he held in 292 AA at bats. Seeing this statistic in addition to watching Cano at the Futures Game, it is clear that he is developing as a hitter. Each time I have seen him he has gotten more patient. He is no Frank Thomas, but he is looking more and more like he will not suffer from a Soriano-esque lack of plate discipline. If he keeps this up for the final month and a half of minor league ball that is left he will have a legitimate case for being mentioned amongst the best 2B prospects in the game. Andy Phillips has kept on hitting since the last post. 4 for 10 with 3 singles, a home run, 1 strikeout, and 3 walks. In 245 AAA at bats Phillips has managed a line of .327/.402/.576/.325 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) with a 32:31 BB:K ratio. That is great, but it seems that Phillips has a hitting style of line drive groundball or home run. Why do I surmise this? Well in those 245 at bats he has a ridiculous 14 GIDP and only 10 doubles compared to 15 homers. I could be completely wrong, but then again, if I am not, I wonder how effective Phillips' hitting style would be in the majors as I would assume the low line drives or groundballs are the types of plays that major leaguers are markedly better at than minor leaguers. The most interesting Columbus pitching development has to have been what took place yesterday. Brad Halsey made his AAA return and was poor; 5.2 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout. Then came the real shock, after Halsey left the game, Alex Graman came on in relief. This could be one of two things. One is that the Yankees just figured they would get Graman some work in before the AAA All Star Break to avoid him missing too much playing time. Two is that the Yankees are considering Graman as a LOOGY because they have finally come to the realization that The Run Fairy™ is terrible and are looking for a cheap replacement. If they are, this is a good idea in my opinion. While I think Halsey is a better prospect and will eventually be a solid starter somewhere, I think Graman, because of his higher strikeout rate, would work better in this type of role. The remaining members of the endless supply of potential relievers down at Columbus all got some work in. Colter Bean experienced a hiccup as he went 3 innings and struck out 6 while walking only 1, but allowed 4 hits, 1 home run, 2 runs, and 2 earned runs. Scott Proctor also struggled some: 2 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, and 1 walk. Bret Prinz made his AAA return and threw .2 of an inning where he struck out 1 and allowed no hits, walks, or runs. Jason Anderson went 1 inning and gave up 2 hits and struck out one. Scott Proctor went 2 innings and gave up 3 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, and 1 walk. C.J. Nitkowski managed to lose some serious ground in the LOOGY race by not registering an out in 2 appearances, but taking that time to give up 2 hits, 2 runs, and 2 earned runs. Nice. Lastly, Steve Karsay had another scoreless outing where he went 1 inning and allowed a hit with an otherwise clean line. Karsay has a 0 AAA ERA thus far, and seems to be doing well enough. Sean Henn and "Tiger" Wang continued their inconsistent performances-to-date. On the one hand, Wang went 7 innings and struck out 8 while allowing 4 runs, 3 of which were earned; on the other hand, he gave up 10 hits. Henn went 4.1 innings and gave up 8 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 5 in his disaster start. This is part of an interesting thread noted by nj.com, "[Henn] has come up empty on every odd-numbered start since...May 27. In those outings, Henn is 2-1 with a 6.75 ERA, while in the even-numbered starts...Henn is 1-0 with three no-decisions and an ERA of 0.87." Call me crazy, but that screams bullpen. Bronson Sardinha giveth and he taketh away. On offense, he has been a godsend for the Thunder, who have gotten nothing out of 3B this year. In the recent 3 game stretch he was 2 for 10 with a home run, a single, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Unfortunately, he also made 3 errors in the 3 games. So, through the first 20 games of his AA career he is hitting a very nice .297/.395/.500/.303 with a solid 12:22 walk to strikeout ratio. Unfortunately, once again, he also has 7 errors in 19 games at 3B. In their most recent performances, Jose Valdez continued to surpass Jeff Karstens...kind of. Karstens went 5.2 innings with 9 hits allowed and 4 runs, all earned, let in. He also walked 1, struck out 1, and gave up a homer. Valdez went 6.2 innings with 6 hits allowed and 5 runs, only 1 of which was earned, let in. He also walked 1, struck out 2, and gave up a homer. Basically, you like Karstens strikeouts and wonder why so many hits fell in and like Valdez's low hits allowed, but wonder why more hits didn't fall in. Over the 3 game stretch since I last updated, Melky Cabrera was decent. The CF was 3 for 11 with a double, 2 singles, a HBP, a walk and no strikeouts. Melky has cooled down to a .304 average, but I would expect him to start rising once again. Eric Duncan was a mixed bag, 1 for 10 with a single and 4 strikeouts, which is bad, but he also drew 3 walks, which is very good. Unfortunately, Duncan also made 2 errors in the 3 games. Rudy Guillen, following a hot start to his return to action, has cooled down considerably. This was evident in his 1 for 13 with 5 strikeouts stretch. Hector Made and Erold Andrus are the sole position player survivors left to the BC team that has lost Eric Duncan and Melky Cabrera this year. Made had a non-descript 2 day stretch; he was 2 for 9 with a single, a double, a walk, and 2 sacrifices. Made had 2 errors in 3 games. Erold Andrus was 3 for 12 with 3 singles, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. He has cooled down recently, but hopefully will still finish the season strong. As we move on to Staten Island, Tim Battle was 0 for 13 with 5 strikeouts and Marcos Vechionacci was 1 for 11 with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Having seen the team play over the weekend, I'm not so sure about Tim Battle being at SI. Staten Island needs a lot of things right now as they are really struggling, but I don't think Battle is ready to help them. You can see that he has a ton of baseball talent, but for someone from a warm weather state he is not very polished. Battle's "plan" at the plate seems to be to simply flail at everything, which leads to a lot of strikeouts. On the other hand, he occasionally makes contact, and when he does, his live bat allows him to put a charge in the ball. This is the type of player I would rather see in the GCL, learning to work on plate discipline, rather than in the NYPL where he is up against advanced college competition. Though Vechionacci is a year younger than Battle, I feel perfectly fine with him being at SI. Watching him, he seemed like the best hitter on the team by a good margin. He is an incredibly patient/disciplined hitter, especially considering his age. Vech's approach is the ideal one of simply waiting for your pitch and putting a solid line drive swing on it. Vech also has no problem taking borderline pitches, which was very impressive. In addition, SI also called upon Marcos to play SS yesterday and he did so without making an error. On the season he has now played 2 games at SS without any errors and 16 at 3B with 1 error. Very nice. The combined hitting line is 28 for 76 with 7 doubles, 1 home run, 10 walks, and 13 strikeouts. Once again, very nice. Marcos...is the man. Estee Harris also seems to be showing some signs of life. Behold his 2 for 4, 2 singles, 3 walks, and a HBP performance over the weekend. In recent GCL Yankees news, Jay Stephens continues to get the job done without huge strikeout totals. Stephens went 5 innings and allowed 4 hits, 2 walks, 0 runs, and struck out 4. In 20.2 innings Stephens has struck out 13, but has otherwise been dominant. Christian Garcia continues to pitch "ok", but not great, his rawness is still evident. In today's game, Garcia went 3 innings and allowed 2 hits, 2 runs, and 1 earned run. Garcia also walked 2 and struck out 2. As for the hitters, they continue to do what they have done all season, which means Poterson and Amador are striking out and Perez is struggling, and so on and so forth. (One oddity about the GCL as of late, is that Marcos Vechionacci was credited with a pinch AB on Saturday, which is impossible you would think, considering he played for SI later that day. In addition he was credited with a pinch-running appearance in this afternoon's game. Hopefully, there is an explanation coming for this.) *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-08T23:29:00.000-04:00

APPARENTLY, THERE ARE SOME OTHER PLAYERS IN THE SYSTEM If I told you that Columbus scored 14 runs on 20 hits and both Navarro and Cano played, you would assume they were a part of the offensive attack, right? Well, if you did so, you were wrong and I would understand your shock, as I did the same thing. Of the 20 Columbus hits, 18 belonged to the first 5 hitters in the lineup, a group that does include the aforementioned duo. Cano was 0 for 4 with an RBI on a sac fly. For his part, Navarro was 0 for 4 with a walk, and no, I am not fully ready to say he is over his head yet. Andy Phillips did his part in hoarding the hits; the 1B was 4 for 6 with a single, 2 doubles, and a home run. He had a huge night, to say the least. C.J. Nitkowski, who must smell blood with every poor outing by The Run Fairy, pitched 1.2 innings of clean work while striking out 1. Jason Anderson came on to close out the game, in the absence of 2 of his fellow replacement level relievers. Anderson pitched 2.1 and allowed 2 hits while striking out 1. Matt DeSalvo evened his AA record at 2-2 with what amounts to a sub par outing for him. In 6 innings, the right-hander allowed 4 hits and walked 2, which led to 2 runs, both of which were earned, and struck out 2. At the least, this was an improvement over DeSalvo's last outing, which was his only disastrous one in 4 AA outings. There are probably people who either don't believe the FSL is as much of a pitcher's league as it's reputation says it is, for those of you who subscribe to this line of thinking, I give you Bronson Sardinha. Bronson went 2 for 4 with a double, a homer, and a walk today. The homer was his 3rd in 64 AA at bats. This is on the heels of him managing 2 homers in 248 FSL at bats. What a difference a league makes. Sardinha could make some very good trade bait for the Yankees considering he will be about 3rd on the 3B organizational depth charts (Funny how as soon as A-Rod comes to man the hot corner for the next decade or so the system starts producing quality 3B like nobody's business). The Tampa Yankees won, 6 to 4. Steven White started, but performed poorly. In 4 innings, the righty out of Baylor gave up 6 hits and 6 walks, which led to 4 runs, all earned, while striking out 2 and giving up 2 homers. This is pure speculation on my part, but I am inclined to believe he did not have his control this afternoon. Melky Cabrera got right back on the horse, so to speak, by going 1 for 4 with a single and a walk, he also managed to avoid the strikeout today. Eric Duncan, much more prone to the K than Cabrera, did not strike out either. Instead, the 3B was 1 for 3 with a home run and 2 walks. Duncan is 4 for his first 13 with 2 singles, a triple, a homer, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts at Tampa. Perhaps a change of scenery is just what he needed. Tyler Clippard had a poor outing for BC. He struggled with his control early and when he got the ball in the strike zone he got hit pretty well. This added up to him having to gut through 6 innings of work while giving up 12 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, a home run, and striking out 3. Clippard and Gomez now have the same ERA, 3.83, but have gotten there in very different ways. It would be great if both guys could go on a nice season-ending run and bring them down to at most 3. Erold Andrus is apparently now in a slump after being hot for a while. After going 0 for 4 with a strikeout, Andrus has had back-to-back poor nights for the first time in a while. Hector Made has kept on trucking though; the SS was 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. Much to my chagrin, the SI Yanks did not play so technically I can't really talk about Marcos Vechionacci and how he is the best thing since sliced bread and how if he does fail, and it is possible, I will look pretty foolish. So, yeah, on to the GCL we go. Jose Perez seems to have found his stroke. The 18-year-old OF was 2 for 4 with 2 singles, 2 stolen bases, and a walk today. In 30 at bats, Perez, who is more known for his tools than his production, has drawn 7 walks while striking out 7 times, an impressive handling of the strike zone. The Anderson Amador-Jon Poterson strikeout contest also intensified today. Amador was 1 for 4 with a double and a strikeout, while Poterson was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts. Poterson now has 18 in 57 at bats, compared to 21 in 57 for Amador, this could go down to the wire folks. Perhaps the most exciting news of the day out of the GCL involves two the return of two players. Deivi Mendez appears to be on his way back from injury and should be in Tampa shortly where he can continue what was looking like a breakout season. The other return was more of an arrival. Irwil Rojas made his debut and went 2 for 3 with 2 singles. Rojas is a C who did well on one of the Yankees' DSL teams last year and has been talked about for some time now. I will try and have more on him tomorrow. Now all the Yankees need is a Cordova or Holmann sighting. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-07T22:35:00.000-04:00

MARCOS VECHIONACCI IS BABE RUTH, ALEX RODRIGUEZ, BARRY BONDS, AND ROGER CLEMENS ALL ROLLED INTO ONE...EXCEPT BETTER Columbus lost again, which gives them back-to-back defeats. While common in years past, this is not a familiar position for this model of the Clippers. Dioner Navarro did not play as the Yankees continue to play Sal Fasano ahead of him. When the Yankees promoted Navarro he was struggling. All season long he had been getting singles and drawing walks, but had shown little extra base power. Near the end of his Trenton stint the singles disappeared. Despite this, the Yankees chose to promote him and I supported the move based on his strong plate discipline helping to carry him. I also figured that the minor injury he incurred near the end of his AA stint was healed, since he WAS being promoted. Since being promoted to AAA Navarro has played in about half the games, with this in mind I have no idea why the Yankees promoted him. If Navarro is injured and that is why he has not played as much, then it was stupid to promote him in the first place. If Navarro is not being played because the front office truly believes Sal Fasano is the best C for Columbus and Navarro only makes a better backup than Parrish and nothing else, then it was stupid to promote him in the first place. Basically, this move looks dumb right now and not through Navarro's fault, as he has not fallen flat on his face. 20 or so plate appearances where he has barely struck out and has sent all of his hits for extra bases, but not collected many hits, is not falling flat on ones face. At least not to me. Robinson Cano, on the other hand, has played every night and is doing a good job. Tonight was just a continuation of this. Cano was 2 for 4 with a single, a homer, and 2 strikeouts. The homer was off of a lefty, which is always nice to see from your left-hand hitters. Cano now has an even 4 walks to 4 strikeouts in 38 at bats, to go along with 4 extra base hits. Overall the 2B now has 39 extra base hits on the season, the breakdown is 22 doubles, 8 triples, and 9 home runs. Andy Phillips was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts and his average has plummeted to .314. The lowest it has been in quite some time. Alex Graman took the mound and probably wishes he hadn't though I suspect some poor defense was at work today. Clearly, the Clippers were attempting to emulate the major league club. In 6 innings Graman somehow gave up 10 hits, none of which were homers, though he struck out 7. So, of 21 balls in play, 10 fell in for hits. Something does not seem right about that. Graman only walked 1 and all those baserunners turned into 5 runs, all of which were earned. 2 of the 3 relievers that followed Graman fared better. Colter Bean was the first out the gate and the best of the night. In 1 inning, Bean allowed 1 hit and struck out 2. Karsay then came on in relief of Bean, which is a pretty nice change of pace for Columbus, and threw an inning with a hit and a strikeout. Finally, Jason Anderson came in, was not as much of a change of pace, and sucked. Anderson only managed to get one batter out, but that was enough time to give up 3 hits and the game-winning run, which was earned. Ramon Ramirez's control was off, and so was his performance. His string of dominance ended after 4 starts, as tonight all he could manage was 6 innings where he allowed 8 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 4 walks, and struck out 6. The silver lining comes in the form of the strikeouts and the lack of giving up any longballs, which is a Ramirez vice. Bronson Sardinha managed his first non-home run extra base hit of his AA career by hitting a triple in 6 at bats. Sardinha also struck out twice and saw his average drop to an even .300. Tampa lost in 10 innings tonight. It almost doesn't feel like a Tampa game unless it goes extra innings. Melky Cabrera showed that his struggles are not over as he was 0 for 5 with a strikeout to fall to an even .300 in his FSL stint. Eric Duncan's problem, the strikeout, resurfaced in a big way tonight. The strikeout was the conclusion of 3 of Duncan's at bats. In his other 2 at bats he singled once and made out once. Rudy Guillen seems to have benefited from the time off. He went 2 for 5 with a single and a double. The RF is now 7 for 17 with 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 2 doubles since returning from injury. Abel Gomez, an example of a pitcher that qDIPS was showing as being lucky, finally had his luck catch up to him today. The left-hander only lasted 3 innings and gave up 8 hits, 9 runs, 9 earned runs, 4 walks, and struck out 3. Gomez' ERA skyrocketed from a little under 3 to 3.83. I wouldn't make too much of this disastrous outing though, and just chalk it up to being Gomez's equivalent of Tyler Clippard's infamous Kane County outing. Clippard will look to get back on his A-game tomorrow night as he faces a tough Beloit squad. Peoria managed to control Erold Andrus, something that has not happened much lately, as the CF was held to just 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Hector Made had a decent day by going 2 for 5 with a single and a double, but there were also 2 strikeouts thrown in. Now, on to the game and player I have wanted to get to. Staten Island won, but more importantly, Marcos Vechionacci continued to show why he is The Game. The 17-year-old 3B was 3 for 4 with 3 singles and a walk. He now has 16 NYPL at bats and has gotten a hit in 8 of them, while not striking out, and walking 3 times. The one negative thing you could say is that only one of those hits, a double, was for extra bases, but really, when you're 17 and playing in a league that is normally reserved for college draftees, you're allowed SOME leeway. Tim Battle was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a walk and a strikeout from the leadoff spot. Combining the singles and the walk, Battle was on 1B at least 3 times today. That being said, I am shocked, absolutely SHOCKED, that the man with 5 stolen bases in his first 3 games at SI did not make any pilfering attempts today. Estee Harris, he of the 0 for 4 with a strikeout performance, continues to be a party pooper amongst the young and the talented. This has been a lost year for a guy who I had huge hopes for heading into the season. Unfortunately, I did not see/acknowledge the signs that were apparent last offseason. The GCL Yankees won again, as they are proving to be, as a team, too good for the GCL. Christian Garcia was wild but effective. In 2 innings, he walked 3, but struck out 5 while allowing no hits or runs. Jose Perez seems to have finally gotten it going and was 1 for 2 with a single, a sacrifice fly, and 2 walks. Perez has 6 walks in 26 at bats, demonstrating a good eye at the plate. Jon Poterson showed why the Yankees drafted him by knocking his 3rd homer of the season, one of two hits in 5 at bats. Poterson also showed why I am worried about him, by striking out for the 16th time in 52 at bats. Speaking of strikeouts and GCL hitters I worry about, Anderson Amador was 1 for 5 with a single and 3 of the 7 GCL strikeouts on the day. Amador now has 20 strikeouts in 53 at bats. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-07T20:56:00.000-04:00

JULY 2004 Players who are in the majors are not eligible for the list and this list is more performance based than scouting based. Here's the new top 10, taking into account performances and scouting reports as of last night, please feel free to criticize, agree, theorize, etc in the Comments: 1. Eric Duncan 2. Robinson Cano 3. Dioner Navarro 4. Melky Cabrera 5. Bronson Sardinha 6. Tyler Clippard 7. Abel Gomez 8. Matthew DeSalvo 9. Jose Valdez 10. Marcos Vechionacci *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-07T20:11:00.000-04:00

IT TOOK ME A WHILE So, last time, I addressed the top 10 Yankee prospects I reviewed the guys who made up the June list. This time around I will look at players who did not make the last list, but have been making positive gains as of late. Jose Valdez, SP, 21, A+ Tampa (Name, Position, Seasonal Age, Level) I have been critical of Valdez all season and he has been deserving of this all season. As of late, though, he has been hot and hopefully is hitting his stride. The reason I am so unforgiving with Valdez is he is a guy whose talent I heard BA rave about in 2002 and since then I have been waiting for him to explode, not literally, and this has yet to happen. He has yet to harness his good fastball into dominant results. With a qDIPS that is now better than Jeff Karstens' and having 3 starts in a row that have produced a combined line of 19.2 innings pitched, 12 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 14 strikeouts, and 1 home run. Hopefully, this change is for real. STOCK: Up Rudy Guillen, RF, 20, A+ Tampa Rudy Guillen, a toolsy OF prospect, fell of the top 10 and disappeared from this site not due to poor performance, though he was not exactly lighting up the FSL earlier this year, but due to injury. Guillen suffered a leg injury in May and did not resurface until late June. Since his return to the FSL Guillen has been on fire. Guillen is 5 for 15 with 4 singles, a double, 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Guillen has historically been a free swinger so it is nice to see him do a good job with walks and strikeouts thus far in an extremely small sample. STOCK: Up Marcos Vechionacci, 3B, 17, SS-A Staten Island I began mentioning Vechionacci on a consistent basis on June 17th. In 49 GCL Yankee at bats Vech proved to be too much for the league. He played defense, hit for average, hit for power, got on base, even did some aggressive baserunning. Since being promoted to the NYPL Vech has continued to destroy short-season pitching. He is just 17, but could be headed for Battle Creek if he keeps this up. At this point the only thing that could hold him back is Steinbrenner's desire to win at SI and the best shot they have of winning consistently involves Vech manning 3B consistently. I tried thinking of a negative with Vech, but at this point I don't see any, maybe next time. STOCK: Up Tim Battle, CF, 18, SS-A Staten Island Tim Battle was seen as one of the steals of the 2003 draft, but the Yankees did not get much immediate use out of that steal since Battle was diagnosed with cancer. Since overcoming that, Battle has gotten back into the swing of things. Battle is probably the best power speed combo in the system as demonstrated by his 10 extra base hits and 10 stolen bases. The one concern with him is that though he has a solid 5 walks; he also has 21 strikeouts so he may not be able to hit well at the upper levels. It remains to be seen. STOCK: Up *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-07T00:25:00.000-04:00

KEEP ON TRUCKIN Personally, I'm running on fumes with all the updates I've been doing lately, but I'll get this one out today and try and finish the updated top 10 tomorrow. I promise. Now, on to the action. Columbus lost a marathon of a baseball game as they went down by a final of 2 to 1 in 12 innings. Andy Phillips managed a single in 5 at bats while striking out once. Dioner Navarro was held in check as he was 0 for 4, but did not strike out. Combining the lack of AAA strikeouts with the lack of AAA walks, I am going to assume that right now Navarro is one of his periods where he presses and just hacks without attempting to properly work the count. Robinson Cano, despite not gathering many base hits of late, continues to impress me. While 0 for 2 with a sacrifice fly and a strikeout is nothing to brag about, Cano did collect a walk. His AAA walk rate, in an admittedly small sample, is ahead of his AA walk rate, which was improving as the season went along and was already the best of his career. Cano still has wild at bats, but he has made great strides in controlling the strike zone. Scott Proctor made a dominant appearance in tonight's game. In 2 innings, he had a clean line while striking out 3. This was on the heels of C.J. Nitkowski striking out the one batter he faced and before Sam Marsonek lost the game by allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk in 1 inning of work. Trenton lost tonight as "Tiger" Wang continues to be maddeningly inconsistent. Wang will have one nice start, you'll think he's going to get it going and begin harnessing his considerable raw ability, and next time out he implodes. The implosion this time came in the form of a 6 inning start that saw him give up 7 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, walk 3 and strike out 5. He has a 4.17 ERA. At this point, in his second season of AA, and not making nearly as much progress as he should be, I think Wang needs to make the move to the bullpen. The Yankees spent a ton of money on him, about 1.9 million, but it looks like the only return they may get on that is a reliever. I'll try and update this situation tomorrow morning, but it seems as though Bronson Sardinha may have been injured in last night's game. The 3B got in one at bat, in which he struck out, and that was all the playing time he got tonight. Hopefully, it is nothing too serious as Sardinha was really beginning to make some progress in terms of proving his ability to handle AA pitching. Jose Valdez has now put together back-to-back good starts for the first time in forever. Perhaps the hard throwing right-hander has found "it". Perhaps he is just in a mild hot streak. Either way, he went 7 innings and gave up 3 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, and 1 walk while striking out 5 to earn his 6th victory of the season. For all the Valdez bashing I do compared to the Karstens praising, Valdez actually has a 3.33 qDIPS compared to Karstens 3.43. Perhaps I am being tainted by expectations. Melky Cabrera was moved from the 3 slot to the 2 slot, not because of his slump, but rather because Eric Duncan has finally arrived in Tampa and was immediately given the 3 slot. Cabrera was 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and an uncharacteristic 3 strikeouts, while Eric Duncan made his A+ debut as the DH and went 2 for 5 with a single and a triple. Most importantly, Duncan did not strikeout. Rudy Guillen also continues to swing a hot bat since his return from injury and went 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and a strikeout. There wasn't much news from Battle Creek. The game was shortened due to rain and the action that they did get in was not full of prospect excitement. Hector Made was 1 for 3 with a single and a strikeout while making an error in the field, and Erold Andrus was 0 for 3 after making his return to the leadoff spot. Staten Island finally won a game. Their pitching finally showed up and held the opposition to 3 runs, while their offense continues to roll as they put 8 runs on the board. The leader of the offensive attack was none other than Marcos Vechionacci. Vech was 3 for 4 with 3 singles and a walk. In his first 3 games in SI he has 4 RBI and 2 walks while going 5 for 12 with a double. Yes, he is still 17. Tim Battle had a Tim Battle type game, which means productivity, with some strikeouts thrown in. Battle was 1 for 5 with a double and 2 strikeouts. I'm going to attempt to put what Battle has done in 2004 into perspective. If you take his combined GCL and SI numbers and put them over and adjust so that he plays a 150 game schedule, he would end the season with 50 doubles, 30 triples, 20 home runs, and 100 stolen bases. He would also strike out 210 times. This is all to say that he is an extremely talented individual and though he may go into deep slumps, as his player type is prone to do, his raw talent should be worth the wait. Estee Harris had the best game of his SI stint by going 1 for 4 with a single and no strikeouts. This has been a trying season for him and I hope his confidence holds up, as he is one of the more physically gifted players in the system. The GCL Yankees continued to get by on the strength of their pitching this afternoon. Abreu picked up the win by going 4 innings and limiting the opposition to only 1 hit, while striking out 6. Abreu has now allowed 1 base runner in 7 innings of work while striking out 9. Jose Perez had one of his stronger games thus far as he went 2 for 4 with 2 singles from the leadoff spot. Anderson Amador was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts as he races for a strikeout crown along with Jon Poterson. Poterson went 1 for 4 with a single and did not strike out in this game. Nate Phillips was 1 for 4 with a double, his first extra base hit of the season. *** There are 2 posts that were just done today below this one, just so you know. Check them out. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

NO TITLE Columbus' offense carried them to a 13 to 3 victory yesterday, but most of the focus was on the mound. This is acceptable as Orlando Hernandez started the game, and he was relieved by Steve Karsay. Hernandez had another effective AAA outing by going 7 strong innings, in which he allowed 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, and struck out 5 while giving up a homer. Karsay came on and pitched 1 inning with a clean line other than collecting a strikeout. Karsay has yet to allow a run. Following Hernandez and Karsay was the much less established Jason Anderson. Anderson did not do a great job of placing himself in their company as he allowed a run in his inning of work by giving up 1 hit and a walk while not managing any strikeouts. Though the Columbus offense had a huge night, there were no real exciting numbers put up by The Duo. Navarro, for one, did not play. The Yankees seem to be resting him a lot, or just having Sal Fasano, Proven Veteran, catch the big guys. Robinson Cano DID play but was only 1 for 4 with a single; at the very least he did draw a walk. In 32 AAA at bats he has 3 walks and 1 strikeout, which is just excellent. Potential Replacement Player Andy Phillips had himself a fine showing by going 2 for 4 with a triple and a home run. The 1B also threw in a sac fly for good measure. After a brief slump he is back up to .324. Sean Henn got a career high 4th victory yesterday, despite pitching poorly. In 7.2 innings, Henn allowed 8 hits, 4 walks, and a homer, but that only turned into 2 runs, both of which were earned. The left-hander also struck out 5. His ERA stands at 3.67. Bronson Sardinha was elevated to the 3-spot in the lineup, which was almost inevitable, and had a solid debut there. In 5 plate appearances, Sardinha made out twice and walked three times. His rapidly improving AA BB:K ratio now stands at 8:16. Tampa the team lost, but 2 of the 3 prospects did well, so it was a positive game. The one prospect that did not do well was Melky Cabrera who is suddenly ice cold and striking out, something that he just does not do on a regular basis. Cabrera was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and has seen his average drop about .010 points to .313. Rudy Guillen on the other hand, seems to have learned to walk while injured. Considering he had a leg injury, this is mildly fitting...or not, whatever. Guillen was 1 for 3 with a walk while playing RF and hitting 5th. Jeff Karstens had the best night of all. Karstens went 7.1 innings and only allowed 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, and 3 walks while striking out 7. Karstens ERA is 3.54. Hector Made was 2 for 4 with a single and a double as Battle Creek had a decent offensive night putting 5 runs on the board. Made, thankfully, seems to be hitting again. Erold Andrus seems to have found "it" as he is hitting for average, power, and taking his walks. Last night was a continuation of this as the CF went 1 for 3 with a triple and a walk. Staten Island lost again as their offense continues to show up, 6 hits and 14 runs, while their pitching lags behind, 9 runs and 12 hits. Tim Battle has had little problems with NYPL pitching thus far as he had his second multi-hit game by going 2 for 4 with a double, a single, and a walk. He also struck out twice, and those strikeouts may become a concern at some point. Battle also stole 3 bases for good measure though, this guy is just an incredible talent and were it not for the strikeouts my man-crush on him would be as strong as the one I hold for Marcos Vechionacci. The same Vech who last night was 2 for 5 with a double as he begins on his quest to prove to the Yankees that yet another level of the puny minor leagues is not good enough to hold him. Amidst all this offensive goodness Estee Harris managed to go 0 for 5 with 3 strikeouts, which gives him about 1,035 Ks on the year. With most of their offense, Battle and Vechionacci, elevated to the NYPL, the GCL Yankees will now have to win on the strength of their pitching, which they are very capable of doing as they showed last night. The starter was Jeffrey Marquez, who is making the Yankees front office look like a bunch of geniuses so far. Marquez went 5 innings, struck out 5, walked 1, and allowed 3 hits and no runs. In his first 14.1 innings he has allowed 10 hits, 4 walks, 1 earned run, and struck out 18. His dominance of the league combined with the pitching disaster known as NYPL could lead to a quick promotion. Coming on in relief of Marquez was Jay Stephens. Stephens line was completely clean in 2 innings of work. Stephens is having a solid sophomore season with a 1.72 ERA through 15.2 innings. Jose Perez took over in CF for Tim Battle and failed to live up to the performance of the player he was replacing. Perez was 0 for 2 with a walk. Jon Poterson, who is thus far not making the front office looking like geniuses, was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts. Anderson Amador, who seems to be heating up, was 2 for 3 with a double and a caught stealing, and Nate Phillips went 1 for 3 with a single, both players struck out once. Phillips also threw in a trademark error for good measure. *** I MIGHT be able to get some more stuff posted, but I am not sure right now. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-06T19:59:00.000-04:00

THE JEFF HEM SPECTACULAR Since I don't live in Michigan I don't get to see the Battle Creek Yankees on a regular basis, or ever. To quench my thirst for more information about them, other than what is apparent statistically, I asked Battle Creek Yankees announcer Jeff Hem some questions. Here is what he said about the team that started the season as the most prospect loaded of any Yankee affiliate: FM: Eric Duncan, who was recently promoted to Tampa, has had one of the best bats power-wise on the Battle Creek team all season. However, in the last month his average has gone down as his strikeouts have gone up. What happened? JH: Duncan, for whatever reason, became less patient at the plate than he had been most of the season. He was swinging at balls out of the strike zone that he normally lays off. That can start to happen, especially for someone as young as he, when you have a couple of struggling nights. What was impressive about Duncan, though, is even when his average was sinking he still found ways to contribute offensively. He still drew some walks, would reach on a fielder's choice here and there, and ran the bases very well. He did drive in a lot of runs for Battle Creek, but he also scored [a lot] of them as well. FM: Many baseball insiders have speculated that Eric Duncan has no chance of sticking at 3B, but after making 12 errors in his first 21 games, Duncan has really calmed down defensively. What do you make of Duncan's progress in manning the hot corner? What are the best and worst aspects of his defensive game? JH: His glove is great. He's worked extremely hard defensively. His work ethic is top-notch. Andy Stankiewicz was working with him when he was with the team as a roving infield instructor, and Duncan continually works both on his own and with the coaching staff. His arm is plenty strong enough to play third base[;] he just needs to become a little more accurate. If you base his future on his work ethic, I see no reason why he can't play third base. FM: Tyler Clippard, though he has great walk, strikeout, and home run numbers, has given up a lot of hits. Is this a case of dribblers and weak hits getting by his defense, or a case of legitimate hard hit balls falling in? Also, do you know what the velocity on Clippard's fastball is? JH: Clippard's fastball ranges from about 88-92 mph. He can go a little harder than at times, but it's mostly 88-92. He has given up [a lot] of hits, but his ERA has remained pretty well under 4.00 all season. He hasn't gotten consistent run support (which occurs for all pitchers at some point) this season, and I know that's been frustrating for him. FM: Abel Gomez has had a very nice season, despite an unseemly walk rate. What type of pitches does he throw and with what velocity? Do you have any idea what leads to his wildness? JH: Gomez is a very talented young pitcher who is still very much learning how to throw strikes consistently. His fastball is upper 80s to low 90s, and he throws a curveball and a cut fastball/slider. He is most effective when his change-up is in the zone (usually about 8-10 mph slower than the fastball). FM: Eric Duncan, Hector Made, Melky Cabrera, Tyler Clippard, and Abel Gomez are probably the 5 biggest prospects to pass through Battle Creek this season. If you had to peg one of these guys as a future major league superstar, who would it be and why? JH: Wow, what a tough question, as all five of those guys are 19 [years old]. Superstar is a word that is too premature for them. The first guy to get to the big leagues, I would say, could be Melky Cabrera. The Midwest League was not challenging enough for him, and he's done well at Tampa too. He has all the tools, and if he can develop a little more power in his bat, he can make it to the majors. Great speed and glove to go along with his ability to hit for a high average. To be perfectly honest, each of these five guys has the potential to get there. Cabrera may just get there first. *** I want to thank Jeff Hem again for taking the time out to answer my questions. I hope everyone enjoyed his insight as much as I did, and I will try to update some more later tonight. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-05T17:48:00.000-04:00

EVEN MORE PROMOTIONS Columbus won yesterday on the strength of the offense. The Columbus hitters put 9 runs and 12 hits on the board. Despite this type of offensive explosion, Cano and Navarro did not have incredible games. Cano continues to cool after a torrid start to his AAA career. The 2B only managed to pick up a single in 5 at bats. Perhaps the most encouraging statistic about Cano's AAA performance thus far is that he has only 1 strikeout in 28 at bats, which is pretty incredible. Dioner Navarro did not collect many hits, only 1 in his 4 at bats, but it was a triple. The triple was his 4th extra base hit in 19 AAA at bats. This is coming on the heels of him only managing 18 extra base hits in 255 AA at bats. If Navarro can only start throwing in some singles and walks here and there, that sounds weird to say this year, he can make the Yankees look for very smart for promoting him. In addition to making me look smart for condoning that promotion. After suffering through a power slump that turned into a hitting slump, Andy Phillips broke out in yesterday's game. In 3 at bats, the 1B hit a home run and walked once. Three members of The Relief Corps took the mound last night. Scott Proctor had the worst performance of the three. In 1 inning pitched, the right-hander allowed 3 hits, 1 run, and 1 earned run while walking none and striking out 1. Colter Bean pitched a clean inning while picking up a strikeout and C.J. Nitkowski picked up 2 strikeouts in 1 inning of work while walking none and allowing only 1 hit. Trenton lost again yesterday. This time it was by a score of 5 to 3. Any hopes they had of making the playoffs are pretty much gone. The hopes disappeared once word that Kevin Reese, the best player on the team this year, was promoted to AAA got around. Reese isn't much of a prospect at this point, but he has been very productive this year. To counteract this loss Tommy Winrow, the best Tampa hitter this year, was promoted to AA. If Winrow struggles, and his numbers this year would say that's not likely, it will be interesting to see if Melky Cabrera is considered. As for hitters that are currently on the Trenton roster, Bronson Sardinha had a very encouraging game. By going 1 for 2 with a single, 2 walks, and a strikeout, Sardinha took a step in the direction of righting his BB:K numbers. Now it's time for the doubles and triples to start showing up. Tampa won their game in 10 innings by a score of 5 to 4. In addition to those 5 runs, the Tampa offense also picked up 12 hits. Shockingly, Melky Cabrera was not a huge part of this. The normally more productive CF was only 1 for 5 with a single and 2 strikeouts. Rudy Guillen picked up the slack in his second game as the DH by collecting 2 singles in 4 at bats and even got himself a walk (!). The recently promoted Eric Duncan was nowhere to be found, but should be in the lineup today. The Battle Creek offense had a big night in their first game P.D. (Post Duncan) by putting up 9 runs on only 9 hits. Rather than every hit being a homer, the key to scoring so much for BC was that they drew 10 walks and only struck out twice. Hector Made, unfortunately, picked up one of those strikeouts and was only 1 for 4 with a single. Erold Andrus had a great game by going 1 for 3 with a single and 2 walks, though 1 of the walks was intentional. By the time the year is over, don't be surprised if Erold Andrus 2004 looks a lot like Rudy Guillen 2003. While the GCL Yankees did not play a game yesterday, their players were the big newsmakers. Tim Battle and Estee Harris were promoted to Staten Island. So was Marcos Vechionacci. He's 17, in case you forgot. I don't know how much more excited I can get about a prospect so I won't try to put my feelings into words. In their NYPL debuts Harris and Vech were held hitless. Vech was 0 for 3 with a walk and an RBI while Harris was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Tim Battle, on the other hand, hit the ground running. Battle was 3 for 5 with 2 singles, a homer, 2 stolen bases, and 2 strikeouts. He strikes out a lot, but he has the looks of a legit 5-tool player. *** Back to updating the top 10 next time around. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-04T17:12:00.000-04:00

LATEST TOP 10 My monthly top 10s will be based more on production than potential, whereas the year-end rankings will take scouting reports into further consideration. First, we start with the review process: 1. Eric Duncan, 3B, 19, A+ Tampa (Name, Position, Seasonal Age, Level) A month ago Eric Duncan was flying high. He was hovering around the .300 mark, he had been playing errorless defense, and was easily one of the organization's most impressive offensive prospects. Then things fell apart. Duncan's average plummeted about .040 points in a month and the strikeouts piled up and his BB:K ratio went from the neighborhood of 1:1.5 to 1:2+. One good night later, he has found himself promoted to the FSL where he will join former teammate Melky Cabrera as two of the younger everyday players in that circuit. My initial reaction to the promotion was that Duncan would be eaten alive because he was not exactly excelling at the time of promotion, but sometimes numbers, a major factor in my judgment of players, can be misleading. Perhaps this is the case with Duncan and his promotion will only serve as a starting point for a new hot streak. This would be a repeat of what happened late last summer as I questioned the Yankees promotion of Duncan to the NY-Penn League only to see Duncan go on and tear that league apart. Through all the ups and downs, one thing that has remained constant is Duncan's power as he is amongst the MWL leaders in extra base hits. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to display his extra base hit prowess in the FSL, if so, he may in fact have the legitimate 35-40 home run power that some had mentioned in the offseason. In addition to watching the power, the other thing to keep an eye on will be the BB and K rates. Stock: Down 2. Dioner Navarro, C, 20, AAA Columbus Though Navarro was not riding nearly as high as Duncan around this time last month, June was a disappointment for him, in terms of production, as well. Navarro's average fell and his extra base hit power continued to be absent, though he did manage to continue drawing his walks while making contact. Then, similarly to Duncan, he was promoted. While Navarro's promotion has only fueled speculation about whether or not he would be traded, I would rather believe it is because the Yankees felt he was ready. Thus far, he seems to be proving the minor league directors correct. While he has only collected 4 hits in his first 19 AAA at bats, Navarro does not seem to be overmatched judging by his only striking out 3 times. His walk total, 1, should also begin to increase. The most encouraging aspect of Navarro's AAA time thus far is that of his 4 hits, all 4 are for extra bases. He has 3 doubles and 1 triple. Hopefully, the re-emergence of his extra base power is real and not a fluke. Stock: Neutral 3. Melky Cabrera, CF, 19, A+ Tampa Last time around I basically gushed about all aspects of Melky Cabrera's game. My one really negative comment was about his lack of homers. Seeing as Melky went and hit one of those, I can't really say anything bad about him. Sure it kind of sucks that he only has 1 home run thus far, but then you consider that he has played in the 2 worst offensive full season leagues and still managed to lace 29 doubles, 5 triples, and that 1 home run while .329 and you don't feel so bad. Add in a 24 walk to 41 strikeout ratio on the season and you feel better. Mix in some great defensive tools and you feel even better. Consider that he has the looks of an All-Star type top of the order hitter and you're smiling ear-to-ear. Simply put, Melky Cabrera is the man and has shown no signs of slowing down this season. Don't be shocked if he makes it to AA sometime in the next month, during his age-19 season. Stock: Up 4. Robinson Cano, 2B, 21, AAA Columbus If you are a prospect and you are promoted amidst a whirlwind of trade rumors, only to have those trade rumors become speculation about how you will fit into the big club's lineup in the near future, you know you're tearing it up. Consider how much I gushed about Melky and then consider that Cano's 2004 has basically been Melky's, but at the two highest levels of the minors, and with home run power. Cano is probably the most big-league ready Yankee prospect, though he is not quite there yet and could still use another month of seasoning. If around August 1st he is hitting .300 with power and discipline and Cairo is coming back to Earth (something that is thankfully not happening so far, knock on wood), give this man a job. If not, let him stay in AAA until September call-ups. Either way, he should be the starting 2B for the Yankees for most of 2004 barring anything drastic such as trade or injury. Stock: Up 5. Tyler Clippard, RHP, 19, A- Battle Creek While Clippard still has not run off a dominant stretch, like I would have expected, he is still very much in control of his MWL opponents. Once again, the only statistical hole that remains for Clippard is his high hit rate, but is this a concern? Seemingly the answer is no. Consider that of the 33 MWL pitchers with at least 80 innings pitched, Clippard's qDIPs of 2.66 ranks fourth to Brad Knox, 22, who has a 2.50, Adam Harben, 20, who has a 2.47 and Michel Simard and Calvin Medlock, 22 and 21 respectively, who have 2.37s, rank ahead of Clippard. This all brings me to my next point, which I have expressed on previous occasions. Tyler Clippard should be promoted, there is nothing left at the A- level for him to learn. He needs to face better hitters, hitters who stand a better chance against his outstanding curveball, which would force him to work on fleshing out his entire array of pitches. Stock: Neutral 6. Bronson Sardinha, 3B, 21, AA Trenton As he continued to hit single after single, take walk after walk, and commit error after error, Bronson Sardinha received something for the first time. Despite being a former supplemental 1st round draft pick, Sardinha's promotion to Trenton in mid-June was the first in-season promotion of his career. Since being promoted, Sardinha has hit single after single, taken his walks here and there, and committed error after error. He has essentially remained the same player, with a little boost in SLG, which is a very good thing for a prospect to do when promoted. Sardinha needs to continue to develop his power and improve his AA BB:K numbers for this season to be his first successful full season of minor league baseball. Stock: Up 7. Abel Gomez, SP, 19, A- Battle Creek While Abel Gomez has both a superior strikeout rate and ERA to Tyler Clippard, his qDIPs of 3.33, owing to high walk totals and luck on balls in play shows that Clippard has in fact performed better. Despite this, I think Gomez would also be best served by a promotion. In his last 4 starts, Abel has pitched 23.1 innings and walked 8 while striking out 28, which is his best stretch of the season. He has used this run to lower his ERA to 2.98. Whether this is a hot streak or a real turn of the corner remains to be seen, but it is the type of moment, when coupled with seasonal performance that would seem right for promotion as hopefully the player would continue to play well at his new level. The bottom line in all of this for Gomez is that if the improvement in walk rate is real, then he is going to dominate for the rest of his MWL tenure, as walks have been the only thing holding him back. Stock: Up 8. Brad Halsey, SP, 23, ML Yankees In the June update I made my case for Brad Halsey to get his shot at the major league level. Since then he has, and has been very good in 2 of his 3 starts, with his other one being a disaster that was a byproduct of his wildness and his defense. Overall, Halsey has turned many heads due to his poise on the mound and effective pitching. He will get a couple more turns in the rotation and if he continues to impress he may find himself sticking with the Yankees...or being traded. Stock: Up 9. Jeffrey Karstens, SP, 21, A+ Tampa Karstens has yet to take off as much as I thought he would following a hot start to the season. What he has done is remain a very effective A+ pitcher. With the recent promotion of Matt DeSalvo to AA, Karstens has effectively become the Tampa staff ace. To fully assume that role, and to build up his prospect status, Karstens, who has very good control and a decent homer rate, is going to up his strikeout rate. That will be the key for him, as is the case with many pitching prospects. Stock: Neutral 10. Matthew DeSalvo, SP, 23, AA Trenton Matthew DeSalvo has been old for "good prospect" status at every level he has played at in the Yankee organization. At around 6'0'' tall he is a short pitcher. Making that worse, he is a short RIGHT-HANDED pitcher. He didn't pitch in a big-time college program. Despite all this, I have a lot of faith in Matt DeSalvo's ability. Of course, it doesn't hurt when you have a fastball that clocks around 91 to 95, contrary to John Sickels belief and according to BA and other sources, and when you have been as utterly dominant as he was in the FSL. After destroying the FSL, DeSalvo was promoted to the EL and in his first two starts he was dominant. His 3rd start saw him have trouble with the gopher ball as he doubled his career home runs allowed total, but that will likely not be a long-term problem. Look for him to get right back on track and put himself in position to enter 2005 with an outside shot at helping the big club sometime that season. Stock: Up *** I will not review last night's games right now, but rather sometime later...or not at all. *** The guys over at PinstripesPlus.com, a wonderful site for Yankee minor league info and views, recently did an interview with Battle Creek Yankees announcer Jeff Hem. Feeling inspired by them, I set out to interview someone within one of the Yankee minor league affiliates and lo and behold, "somebody" turned into Jeff Hem. If there is some overlap between our questions and answers, I apologize as I merely intended to get some questions I had been interested in answered. Hopefully, there are no hard feelings. That interview should be up sometime tomorrow. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-04T03:10:00.000-04:00

THAT'S UNEXPECTED (Please forgive me. I suspect the spelling/grammar will be worse than usual as I am having some spell/grammar-check issues.) I've been really busy lately, but I'll try and get you caught up on all the important happenings of the last 3 nights of minor league action. Without further ado, here we go: Columbus has played 4 games since my last update. Despite almost going an entire turn through their rotation, only one of their games was started by a pitcher of note. That pitcher was Alex Graman, who started one half of a July 2nd doubleheader. Graman pitched 6 innings and allowed 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and struck out 3. The start dropped Graman's ERA back under 3 after a bit of a rough stretch that had caused his ERA to rapidly rise. Unfortunately for Graman, Brad Halsey has done a better job of seizing opportunity at the major league level and his best chance for that type of success may lie in another organization. Causing Graman's start to hold even more importance was the name of the pitcher who came in to relieve him. Steve Karsay made his second minor-league appearance of the season, as he attempts to recover from a series of arm injuries, and was impressive. In 1 inning of work Karsay had a clean line other than the one batter he got to strike out. Bean, Proctor, Marsonek, Nitkowski & Anderson, the most notable members of the Columbus relief corps, all saw action during the course of the last 4 games. Bean pitched 1.1 inning and struck out 2 while allowing 1 hit as he attempts to get his ERA back under 2. Proctor pitched 1.2 inning and struck out 2 with an otherwise clean line as he attempts to place his ERA under 2. Marsonek pitched 1 inning, walked 1, and struck out 1 as he put his ERA at an even 3. Nitkowski pitched 1 inning and allowed a walk and a strikeout, his goal is to become the next in line for a Yankee LOOGY job. Jason Anderson was the worst of The Firm as he allowed 2 hits and 1 run, which was earned, during his lone inning of work. On the bright side he did manage 2 strikeouts. 1 for 8 with 3 walks and a strikeout. Those are Andy Phillips' numbers as the IF has played in all, but one of the last few games. For him, not only is that cooling off considerably, it is one of his worst stretches this season. Dioner Navarro played in 2 of the 4 games and managed to go 1 for 6 with a double and a strikeout. In his first 15 AAA at bats, Navarro has 3 hits, all of which are doubles. You'd love to see him get some more hits, but at the same time there's some joy in the extra base power apparently working it's way back. Robinson Cano played in every game over the same stretch and went 3 for 13 with 3 singles. After a blistering first two games, Cano has cooled down considerably. He should get it going again sometime soon though, considering he deserved his promotion any way you want to look at it, so look at this as a blip on the map to the majors for him. Though Trenton only played 2 games since I last reported on any action, they had twice as many minor league starters of note pitch for them in comparison to Columbus. First up was Ramon Ramirez, who continues to reel off quality starts since coming back from injury. In this particular one, Ramirez went 8 strong innings in which he gave up 7 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out 8. Ramirez also gave up a homer, which is about his only real performance weakness as a prospect. Here are the newly updated, post-injury Ramon Ramirez numbers: 28.2 innings pitched, 24 hits allowed, 11 runs scored, 11 earned runs scored, 4 walks allowed, 31 strikeouts , and 2 home runs. Promote this man. Matt DeSalvo made a go of it last night and it appears he may as well not have. In his first poor start out of 3 AA efforts, DeSalvo was shelled. DeSalvo took 4.2 innings to give up 9 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned runs, and 1 walk. The silver lining is the 6 strikeouts. Because of the small sample size of his AA work, DeSalvo's ERA ballooned from being in the very respectable 3s, to an ugly 6.11. His biggest problem in this game was one he is not used to, DeSalvo gave up 3 homers. Considering that DeSalvo, before tonight's game, had pitched 159.1 pro innings and given up exactly 3 home runs, this was a shocking development. Bronson Sardinha continued to do what he has done thus far in AA during the 2 games. That would be to hit for average, 3 for 9, not much power, all 3 hits were singles, and strike out, 3 times to be exact. Unless he starts improving his K:BB ratio or his power, just 2 extra base hits, though both are homers, I don't see Sardinha continuing his current run of AA success for much longer. Tampa also had 2 games since I last wrote, as one of their contests was rained out. In the second of the two contests, yesterday's game, Steven White started and picked up his first A+ victory. In 6 innings of work White handed out 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out 6. White has, for the most part, kept up the momentum he gained near the end of his A- stint, which is critical as at his age, 23, he needs to move through the system quickly. Two Tampa games pass and sure as day, Melky Cabrera continues to pile up the hits. The CF was 3 for 7 with a double, 2 singles, a strikeout, and a HBP. Cabrera has just been outstanding this year. The second Tampa game was important as Rudy Guillen made his return from a leg injury. Guillen stepped back into the lineup as the DH, while Melky played CF, and he hit 5th, while Melky hit 3rd. Though Guillen was just 0 for 4 with a strikeout in his return, his presence doubles the legitimate position prospect total. There's also word that that population may increase further, more on that later. Abel Gomez and Tyler Clippard started 2 of the 3 Battle Creek games played since my last post. In his start, Gomez was outstanding, while in his, Clippard was decent. Gomez posted his second best start of the year 6.2 innings and allowing 7 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walking 1 (!), and striking out 10. When Gomez is on, he can be dominant, case in point. The problem is, as noted numerous times, his control is often not there. While Clippard also one his game, his performance was not as good as Abel's. In 5 innings, the Florida native gave up 6 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, walked 2, and struck out 6. Gomez and Clippard have now firmly placed themselves amongst the MWL top 10 in strikeouts and could both vie for the league lead as the season winds down. If nothing else, the last 3 games have proven that Erold Andrus is an avid reader of the Minor Yankee Blog and he takes my advice to heart. After my bemoaning his recent lack of power, Andrus' power swing has awoken. In his last 3 games, the switch-hitter has gone 5 for 13 with 1 single, 3 doubles, 1 home run, and 2 strikeouts. That's the best stretch he's had in quite some time as his SLG is about to cross over into respectability once again. Hector Made was also very good over the last few games. The SS went 5 for 12 with 4 singles, a home run, and 2 strikeouts. Made seems to have established a pattern of sucking for a while, then taking a walk or two or three, and all of a sudden becoming good, unfortunately the process has been cyclical. Eric Duncan was 2 for 12 with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts, which is bad. Fortunately, the two hits were both of the extra base variety, one was a double and one was a home run. Those numbers would indicate that Duncan is still struggling, but last night was his best night in a while as he got both of his hits previously mentioned in the course of his 4 at bats, while also walking and striking out once. The Yankees were seemingly just waiting for one good night, as after the game, Eric Duncan was promoted to Tampa. I, for one, think this is a bad move and would not be shocked to see Duncan get abused for the remainder of the season, though I would love to be wrong. Hopefully his confidence can handle the hit it could potentially take. The GCL Yankees played 3 games as they continued their schedule of every day, but Sunday. Outside of Phil Hughes, Christian Garcia, and Jeff Marquez, I will not comment much on the GCL pitchers as many of them are unknowns to me. With that said, Christian Garcia DID make an appearance in one of the games. Garcia pitched Thursday afternoon, and in his second pro start the right-hander went 2 innings and allowed 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 2. Garcia is a work in progress, but I like what scouts have said of him and I like what I have seen of him. Tim Battle was 4 for 14 with a sacrifice hit and 4 strikeouts during the last 3 games. With 15 strikeouts in 50 at bats, Battle is going to have to really work on that part of his game. Marcos Vechionacci is much more polished at that aspect of the game, and over his last 3 is 6 for 12 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. For the season, Vech has 9 strikeouts in 49 at bats. Though I see there being 0 chance of it happening, I would love if the Yankees promoted him to Battle Creek to take over for Eric Duncan. P.S., whatever "it" is, Vech is radiating it. Jon Poterson is 1 for his last 7 with a homer, his second, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. That is now 13 strikeouts in 40 at bats, for those of you keeping score at home. Over the same stretch, Anderson Amador is 4 for 13 with 4 strikeouts and his second homer of the season. That would be 14 strikeouts in 41 at bats, for those of you keeping track of Amador. *** Updated top 10 coming this weekend. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-07-01T00:02:00.000-04:00

IT WAS A GOOD NIGHT FOR ALL As far as the big league club is concerned, the most important news of the night, other than beating the Red Sox, may be the lines put up by 2 of the names on the Columbus pitching staff. The first important figure was Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. The Yankees took a flier on "El Duque" in the offseason hoping that since he had been effective for them in the past, they could call on him if facing rotation depth issues this year, once he was recovered from injury of course. While getting shelled in his first AAA start led to many doubts concerning the imminence of Hernandez' return, his second start was much more positive. In 6.1 innings pitched, "El Duque" allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and struck out 6. Depending on how Brad Halsey performs against the Sox Thursday night, and how quickly Kevin Brown is able to recover, it will be interesting to see how ready the Yankee brass feels Hernandez is. The other big piece of pitching news from Columbus was the return of Steve Karsay. I honestly do not remember the last time Steve pitched in anything close to an official game, so this is a huge step in the right direction for him. In 1 inning of work, Steve allowed 1 hit and walked 1 batter. If Karsay can come back full strength, and that is a big if, the Yankees will likely have the game's best bullpen. Jason "Neo" Anderson closed out the game with 1 perfect inning of work in which he struck out a batter. The Columbus duo, formerly the Trenton duo and then later two-thirds of the Trenton trio, Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano, had a good night. Cano continues to rip AAA pitching; the 2B was 2 for 3 with a single, a double, and a walk. Cano now has 8 hits in his first 10 AAA at bats, including 2 doubles and 1 home run. He has walked twice, and yet to strikeout. Dioner Navarro was not too shabby last night either. The 20-year-old C went 1 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Navarro is not off to as hot a start as Cano, but that is mainly due to a poor first game. Overall, he has 2 hits in 9 AAA at bats. Both his hits are doubles and he has walked once and struck out twice. Andy Phillips was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout. With the promotion of Navarro and Cano, Phillips is quickly losing the attention of those who track Columbus, I can vouch for this. "Tiger" Wang's great starting pitching led Trenton to victory last night. The right-hander from the Eastern hemisphere went 7.2 innings pitched and allowed 7 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked none, and struck out 4. The lone run he allowed was on a homer. When Wang is on the top of his game he is a great pitcher, unfortunately, he really struggles with consistency. After a hot start to his AA career, Bronson Sardinha continues to cool off. The 3B was only 1 for 4 with a single and another error last night. His average is now down to .325. I've been pretty hard on Tampa right-hander Jose Valdez this season, but rightfully so. He has yet to fulfill, or even make overtures towards fulfilling what many scouts feel is considerable potential. Hopefully, last night is a step in the right direction as it was the type of start that I can commend him for. In 7 innings, Valdez limited his opposition to 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. His ERA dropped to 3.98, which served as a reminder to me that he hasn't been horrible, he has just yet to have things click, which is what I've been anticipating. If the Tampa offense gathers 8 runs and 14 hits, which it did last night, you can be pretty sure that Melky Cabrera was involved, and he was. Cabrera went 3 for 4 with 3 singles and a walk. After hitting .333/.383/.462/.288 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) in 171 MWL at bats, Cabrera is hitting .322/.369/.483/.287 in 118 FSL at bats. He's consistent, and consistently good at that. Eric Duncan had his best game in a little while as Battle Creek destroyed Fort Wayne by a score of 13 to 2. Duncan was 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and a walk, but he also struck out twice. Hector Made was not able to beat his slump as handily. The enigmatic SS could only manage a 1 for 6 with a single performance, while striking out once. Jay Stephens and Jeff Marquez continued to dominate the GCL last night. Stephens started the game and would go 4.2 innings, which was enough time for him to give up 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and strike out 5. Marquez entered the game after Stephens and was even more dominant. In 2.1 innings of work, Marquez allowed 3 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked 2, and struck out 6. Tim Battle and Marcos Vechionacci were each 1 for 5. Vech with a single and Battle with a triple. Battle also struck out thrice while Vech struck out once. Rudy Guillen seems very close to a return after playing some CF and going 2 for 3 with 2 singles. Estee Harris homered and went 1 for 4 with a strikeout. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-30T00:24:00.000-04:00

WAIT...DO YOU HEAR THAT? ARE THOSE FOOTSTEPS? That must be what is running through the minds of Miguel Cairo, and to a lesser extent, Enrique Wilson right now. Miguel Cairo has done an admirable job holding down the 2B position for the Yankees, but Enrique Wilson's horrid performance has dragged down the overall Yankee 2B offensive production to .251/.298/.389/.231 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). That is WELL below league average and just incredibly awful production, no matter what the YES announcers want to tell you about RBI. For a while, it seemed that the Yankees would trade to get a 2B, but that has not happened yet, partially because Cairo has been respectable, .301/.344/.451/.268, as a 2B. Despite all Cairo has done for the team, it seems there may be a better option on the horizon. His name is Robinson Cano, and the footsteps Cairo is hearing are his. After starting his AAA career with a 4 for 4 performance, Cano managed to avoid a letdown in his second game. While he made his first AAA out, Cano went 2 for 3 with a single, a home run, and a walk. Just to keep you update, that now puts his seasonal line, compiled between AAA and AA, at .314/.369/.518/.296. To be honest, I have enjoyed watching Miguel Cairo play and do a decent job as the Yankee 2B, but I have not enjoyed Enrique Wilson's time playing 2B and since Torre seems hell-bent on always giving Wilson a shot, I say scrap that "platoon". Scrap that platoon and FREE ROBINSON CANO (Yes, I know I was mildly against this yesterday)! There is no need to free him immediately, but as soon as Cairo starts to slip, and it is inevitable, give Robinson the job. That other guy who was promoted to AAA, Dioner Navarro, had a much better second night after enduring a particularly painful 0fer on Monday. On Tuesday night, Dioner was 1 for 2 with a double and 2 sacrifice flies. Hopefully, Navarro starting off the actual hitting portion of his AAA career with a double is a sign of good things to come, as his power has been absent all year. Andy Phillips pinch-hit and drew an intentional walk in his lone plate appearance. Buddy Carlyle struggled to start the year, was demoted to AA, and after dominating there has found himself in AAA. Well, he apparently "found himself" at some point in his AA stint, because since being back he has pitched very well. Last night's 7 inning, 6 hit, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 6 strikeout performance was a continuation of this. Being right-handed, he won't get the attention that Graman and Halsey did, but he is yet another guy who could be a serviceable option in some team's bullpen, provided he keeps his performance up. The Columbus bullpen was dominant again as each of the 3 relievers called into action was able to pick up 1 strikeout. Recently acquired left-hander C.J. Nitkowski did so in .2 of an inning, Scott Proctor in .1 of an inning, and Sam Marsonek in 1 inning. Marsonek was the only pitcher to have a line that was not otherwise clean, as he gave up 1 hit. Trenton lost a 10-inning slugfest by the score of 10 to 9. Despite his team picking up 9 runs and 12 hits, Bronson Sardinha managed to go a quiet 0 for 4 with 2 walks and 1 strikeout. It is encouraging to see him get the walks, as his lack of walks at the AA level had been mildly concerning. Bronson was able to join in on the fun of the defensive mishaps though; the Trenton team made 4 errors, 1 of which he was responsible for. The main "beneficiary" of the Trenton defense on this night was Sean Henn. Henn only lasted 5.1 innings, in which time he coughed up 4 hits, 6 runs, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out 6. Henn also hit 2 batters and uncorked 3 wild pitches. This is just me taking a stab in the dark, but I don't think he had his control last night. Tampa lost 2 to 3 and Jeff Karstens had a weird game while Melky Cabrera had a typical one. Karstens went 7 innings and allowed 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, and 1 walk, which is good. On the other hand, he somehow only managed 1 strikeout and also gave up a homer. Melky Cabrera's performance was classic Melky, 1 for 3 with a double and a walk. I think it's safe to say that he can hit some. Erold Andrus responded to my complaints about the disappearance of his power as Battle Creek lost 4 to 2. Andrus had the best night of the prospect trio. He was 1 for 4 with a home run, his first in the very scientific time period of forever. Eric Duncan had a forgettable night; the young 3B was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and is really in a funk. My expectations for Duncan were heightened by his amazing early season performance, but he has really cooled off of late. This may be a result of him coming from a North Eastern H.S. baseball program where they don't play as many games as the guys down South or on the West coast. Duncan's H.S. baseball experience, or lack thereof, may also be a contributing factor to him lacking the polish, as evidenced by the higher than ideal strikeout rate, that I assumed he would have. Hector Made was 0 for 2 with a walk, a strikeout, and a sac fly. He has also had Duncan-sized struggles of late. The GCL Yankees had a sub-par game as the offense only managed 1 run and 4 hits. 1 of the hits was off the bat of Tim Battle, who went 1 for 2 with a single, a sacrifice fly, a walk, a strikeout and a caught stealing. It seems that the GCL game plan is that whenever someone gets on they should try running. Marcos Vechionacci was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Vech has also yet to make an error (knock on wood). Rudy Guillen DHed again and got the first hit of his rehab assignment. It was a single as he went 1 for 4. Nathan Phillips was 1 for 2 with a single, a HBP, and a strikeout. Jon Poterson pinch hit and...struck out. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-29T12:34:00.000-04:00

SO, WHO HAD JUNE 28th IN THE POOL? I got the best news of my day yesterday when around noon I found out that Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano had been promoted to AAA. At the time of promotion Navarro was hitting .271/.354/.369/.252 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) and Cano was hitting .301/.356/.497/.284. The immediate general reaction to the promotion was either that Navarro was being rushed or that both guys are now trade bait. However, I think neither of these is necessarily true. First the trade issue. With the Yankees recently missing out on Freddy Garcia, after missing out on Carlos Beltran, many feel that the Yankees may be in the mood to make a deal just for the sake of making one. Not to mention, the pitching staff has shown its holes. If this were the case, wouldn’t the Yankees leave Navarro and Cano at AA where they probably have a greater chance of beating up on their competition? After all, what enhances trade value, beating up on somewhat appropriate competition, or struggling against stronger competition? I think it is the former. So, if the duo was not brought up because of an impending deal, then why? It’s simple in my opinion, Columbus’ record before the roster moves was 41-33, they were in 1st place in the Western Division of the International League, but not by a wide margin. Though I have spoken against this philosophy in the past, Steinbrenner loves to win at the minor league level, especially Columbus. With Columbus on the verge of a title run, having Navarro and Cano manning C and 2B, respectively, gives the team a better shot than they had with Caonabo Cosme and David Parrish holding those positions. As for the subject of promotion worthiness, I think it is obvious to most that follow this site or Yankee prospects in general, that Robinson Cano is ready for the promotion. He was amongst the top 20 in most Eastern League offensive categories and the promotion makes sense for the organization as a whole since Cano might be receiving the 2B job either late this year or early next. Dioner Navarro, on the other hand, was felt not to be ready by many. While Navarro is not as ready as he could be, I don’t think he will have major struggles at the AAA level. The main reason for his apparent unprepared ness is a lack of his customary power numbers, despite this, he has made strides in the departments of plate patience and discipline and I believe these will allow him to AT LEAST maintain his performance. So, what happened in the duo’s first night in Columbus? Considering that the user Buzah, from NYYFans.com, already feels he knows what I will say I will use some of his observations (this is also because I was at a meeting and was only able to catch each player’s final at bat). Robinson Cano continued the hot-hitting he had been doing as of late in Trenton in order to boost his AA average over the .300 mark, and went 4 for 4 with 3 singles and a double in his AA debut. 3 of his 4 hits were to the opposite field, though one single through the left side of the infield was actually through the legs of the 3B and should have been called an error according to Buz. Cano also got a lot of credit from Buz for making “heads up plays” as he just looked like he belonged, though at 21 he is very young for his new league. While I am not yet ready to begin a “FREE ROBINSON CANO” movement, as Buz seems to apt to, I will wait impatiently for July to be up and/or for his Futures Game appearance to judge whether he has come further enough since I last saw him play. Dioner Navarro’s AAA debut was not as storybook. While Qlitch from EZ-Boards commended Navarro’s pitch framing, his offense was poor. In a game that saw the Clippers score 11 runs and collect 14 hits, Navarro managed to stay quiet by going 0 for 4 with a GIDP, line out to center, ground out, and strike out. Needless to say, it was a tough night for the third youngest player in AAA ball (I think), but he should bounce back nicely tonight. (*Random Aside Alert*) Each time I’ve seen Navarro play it seems to me that his hitting zone is like Jeter’s. What I mean by this is that he is a hacker who will take his walks, in addition, he also does the Jeter butt-stick move on the pitch low and in, maybe it’s just me. In non-Navarro/Cano Columbus news Andy Phillips was 1 for 5 with a single, Colter Bean pitched 2 sub par innings and allowed 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 4. There was also an issue with what’s going on with Alex Graman. While he has been removed from the team’s website roster, as of this writing, he still appears on the minorleaguebaseball.com Clippers roster so I will assume that there is some sort of error with the Clippers’ site. With the promotion of Navarro and Cano, the Trenton infield just got a lot less star studded. All that is left is Bronson Sardinha. Sardinha somehow was still in the bottom of a gutted Trenton lineup last night and had one of his lesser AA games thus far by going 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. He is hitting .375, which is nice, but he also has 11 strikeouts in his first 32 at bats, which is somewhat alarming. Especially when compared to the 1 walk he has been able to draw thus far. Tampa put 6 runs and 11 hits on the board last night, and as usual, Melky Cabrera did his part in the damage. The CF went 2 for 5 with 2 singles while hitting from the 3rd spot as he continues to race his way through the lower minors (for those of you who use Baseball America to check minor league stats, I am warning you that their information for Melky’s A- numbers is incorrect at the time of this writing. They seem to have added Edwin Cabrera’s numbers to Melky’s for some reason). After putting together back-to-back (and belly-to-belly) somewhat promising nights of hitting, Eric Duncan regressed last night. Duncan had 5 at bats, and made out in each one of them, amongst his outs were 2 of the strike variety. With Estee Harris demoted, Duncan is gunning for the Battle Creek season lead in strikeouts, and from there, the Midwest League one as well. Erold “bad Ichiro!” Andrus was 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. It’s amazing how all of his early season power has dissipated. Tyler Clippard had an OK start for Battle Creek, but was not involved in the final decision. In 5 innings of work, Clippard gave up 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, walked none, and struck out 5. His ERA rose to 3.35. Since promotion season is in full swing, I think I should point out that Tyler Clippard deserves a promotion to Tampa. He was better than Steven White and though White got promoted partially due to his age, I think Clippard has at least earned some consideration. He has done a great job building on a dominant GCL debut. Speaking of GCL debuts (you know you love that segue); Philip Hughes took his first step towards the Stadium yesterday afternoon. Hughes started the game and went 2 innings, in which he allowed 2 hits and struck out 3 while walking none. The short outing is standard GCL operating procedure as teams usually force pitchers to work their way up in terms of stamina and duration of appearance. Tim Battle and Marcos Vechionacci continued their torrid starts from the top of the order. Battle manned his usual position out in CF and went 2 for 5 with 2 singles and a stolen base. Vechionacci moved back to 3B and kept hitting, as he was also 2 for 5 with 2 singles and a stolen base. Vech’s steal was his first successful one in 3 attempts. Judging by the consistent stealing attempts and lineup position, in addition to the ability to play SS, I am going to assume Vech has some speed in addition to excellent hitting abilities. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about a prospect this early in their career, if he can even become half of what I’m imagining it would be amazing. Jon “the guy who the Yankees drafted instead of Jay Rainville” Poterson was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout while playing LF. Usually you draft players closer to the left side of the defensive spectrum (the more difficult positions to play); in order to anticipate that as they age and get slower they will slide to the right. Having played 3 games at LF and 4 at DH and with a leg injury history, Poterson is beginning his career firmly planted on the right-side. He is also beginning his career with 9 strikeouts in 28 at bats. Anderson Amador played the other OF corner and was 1 for 4 with a single and an RBI. Not one to be easily outdone as far as strikeouts, Amador now has 9 in 24 at bats. As a point in his favor, he does figure to have some defensive value, at the very least. Nathan Phillips was 0 for 3 with a walk. The walk was his 3rd in 21 at bats, and it also evened his BB:K ratio at 3. Another important stat for Phillips is that he has now gotten his game:E ratio evened. Perhaps the most important piece of information produced by yesterday afternoon’s GCL contest was that Rudy Guillen is in fact alive. Making his first game appearance in months, Guillen went 0 for 3 while hitting 3rd and DHing. When Guillen gets back to the FSL, sometime in the next week I assume, I wonder if he’ll be shocked to find that Melky Cabrera has taken his lineup spot and defensive position. This, of course, is my roundabout way of pointing out that Guillen has some catching up to do. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-27T22:30:00.000-04:00

LOOK AT ME TOO Brad Halsey has been freed and pitched well in his first start and not so well in his second (though it wasn't nearly as awful as some would have you think). Through his first two starts, Halsey has a qDIPs of 4.91. While he was pitching for Columbus, the other prominent starter on the team was Alex Graman. Graman was not as impressive a prospect as Halsey in terms of performance this year, but I have stated previously that he could be a useful left-hand reliever. With all this in mind, yesterday was Graman's sign that he is back, after slumping a little bit. In 6.2 innings pitched, Graman allowed 8 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk and struck out 11. Jason Anderson then came on to pitch scoreless relief. In 1.1 inning Anderson allowed 1 hit and nothing else. Sam Marsonek, yet another serviceable bullpen arm plugging away at Columbus, closed the game out with 1 inning of work where he allowed 1 hit and struck out 2. The bevy of potential solid reliever is an illustration of why bullpen guys are, for the most part, fungible. Andy Phillips had another good day at the plate, of course. He was 2 for 4 with a walk and 2 singles while playing 1B. With Tony Clark's current struggles, not to mention Giambi's struggles of his own, it might be time to start a free Andy Phillips movement and have him just come up as a utility IF. He is hitting .335/.411/.567/.323 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) after all. Trenton won today, making the victory more impressive was that they were facing Matt Peterson, who is one of the Mets' better pitching prospects. For his part, Peterson pitched very well, but the Thunder took advantage of the multitude of singles they got off of him and his bullpen to get the victory. Robinson Cano finished the day at .301 by going 2 for 3 with 2 singles and a walk. Matt, from Gogs is the Greek God of Geeks, said that "Cano obviously looked like [the] best hitter in their lineup" and in addition "[he] put some awesome swings on Peterson's balls". Bronson Sardinha was "only" 1 for 4 and struck out twice while not being noteworthy enough for Matt to comment on him. Another Trenton player that impressed Matt was DeSalvo. In his second AA start DeSalvo went 6 innings and allowed 5 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and struck out 6. His performance prompted "the other Matt" to say "[DeSalvo] was awesome. There were maybe two hard hit balls off him in his six innings". "The other Matt" also made sure to warn that "the BMets had a pretty crappy lineup out there" and "that the two hard hit balls were from Gil Velazquez and Ron Acuna". Still, DeSalvo has thus far done very well at the AA level and is asserting himself amongst the better pitching prospects in the organization. Tampa won 9 to 2 as Steven White picked up his first A+ victory. White went 5 innings and allowed 6 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and struck out 5. The lone run was on a homer. After two starts, White's A+ ERA is 2.08. White is similar to DeSalvo in that he is an older, accomplished college arm that needs to move quickly in order to verify his status as a meaningful prospect. Melky Cabrera had what is a poor game for him. He was 1 for 5 with a single and an RBI. It's strange not to see him pick up a double at this point. Abel Gomez lost for the fourth time this season despite posting one of his better starters. In 6.1 innings Gomez allowed 5 hits, 5 runs, only 2 of which were earned, 2 walks, and struck out 7. Usually, the key for Gomez is his control, today he had that, but his defense decided not to show up. He even made one error his self. Another defensive culprit from the game was Eric Duncan. Duncan had 2 errors while playing 3B while putting together his second straight 1 for 4 with an RBI and a strikeout game. This time the lone hit was not for extra bases. Erold Andrus went 2 for 4 with singles and is now up to .273 though it is a generally empty .273. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-26T23:49:00.000-04:00

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HE'S BACK! Columbus lost and it was another overall run of the mill game for the AAA squad. Scott Proctor pitched, but did not do great. In 1.2 innings the hard throwing reliever allowed 2 hits and walked 2 while striking out 1, though he did manage to avoid giving up any runs. Andy Phillips was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout while playing 1B. Phillips seems to have settled in at the .330 range in terms of batting average, he is currently at .332. 3B Jeff Deardorff had another good game as he went 2 for 4 with 2 singles to raise his average to .288. An extra innings affair plus a good offensive showing meant that the Trenton batters got tons of plate appearances. The important hitters, outside of the resting Dioner Navarro, made good use of this. Robinson Cano had a huge game; the 2B was 4 for 6 with 2 singles, a double, and a home run. After this performance Cano is at .298, right on the cusp of that magical .300 batting average. Not one to be easily outdone, Bronson Sardinha continued to rake AA pitching by going 3 for 5 with 3 singles. I think Sardinha is enjoying life after the FSL. The starting pitcher for the Thunder was Ramon Ramirez and he was simply dominant. In 7.1 innings, Ramirez permitted 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, walked 1, and struck out 10. Once again, the numbers since his return from injury are: 20.2 innings, 17 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned runs, 2 walks, 23 strikeouts, and 1 home run. He has a quickDIPs of 2.06. CLEARLY, he was only struggling earlier because of the injury, and almost as clearly, he should be promoted to AAA. The Official Sixth Starter of the Minor Yankee Blog is back. Melky Cabrera is unstoppable right now. After completing the MWL and slumping briefly in the FSL, Cabrera is starting to roll again. Tonight he was 2 for 4 with a double and a walk. For those of you attempting to keep count, and I know it's hard, Melky now has 33 extra base hits in 269 combined at bats between A- and A+. He also has 21 walks. Not too shabby for a 19-year-old who also happens to play outstanding defense. Battle Creek, former home of Melky Cabrera, lost by a score of 5 to 2. Their offense only managed 2 runs despite banging out 11 hits and their opponents only managing 7 hits. Hector Made was not invited to the hit party though; he was 0 for 3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. After experiencing a spike in his walk rate Made had gone back to his hacktastic ways. Hopefully, this is a step in the direction of his more patient, productive approach. Erold Andrus was 1 for 4 with a single and 2 strikeouts. Andrus has taken the 2-slot in the lineup, which was once the property of Good Made. Eric Duncan continued to swing a power bat by going 1 for 4 with a triple and a strikeout. The triple was Duncan's second of the year and his thirty-third extra base hit of the season. Duncan is finally getting on track again and if he gets hot enough may give himself a shot at some decent A+ exposure. To cap the night, the most exciting team in the world, the GCL Yankees lost for the first time all season. Christian Garcia got his first action of the year. Though he started the game he did not last very long. In his lone inning of work, the very raw Garcia gave up 2 hits and 2 walks while not striking anyone out. This led to the scoring of 1 run, which was earned. (For nickname explanations see yesterday's post) Toolsy McTools had a very mixed night. On the one hand he made 4 outs, including 3 strikeouts, and an error. On the other hand he also hit his third triple of the year. My Boy had a night full of positives. He played SS, which is great, because I'm assuming it means he is excellent defensively at 3B, as that is the only type of 3B that can seriously be moved to SS. How was he at the plate? Excellent. In 1 at bat Vech singled, in his other he doubled. His other 2 plate appearances ended in walks. Perhaps this is the emergence of his famed plate patience/discipline. Yes folks, he is only 17. Jon Poterson had another 0fer, this time it was for 4 at bats. Only one of those outs was a strikeout though, so that's a plus. Tools managed to go 1 for 4 while striking out twice and Tools Jr. was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-25T23:36:00.000-04:00

THE WHOLE GUN THING That Orlando Hernandez kid was bumped up from A+ to AAA and the results were not pretty. His last start was a near no-hitter and this...this was a many-hitter. In 4.1 innings, "El Duque" allowed 8 hits, 8 runs, 8 earned runs, walked 2, and struck out 5. He also gave up 2 home runs. Jason Anderson, normally a AAA relief ace, pitched the 7th and had a rough go of it. In his lone inning of work Neo gave up 2 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out no one. Obviously, he was not fooling anyone. Jeff Deardorff was 1 for 3 with a double and a walk and Andy Phillips was 1 for 5 with a single. Neither of these guys figure to get a shot as the Yankees are loaded at their best positions, on either corner, but they could be useful bench players somewhere and they've earned a look through their performance. In 248 at bats in A+ Tampa Bronson Sardinha managed 2 home runs. Through his first 19 AA Trenton at bats he has 2 home runs, as he went 2 for 4 with a single and a home run last night. On the downside he also struck out twice, which gives him 7 strikeouts in those same 19 at bats against 1 walk. Robinson Cano also had a nice game power-wise; he tripled in the first, though that was his only hit in 4 at bats. It was his league leading 8th triple of the year, Cano also struck out once. Dioner Navarro got 2 fruitless at bats in, one ending in a strikeout, before he was removed from the game. It's not clear why at this point. The starter for the Thunder was "Tiger" Wang who had one of his better strikeout performances of the year. In 6 innings Chien-Ming allowed 4 hits and walked 1 while striking out 8. He had no other blemishes on his line. Wang lowered his ERA to 4.20. Tampa's Jose Valdez pitched 5.2 innings of sub-par baseball in what seems like his first start in a while. Valdez gave up 6 hits, 2 runs, none of which were earned, walked 1, and struck out 3. His ERA now stands at 4.41. Valdez, who I thought would be taking a step forward this year, has done nothing to help his status in 2004. Just goes to show that sometimes you need more than velocity on your fastball. One player who actually has done a lot for his status is Melky Cabrera and he continued his recent hot-hitting tonight. Cabrera was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and has his average up to .299. Melky is simply a hitting machine. And yeah, about the whole gun thing, almost in response to my less than positive, to put it one way, comments yesterday, Eric Duncan broke out. The 3B had his first big night in forever by going 2 for 5 with a double and a home run; he also struck out once of course. Through all the struggles, Duncan finds himself 5th in doubles, 6th in homers, 5th in total bases, 7th in walks, 4th in RBI, and unfortunately 8th in strikeouts. Erold Andrus was 2 for 4 with a walk. His season has been fascinating. At the outset, he was hitting everything for extra bases and piling up the RBI and total bases, but also the outs. Now, he has recently become a singles hitter with a decent walk rate. Usually, when a prospect shows a skill at least once it's a good sign as it means he may have the ability to do it consistently, so now the wait will be for Andrus to consummate his considerable skills. Andrus also stole his 7th base of the year, which goes along with his new leadoff hitter image. Hector Made has cooled off considerably, as evidenced by his 0 for 4. I still think he will get hot and end the season around .280 though. His overall body of work has not been impressive thus far, but he has shown me enough, especially as of late, to have faith in his potential. Another day in the GCL another good afternoon for Tim "Toolsy McTools" Battle. The 18-year-old was 2 for 3 with a single, a triple, and a walk from the leadoff spot. Battle is now 7 for 19 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 3 stolen bases, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. He simply does it all ladies and gentlemen. What else should be expected from the man some thought was the best all around tools package in the 2003 draft? Marcos Vechionacci, my boy, had a down game. He only managed a single in his 4 at bats. Jon Poterson, hitting behind him, was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. He has 2 walks and 7 strikeouts in his first 19 at bats. Anderson "Tools" Amador went 2 for 4 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts. That's 6 strikeouts in 16 at bats for those of you keeping score at home. Nate Phillips was 3 for 4 with 3 singles, but he also made 3 errors. That means in his first 5 games he has 8 hits, all singles, and 6 errors. Jose "Tools Jr." Perez had the worst day of the tools family; he was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. The starting pitcher for the GCL Yanks was Jeff Marquez. In 4 innings he allowed 4 hits and struck out 4, there were no other blemishes. So far he has been very good. Jay Stephens then came on to pitch 4 innings of hitless, walk-less, dominant relief. He struck out 3, picked up his second win of the season and lowered his ERA to 1. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-24T23:13:00.000-04:00

JUMPED THE GUN? First things first, the Carlos Beltran saga is over. The prospects are safe. Great job by Beane, though this trade looks like it works for everyone involved. Now, if only someone other than the Yankees could pick up that Freddy Garcia fellow. Columbus won again. They've been doing that a lot this season, as opposed to the recent past when they sucked...a lot. Colter Bean seems to be back on track as he delivered a dominant outing. In 2 innings Bean struck out 4 batters while walking only 1, he did not allow anything else. His ERA is back below 2, 1.99 to be exact. Andy Phillips did, as Andy Phillips is prone to do, that is, hit. The 1B went 2 for 3 with 2 singles and a walk. Trenton lost a close game by the score of 3 to 2, prospect-wise it was an overall positive night; Sean Henn pitched well, Bronson Sardinha hit well, Robinson Cano hit well, and Dioner Navarro didn't go 0fer. In 7.1 innings, Henn allowed 8 hits, 1 run, 0 earned runs, walked 1 batter, and struck out 5. This is pure, out of the blue speculation on my part, but if Henn has 2 more starts like this he may be on his way to AAA. Cano and Sardinha both made errors, but made up for it at the plate. Sardinha was 2 for 4 with a strikeout and is 5 for his first 15 at AA, though the 5 strikeouts in that same time is somewhat troubling. As good as Sardinha was at the plate, Cano was even better. The 2B seems to be out of yet another slump; he went 2 for 2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly. His hitting for average and patience have seemingly returned, now all that is needed is for the power to show up again. Dioner Navarro was 1 for 4 with a single and also had a rough time in the field with a passed ball and a wild pitch, though he did gun down 1 of the 2 runners that decided to take off against him. Oh yeah, Henn also made an error. He did it so he could be a part of the team effort to do their primary job well and fail at the secondary. Melky "Lone Tampa Hitting Prospect of Note" Cabrera found himself moved back to the number 3 spot in the lineup. The CF responded by going 0 for 3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. While the 0fer is certainly disappointing, the walk is a positive sign. Cabrera now has 6 in 93 at bats at the A+ level as he attempts to get to the 10% threshold. Jeff Karstens started the game and from the looks of the box score he may have injured himself. The right-hander went 2 innings and allowed 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 2 batters. The performance was good so it is a wonder why he was removed. By now, you may be wondering what I was referring to with my jump the gun comment. With that, I present to you, Eric Duncan. Tonight, Duncan went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Duncan is now 3 for his last 24 and 13 for 75 with an 8 walk to 25 strikeout ratio since June 1st. Yeah, it's been ugly for the guy I was so high on only less than a month ago. Hector Made has also hit a snag. The recently surging shortstop was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Erold Andrus, from the leadoff spot, also had a bad night; the CF was 0 for 4, though he managed to avoid the K. Basically, everyone tripped out of the gate coming from the All Star Break. In the GCL, Tim Battle is beginning to show why his tools package was so heralded in the 2003 draft. The CF was 2 for 4 with a double, a home run, a strikeout, and a stolen base. He simply does it all. Not to be easily shown up, my boy Vech had himself a mixed night. He struck out 3 times, which was bad, but in his lone other at bat he went deep, his first homer of the season. He is now 8 for his first 18. Poterson took the collar in 3 at bats, he struck out twice and walked once. SS Phillips was 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Jose Perez, the other toolsy OF, went 0 for 3 with a strikeout. Toni Lara pitched one inning out of the bullpen and allowed a single and struck out a batter, but allowed nothing else. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-23T22:14:00.000-04:00

OPPOSITE OF LETDOWN (UPDATED) Only two Yankee full season minor league squads played tonight, Tampa and Trenton. Despite a relatively small pool of prospect performance to choose from, Wednesday's games were much more pleasing than Tuesday's. At Trenton, good nights were had by all prospects involved. Dioner Navarro had the worst night of the trio; 1 for 4 with a double, but it was very encouraging because at this point the most important thing for him may be to regain his power stroke. Robinson Cano was next on the ladder in terms of quality of performance. The 2B went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk. As I have said in the past, every walk for him is a step in the right direction as it shows he has truly taken his game to another level. He now has 22 walks in 279 at bats after collecting 26 in 530 at bats last year and 33 in 561 the year before. Bronson Sardinha had the best night of all as he homered in 3 at bats. The homer was his first at the AA level and 3rd of the year. I fully expect Sardinha to have better numbers at AA than he did at A+ because the only thing he really struggled with at Tampa was power. Power is something many FSL hitters struggle with, as the FSL is a pitcher's league. Tampa won, and the lone position prospect on the team, Melky Cabrera, had himself quite a night. Melky, hitting 3rd, went 2 for 3 with a triple, a double, and a sac fly. The double was his 10th in the FSL and the triple was his 2nd in the FSL. The Melky Cabrera extra base hit count is now at 32. That would be 26 doubles, 5 triples, and 1 home run. If he keeps playing like this for another month or so, a huge if, he may find himself in AA. *** Ok, everyday I go back and forth on this so I'll just update the GCL and NY-Penn League as I see fit. On Tuesday, my boy, Marcos Vechionacci went 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout. Tim Battle led off and was 1 for 4 with a double, but he also struck out twice. Poterson took the collar again, though he did manage a sac fly. Poterson struck out once in his 3 at bats. Phillips had a good game, going 2 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout and Jose Perez was 1 for 3 with a single and a walk. On Wednesday, my boy, Marcos Vechionacci led the charge. Vech was 3 for 5 with 3 singles and a caught stealing. He is 7 for his first 14. Jon Poterson showed off the power that led the Yankees to draft him by going 2 for 5 with a homer and a single, he also struck out once. Anderson Amador, who I have no faith in, was 0 for 5 with a strikeout. Tim Battle had another good game as he went 1 for 3 with a double and 2 walks, Battle also struck out once. Phillips also continued his hot start by going 2 for 4 with 2 singles. Erik Abreu pitched well on Wednesday; in 3 innings he struck out 3 and had an otherwise clean line. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

LETDOWN The night before last was filled with tons of super exciting prospect stuff. Last night, not so much. Columbus won 8 to 3 and Andy Phillips and Alex Graman were named to the IL All-Star Team. To celebrate his selection, Phillips had a big night. He was 3 for 5 with a double and 2 singles. From the other side of the diamond Jeff Deardorff was 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. Jason Anderson and Scott Proctor turned in their typically strong relief work to close out the game. Anderson pitched the 8th and walked a man, but gave up nothing else. Proctor pitched the 9th and struck out a man with a line that was otherwise clean. The big story of the Trenton game was, of course, Matt DeSalvo's arrival in AA. DeSalvo's final line; 7 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts, was solid. However, it did not tell the full story. DeSalvo was dominant. Most of the opposition's offense was on plays where Trenton defenders did not make plays and they were counted as "hits". Anyway, DeSalvo pitched well enough for me to be confident in him having a strong rest of the season in AA. Bronson Sardinha only waited until his second AA game to make his 1st error. The error was part of a baaaad night for Bronson; he was 0 for 4 with a walk and 3 strikeouts. The strikeouts were more a product of patience than wild aggressiveness though, if you want a silver lining. Robinson Cano...he was hacking. Cano went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and after pushing .300, has started to slump terribly again. Navarro was another Trenton hitter with a bad night as the New Britain pitching staff handled them pretty well. Though he hit the ball hard a couple times, Navarro is having some bad luck right now and was 0 for 4 with a K. His slump has forced the manager to move him from the 3 spot all the way down to the 6. Tampa lost by a score of 13 to 6 in Steven White's A+ debut. White was shelled, but not really. He did give up 8 hits and 8 runs in only 3.2 innings pitched, but only 1 run was earned as his defense just did not show up yesterday. White also took the time to give up 2 walks and strike out a batter. Melky Cabrera, hitting in the meat of the order, was 1 for 4 with a double and a walk. The double was his 9th at Tampa, 25th of the season, and overall 30th extra base hit. He has really done a lot for his status this year. *** So yeah, I'm only going to cover the NY-Penn and Gulf Coast Leagues in comments. So I will either post observations about them there, or answer questions about them there. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-22T00:53:00.000-04:00

I LIED Going hand-in-hand with the excitement of promotion season, is the general excitement that prospects give. Even for a team as stacked as the present day Yankees, prospects are a hope for the future. A hope that when the Bernie Williams' and Jason Giambi's of the world finish breaking down, your team will have someone to step right in. Someone who has a track record and scouting report so impressive that when you think about them, the sky is really the limit. However, this is often not the case. Generally, the closer to the majors a prospect gets, the more their faults become apparent. The more that hole in the swing gets exploited. The more that sneaky motion loses its' surprise. That is why the lowest levels of baseball that "count", the Gulf Coast League in the Yankees case, are sometimes the most exciting. It's just a bunch of kids (mostly) with scouting reports that beam (mostly), fresh off of destroying high school pitching (mostly), and ready to give you hallucinations of the next Great One. All of this prospect fawning brings me to my next paragraph. I initially claimed that I would not cover the GCL. Well, last night was opening night, and it turns out that there will be no way for me to keep my attention from this team. Unlike the Staten Island team, which I find to be boring and bereft of major talent, there is a lot of potential on the GCL Yankees. This was on display last night. The starting pitcher for the GCL Yankees was Jason Stephens, the guy who the Yankees compared to Mark Prior last year. In his first official action of 2004, and in a return to his main league from 2003, Stephens went 5 innings and picked up the victory. His stats were unimpressive though as he allowed 7 hits, including 1 home run, and struck out 1, though he did manage to walk no one. Coming in in relief of Stephens was Jeffrey Marquez, his performance, was more statistically enticing. In 3 innings the 19-year-old allowed neither hits nor runs while walking 1 and striking out 3. Though I was originally sour about the Yankees drafting him, his combination of live fastball, young age, and projectable build could prove to be a steal. Marcos Vechionacci led the offensive side of things. I am going to say something that could prove to be incredibly stupid and short sighted, but I will go ahead and put it out for public perusal anyway. By this time next year, Marcos Vechionacci will be the top prospect in the Yankee organization and one of the elite prospects in baseball. There I said it, and if it doesn't prove to be true, you can hold me accountable. Vechionacci took a step in that direction by going 3 for 5 with 2 doubles while striking out once last night. Tim Battle, who is an excellent tools prospect, led off and played CF. Battle went 1 for 5 with a single. This 18-year-old has a ton of physical talent and is a great story after overcoming cancer, so I will keep my eye on him. Anderson Amador, last year's big international signing for the Yankee organization, was 1 for 3 with a single and 2 strikeouts. Amador also struck out twice. More than any other statistic, it will be important to keep an eye on Amador's K total, as all the physical talent in the world will do you no good if you can't make contact. This is something Amador proved last year by striking out about half the time. Another last year's toolsy OF trio, to go with Estee Harris and Tim Battle, Jose Perez, played in last night's game. Perez is the same age as battle and was 0 for 3 while playing LF. Perez managed a walk in addition to not striking out. 18-year-old SS Nathan Phillips was 0 for 3 with a walk and a caught stealing while striking out once. Phillips is reportedly not much of an offensive prospect, but his combination of glove and youth will make someone to at least glance at for now, though he did manage to make an error. Assuming that "Patterson" was actually a box score typo, and "Poterson" was meant, the Yankees 1st round supplemental pick also played last night. From the DH spot he managed a 1 for 5 with a single and 2 strikeouts. Strikeouts, similar to Amador, will be the main Poterson statistic I keep my eye on. Raul Dominguez, a Yankee 1B prospect who has been receiving some press for some time now, it remains to be seen if he is worthy of this, was 1 for 5 with a strikeout. I have thus far gotten conflicting reports on Dominguez' age and until I am able to nail it down, I can't fully comment on him one way or the other. *** Some of you may not realize this, but there is an update under this one, so keep scrolling. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-21T22:46:00.000-04:00

IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!!!! There is almost nothing I love about minor league baseball more than promotion season. For the Yankee organization, this is usually around mid-to-late June. Prospects who are getting good results or who the Yankees feel are on the verge of a breakthrough and have performed solidly get promoted to their next level of competition. They are, for the most part, one step closer to the big leagues. One-step closer to seeing if all of the talk that has been had over them is true or way off. This time of the year is finally here. Promotion season is finally happening. Promotion season officially began with the promotion of Matt DeSalvo from Tampa to Trenton. This was followed by the promotion of Steven White from Battle Creek to Tampa in order to take DeSalvo's place. Justin Pope was also promoted to Trenton, though his promotion is supposed to be brief. Finally, Brad Halsey was promoted to the majors, in a situation similar to Pope's. Despite these promotions, which I did find exciting, I was waiting for more. I was waiting for some of the Yankee position prospects to be promoted. Thus far, the only major position prospect to be promoted this season was Melky Cabrera, whose combination of tools and performance, along with a need in the Tampa OF was too much to hold back as he made a quick exit from Battle Creek. Now, some weeks later, another position prospect has finally been promoted. Last night was Bronson Sardinha's first game as the 3B of the Trenton Thunder. Perhaps more important than Sardinha's individual promotion is the ripple effect it will have on the organization. For you see, Sardinha plays the same position as Eric Duncan, which would be: hitter manning the hot corner. With Sardinha promoted, it leaves the door for 3B at Tampa open for Duncan, who could step in and do a good job, despite his recent slump at Battle Creek. So, how did Bronson's first AA game go? Well, the team lost by a score of 3 to 2, but Bronson was a part of the positives. He was 2 for 4 with a strikeout and 2 singles at the dish, while avoiding any errors. Sardinha hit 7th. Robinson Cano, hitting 5th, had a great game. The power hitting 2B was 2 for 4 with a walk, a strikeout, and 2 singles as he lifted his average to .289. So, seeing as Cano and Navarro rarely have simultaneous good games, and Sardinha has now been added to the mix, you can probably guess what kind of night Dioner had. I'll actually save you the trouble; Dioner was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout while hitting 3rd. His recent slump has dipped his average back down into the .270s, .278 to be exact. Outside of actual in game performance, Cano and Navarro were able to receive simultaneous good news as both players were named to the World roster for the Futures Game during the All-Star Break (If anyone has questions about this, I can answer them in the comments). The other important story from the Trenton game was the work of starter Ramon Ramirez. Though he was pinned with the loss, Ramirez performed admirably and it is becoming clearer and clearer that injury was the main cause of his early season ineffectiveness. The 22-year-old right-hander went 7.1 innings and handed out 8 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 homer, and struck out 9. In his 2 starts since his return from injury Ramirez' stats are as follows: 13.1 innings, 12 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 13 strikeouts, 1 home run. A couple more starts like this and he should be back in AAA as he tries to take back the title of Official Sixth Starter of the Minor Yankee Blog, currently held by Brad Halsey. The pitcher that Halsey fought off for that title was Alex Graman. Graman had arguably his best start of the year tonight. He pitched a complete game shutout and only gave up 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. Graman's greatest problem over the course of his career has been a bad walk rate, though he doesn't have the upside of Halsey, if he can keep his walks down he could be a useful situational lefty. This is just speculation on my part, but judging by the box score, Andy Phillips went down with some sort of injury last night, hopefully it is not serious. Phillips was the starting 1B, but after 2 at bats, he was replaced in that role by the DH, forcing Graman to hit for himself. Graman did do well in this regard though, going 1 for 2 with a single. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

2 POSTS IN 2 DAYS!!! Columbus won a slugfest, 9 to 7, and 2 of the 3 potentially useful relievers appeared in the game. Colter Bean picked up the win with a dominant performance, 2.1 innings pitched, 1 hit, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts of no run baseball. Scott Proctor followed Bean, quite a contrast in styles, and pitched very well. In his lone inning of work Proctor allowed 1 hit while striking out 2 and walking none. No runs were allowed of course. Neither of the current Columbus duo of note had a GREAT night. Andy Phillips played 1B and had a single in 3 at bats; he also walked once and has been walking much more often lately, a great sign. Deardorff's day was actually pretty bad; he was 0 for 3 with a walk, good, and 3 strikeouts, bad. "Tiger" Wang was decent, not good or great, in his start on Sunday. In 7 innings pitched, the future dominant reliever allowed 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 4. Trenton lost the game 4 to 3 in 10 innings though. Navarro and Cano both had poor games. Cano was 1 for 5 with a single and Navarro was 0 for 4 with a walk. According to the user "don turner 98" at NYYFans.com, Cano nearly lost the game by not hustling on one of his groundouts in the 9th and Navarro hit the ball hard, but at people. Tampa won their game on the pitching of some guy named Orlando Hernandez. Hernandez is exceedingly old for a prospect, but his performance was still impressive. He went 7 innings and allowed 1 hit, 2 runs, none of which were earned, walked 2 and struck out 5. Fortunately, the offense was not too bad either. Bronson Sardinha was 2 for 5 with a single and his long awaited 2nd homer of the year. Melky Cabrera also drew another walk and in 3 at bats hit his first homer of the year. The combination of the homer and increased walk rate of late lead me to believe a surge from Cabrera is coming as he continues to build on what has been one of the most successful years of anyone on the farm, though it did take him 24 doubles and 4 triples before he could hit his first homer. Battle Creek lost 7 to 8, but the key prospects' performances were disappointing. Eric Duncan was the greatest culprit as he made an error in the field in addition to having a horrific night at the plate; Duncan was 1 for 5 with a double and 3 strikeouts. His K:BB ration is now getting dangerously close to 2 and he has struck out in more than 25% of hit at bats. Hector Made was not as bad, though his night was still not great. He continued his recent extra base hit surge by going 1 for 5 with a double. The best night of all came from the most surprising of sources. Say hello to Estee Harris and his 2 for 3 with a double and a walk performance. He is now up to .214. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-19T20:41:00.000-04:00

FINALLY...I HAVE COME BACK TO THIS SITE To be brutally honest, there have been a lot of bad nights for Yankee prospects as of late. Despite this, I'm feeling great. I'm feeling great because Brad Halsey was great. Halsey was pretty much everything I could have hoped for. Though Zach Greinke is a better prospect, with a much higher ceiling, seeing Halsey in action today, after watching Greinke last weekend made me see some parallels between the two. Neither has an overpowering fastball, but both do a great job of changing speeds, throwing strikes, and keeping the hitter off balance. Speaking of Halsey's fastball, it was mostly high 80s with a couple of 90 MPH ones, but I wonder if it never touched 92 due to inaccurate scouting reports, or pitching on 3 days rest. Either way, I would love to see Halsey stick with the big league club as either a reliever or a starter until Kevin Brown is completely healthy. I also hope that my arm isn't too worn out for patting myself on the back with after this whole "FREE BRAD HALSEY" campaign. Columbus won 5 to 4 today. None of "The Replacement Players" had a good game. 1B Andy Phillips was 0 for 3 with a walk and Jeff Deardorff was 0 for 4 while playing 3B. For those of you who do not know, Brian Myrow has been traded to the Dodgers as the PTBNL in the Tenrun Hurts deal. Phillips' and Deardorff's overall performances of late have been consistent with what they've done all year, which is hit. All the notable Columbus pitchers are now in the bullpen basically, as Alex Graman has struggled, and Brad Halsey is in the bigs (hopefully for a while). The bullpen still has some interesting arms going almost every night though. Tonight's was Jason "Neo" Anderson. Neo earned the win by going 1 inning and striking out 1, while the rest of his line was clean. Trenton has been the source of a lot of news lately. Navarro and Cano are being watched every day by scouts for potential trades, witness Cano's recent 3B experimenting. While the duo had one game this week where they both performed exceptionally, a VERY rare occasion, they have been pretty mediocre of late. In a way this could be great, if the Yankees keep them and they live up to their potential, but Steinbrenner is probably not happy as he most likely wants Carddy Gartran. Cano had a bad game today, 0 for 4 with a strikeout, and is now down to .287 after nearly reaching the magic .300 mark earlier this year. Cano was back in the 3rd spot of the lineup. Hitting fifth was Dioner Navarro, and though he generally would seem like a strange middle of the order hitter, he fit the bill on Saturday, as he was 1 for 4 with a double and a K. The double was his 13th of the season. Navarro now has 17 extra base hits. And is on pace for an extra base hit total in the high 30s, considering he had 42 last year it would be a step back not to see him up that performance. The other interesting aspect of Trenton of late has been the pitching developments. Non-prospect Justin Pope, who the Yankees picked up in the Hitchcock deal with the Cards got the start today and did well. He will be sent back to Tampa soon though; one pitcher who has likely seen the last of Tampa is Matt DeSalvo. As Halsey's freedom from AAA was being pushed on this site, DeSalvo's from A+ was also receiving attention. This too has passed. If DeSalvo is dominant in his AA stint, where he will likely spend the rest of the season barring something drastic, he could be an interesting arm to keep an eye on for 2005. If not, he may have a nice future in the bullpen. As the exodus from Tampa has begun, Bronson Sardinha still finds himself stuck there. Sardinha just keeps on hitting though, as any player better than most others in his league should. The 3B was 1 for 3 with a single and a K. Melky Cabrera, on the other hand, has been EXTREMELY inconsistent. He will have one game where he hits tons of doubles, his specialty, and then in the next he'll perform poorly. Due to this type of poor performance as of late, Cabrera was benched on Saturday. He came in as a pinch hitter and made out as his average has now dropped to .288. Normally, a .288 average is fine, but Melky's atrocious walk rate thus far hinders this. I have no fears about this though, unlike what seemed to be the sentiment in the last post. Melky, overall, has a history of strong walk rates, but it usually takes him some time to get relaxed enough at the plate to walk. When in a new league Melky simply swings until he gets comfortable and then will begin drawing his walks. That and the other negatives I brought up about Cabrera's performance are fine though, as he is after all a teenager playing in the FSL. My pet prospect Jeff Karstens started the game for Tampa and had a Lieber-esque outing. In 7.1 innings pitched, Karstens allowed 11 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, walked 2, and struck out 4. Though the Battle Creek Yankees lost the war of the actual baseball game, they won the battle for Abel Gomez'...I don't know...control? Gomez was dominant. In 5 innings he allowed 2 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked 2 (wow!!!!!!!), and struck out 5. Gomez and Clippard have pitched very well of late and are a great 1-2 right-left rotation combo. Hector Made and Eric Duncan were a combined 1 for 8 with 3 Ks on Saturday. Though Made's performance of late is very encouraging, Duncan's has been the opposite. I once thought he was ready for Tampa, at the least, but now would like to see him spend the entire year in the MWL. While Duncan is an excellent hitter, when he is in a slump they tend to be horrific. He strikes out a ton and makes weak contact. That is what is going on now as Duncan's average has dropped all the way to .275. He needs to move this back up in addition to making his walk to strikeout ratio more encouraging as right now, Duncan's ability to hit for average is facing some questions. Estee "yeah I'm still here" Harris had perhaps the worst night of anyone, 0 for 3 with 3 Ks, but really at this point, what do you expect? Erold Andrus, who is beginning to hit for average, but with no power, was 2 for 4. *** I will cover short-season ball, but not in a daily update way. Look for it to be the occasional blurb about a spectacular performance or important prospect. *** For full time coverage of the SI Yanks, check out the Baby Bombers link to the right. For interesting baseball sites, check out the Baseball Corner link to the right. Finally, if anyone knows why my hits have gone way up lately (I'm not complaining), it'd be great if you told me, as I'm curious. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-14T20:15:00.000-04:00

THE BEGINNING Tomorrow is my first day of work for this summer. Since this will take up a large part of my day, updates MAY slow down. I'm not sure exactly how this will work out yet, but I'll do the best I can and your patience would be appreciated. Thanks, on to the update. Jason Anderson and Scott Proctor both worked scoreless outings from the Columbus bullpen. Anderson pitched the 7th and had a clean line. Scott Proctor was a bit wild though. He pitched the 8th and struck out a batter, but he also walked 2. Bubba Crosby led off and got on twice, once by walk and once by a hit by pitch. He also made 2 outs. Andy Phillips also got on base twice; he was 1 for 3 with a single and a hit by pitch. Both of his outs were strikeouts. Unfortunately for Phillips, he also made 2 errors, which gives him 3 errors in his last 2 games played at 2B. Brian Myrow and Jeff Deardorff manned the infield corners and went a combined 0 for 7 with 2 strikeouts. Trenton was shut out 1 to nothing as Robinson Cano made a game losing error. As would be the expected case with a shutout, the offensive prospects did not do much. Cano was 1 for 3 with a double and Navarro was 0 for 3 with a walk. This is just a wild guess, but I think Navarro is about to go on a tear. The double was Cano's 17th of the season. The starting pitcher for the Trenton loss was Sean Henn. Henn went 8 strong innings and limited the offense to 6 hits and no walks while striking out 3. There were no other marks on his line. Henn's productivity, in terms of run and hit prevention, has gone up as of late, though his strikeouts have gone down. This has occurred since he learned the sinking fastball and basically become the AA version of Brad Halsey, but with more fastball zip. It will be interesting to see if the lack of Ks does eventually catch up to him, or if he is the type of pitcher that can succeed like that. The Battle Creek offense pounded out 11 runs and 14 hits on Sunday. Erold Andrus and his newfound patience led the attack. The LF went 3 for 3 with 3 singles and 2 walks. Estee Harris had the big hit of the day and not much else, he was 1 for 5 with a home run and a strikeout while playing CF. Eric Duncan and Hector Made each collected a double. Made's was his 10th and his lone hit in 5 at bats, while striking out once. Duncan's was his 17th and lone hit in 4 at bats while striking out once and drawing one walk. Abel Gomez won the contest, but not in as dominant a fashion as I expected. The left-hander had what is about an average start for him at this point. He went 5.1 innings and allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, walked 3, and struck out 6. Gomez ran his record to 6 and 2, but his ERA has also made it up to 3.11. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-13T12:30:00.000-04:00

NOTHING MUCH Richmond beat Columbus 7 to 2 as Columbus has now lost 5 out of 6. Colter Bean came in relief and continued his recent struggles, as he was uncharacteristically wild. In 2 innings Bean allowed 1 hit, 1 run, 1 earned run, 2 walks, a hit batter, and 5 strikeouts. Obviously, the 5 strikeouts are a plus. Bean's numbers (38.1 innings, 25 hits, 11 runs, 9 earned runs, 1 homer, 11 walks, and 45 strikeouts) are still dominant, but not as overwhelming as they once were. This, combined with the emergence of Bret Prinz at the major league level, means that Bean will likely not be heard from, not that it was likely to happen before. The hitting side of things was OK; Bubba Crosby was 1 for 4 with a single and a strikeout and had the worst night of the notables. Andy Phillips had the best game; the 2B went 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a strikeout as he ended his recent slide. Unfortunately, Phillips also made an error. Jeff Deardorff was 1 for 4 with 2 Ks and Brian Myrow went 1 for 3 with a K while playing 1B. No one really important took the mound in either of Trenton's games yesterday, which means Wang and Henn were inactive. Henn will go today. The Trenton hitters did not do much yesterday. Navarro was 2 for 7 with 2 singles and a walk as he continues to hide his power for whatever reason. Robinson Cano was 1 for 7 with a single. Tampa did not play, of course, because of the All Star Break, and will not play until Monday. Around the time when their roster should begin to undergo some changes. Tyler Clippard took the loss for BC yesterday, but pitched well outside of the second and sixth innings. In those innings he gave up a lot of hits due to not getting as many strike calls as he wanted. Overall, in 5.1 innings pitched, Clippard allowed 8 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 6. He wasn't great, but he wasn't as bad as the numbers seem. Eric Duncan had an OK night at the plate. The 3B went 1 for 4 with a triple and a strikeout. The triple was his 27th extra base hit of the season, but first outside of the double and homer category. Erold Andrus hit in front of Duncan and showed surprising patience, going 0 for 2 with 2 walks and a strikeout. Estee "waiting for my demotion" Harris was 0 for 3 with a strikeout. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-12T11:40:00.000-04:00

"TIGER" AND THE HAND Apparently, the reason Wang has sucked so much lately is that he is battling blister problems...AGAIN. Kind of like Josh Beckett except without as much talent. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com

2004-06-12T02:11:00.000-04:00

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE After writing my last post about freeing Brad Halsey, I began to wonder. I began to wonder whether Alex Graman was worthy of as much of a freedom campaign, tonight's start frees me from continuing to consider that. In 5.2 innings, Graman allowed 8 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 6. He also gave up 2 homers, and that is the key. Despite having a superior strikeout rate and better hit-prevention numbers, I favor Halsey over Graman for 2 reasons. The first is that Halsey has better control, which is meaningful, though probably not that much. The second reason is that in last night's start, Graman gave up 2 homers, which is twice as many as Halsey has given up all season. If a pitcher is going to get hit, the best he can do is to avoid getting hit hard, and working off of the assumption that major league hitters will do at least a decent job hitting both left-handers, I would rather use the guy with better control who also happens to prevent hard-hit balls. Therefore, the free Brad Halsey campaign shall continue, Alex Graman, on the other hand, will have to wait until someone needs a LOOGY. Jason Anderson, Neo to some, made his return to the Yankee system in relief of Halsey and allowed 2 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 0 walks, and struck out 1. Anderson will likely join Proctor and Bean as they form a right-handed triumvirate sure to baffle AAA hitters while hardly ever getting a glance from the major league organization. The recent offensive suckiness at Columbus was ever present in last night's game. Caonabo Cosme had a "good" game, 0 for 2 with a walk, but other than that, most of the players were off. Bubba Crosby was 0 for 1 in a pinch-hitting appearance and Andy Phillips continued his slump while playing both 1B and 2B, as he was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Jeff Deardorff, 2 for 4 with a double, had the best day of the offensive players of note on the AAA team. Trenton lost, but Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano had solid games in the same night for what seems like the first time in ages. Navarro only had one hit in 5 at bats, but it was a big one, as the C legged out a triple, his first of the season. At this point, all I am looking for from Navarro is for him to collect extra base hits so he can finish the season in the neighborhood of .300/.400/.450/.293 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). If he can approximate that performance, he has taken a step forward as a prospect, if not, and he stays where he currently is, .285/.370/.390/.264, he will have neither advanced nor hurt his standing. Robinson Cano had an unusual game; he was 3 for 4 with 3 singles. What was unusual about the game was that all 3 of his hits were singles, which is not something that frequently happens with a player sporting an XBH% of 41.8%, which is better than what Scott Rolen had at the same age in the same league, not to spark controversy or anything. The Tampa Yankees did not play a game as their first-half is over and they are in the process of having their all-star weekend. Though they seemed invincible about a month into the season, they did not win their division, but expect them to come back stronger in the second half as they get reinforcements in the form of Eric Duncan and Rudy Guillen (hopefully, on both). Battle Creek did play, and won both games of their doubleheader. The first was won mainly on the strength of Steven White, who after a slow start has really begun to pick up the pace. Though that should be expected from a 23-year-old in the lowest level of full season baseball. White, in the first game, went 7 innings and allowed 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 11 for the complete game victory. If White keeps performing like this, he may take over for Matt DeSalvo in Tampa, assuming DeSalvo is given the promotion he has thus far earned. Battle Creek won the second game 5 to 0, but the starting pitching was not nearly as impressive. Chase Wright went 4 innings and gave up 1 hit while striking out 6, which is great, but he also walked 4, which is horrendous, as he and Abel Gomez continue to battle for the MWL walk championship. Perhaps the best sign from the doubleheader was that Eric Duncan has awoken from his monthly weeklong slump, by going 3 for 6 with his 10th home run of the season. Duncan has lifted his seasonal line back to .284/.383/.502/.298. Estee "I am defying all odds by still being on this team" Harris was 0 for 1 with a walk on the day as his average has now gone all the way down to .211. Erold Andrus was also disappointing, going 0 for 3 with a K to drop to .247 on the year. Hector Made did provide some hope though, as he continues to rescue his walk rate from its early season perils, the SS was 1 for 5 with a single and a walk and now has 12 walks on the season after drawing about 2 in the first month and a half of the season. Look for Tyler Clippard and Abel Gomez to have dominating starts this weekend as the BC Yanks continue their series and these two try to rebound from poor last outings. *** I have a new entry over at Some Calzone. It's about the Mets and recent rumors surrounding some of their prospects and a former Yankee, check it out...if you want to that is. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-11T12:51:00.000-04:00

FREE HIM Free Brad Halsey. With rotation issues cropping up at the major league level, due to Kevin Brown's health and Jose Contreras' ineffectiveness, it makes no sense not to free Brad Halsey sometime in the near future. Halsey had a complete game shutout last night where he allowed 2 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 6. This brings his season totals to: 77 innings, 70 hits, 24 runs, 22 earned runs, 1 home run, 19 walks, and 46 strikeouts. He has pitched 25 consecutive scoreless innings. Brad Halsey should be freed by the Yankees in one of two ways. If they like him enough, they should promote him to the majors, release Felix Heredia, and use Halsey out of the bullpen as a long man and lefty specialist (assuming he gets lefties out). If Contreras or any other rotation issue arises, Halsey can be immediately plugged in and he will already have major league experience to boot. The other path to free Halsey, is if the Yankees do not have enough faith in him, use him as a main part of a package for one of those vaunted "veteran pitchers" the Yankees love to get. Brad Halsey is no sure thing, he still has the K rate issue. Despite this, he has done nothing to dissuade the thought that he could be a potential innings eating middle-of-the-rotation starter, which is valuable. Surely there must be some better use for a 23-year-old left hander excelling at AAA with solid stuff, 88-to-92 MPH fastball and good splitter. Since I last posted about minor league results, much of the Columbus hitting has crapped out. Andy Phillips played 1B yesterday and was 0 for 4 as his average dropped to .338 on the year and is now at .337/.401/.585/.327 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA), good numbers, but not as jaw-dropping as they once were. Caonabo Cosme had a good game, 1 for 3 with a single, to raise his average to .245. Jeff Deardorff was 2 for 4 with 2 singles while DHing, and Bubba Crosby was 1 for 3 with a K as he waits for another old Yankee OF to come up lame. Kenny Lofton began his rehab assignment going 1 for 3 with a double from the Trenton leadoff spot. Hitting 3rd, Dioner Navarro continued to drop singles all over the field as he went 1 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout as his average crept up to .287. Navarro also threw out the lone player attempting to steal against him. Robinson Cano also managed a single in his 4 at bats last night and is now hitting a very solid .284. There were no important Trenton pitching performances last night, but the two previous games were started by "Tiger" Wang and Sean Henn, who do hold some importance in the Yankee prospect universe. In his first start since his Contreras-like meltdown, Wang was sub-par. He went 5.2 innings and gave up 4 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 6 as he lowered his ERA to 4.99. Wang has been decent this year, despite his ERA, which is marred by the Contreras outing, but I think he would move more quickly and prove more valuable if placed in the bullpen. I believe this because if moved to the bullpen he would be able to live off of low to mid 90s heat and his splitter rather than focus on developing a better repertoire, plus, he's been great as a reliever in my All-Star Baseball season. Sean Henn made his second start since "discovering" the sinker and was back to mediocrity, 7.1 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts. Henn now has a 5-2 record and a 3.99 ERA. He is another pitcher that I would love to see converted to the bullpen where he can just rear back and throw mid 90s from the left-side, a unique ability. After Tampa's conclusion of a suspended game loss to the St. Lucie Mets, 7 to 6, Melky Cabrera's average has fallen below .300. In 13 games and 57 at-bats at the A+ level, Cabrera is now hitting .298/.328/.421/.253. The average FSL GPA is .242, so Cabrera is above league average, just not as good as he was in the MWL, which is fine for a teenager playing an up-the-middle position in an Advanced A league. Bronson Sardinha got his singles, 2 for 4, and pushed his average to .329 as he continues to plug along, waiting for the elusive call to AA. Battle Creek did not play yesterday, but the recent performances there can be easily summed up. Eric Duncan is in a slump and the pitching staff has been torn apart by Cardinals' stud Daric Barton. FREE BRAD HALSEY!!! *** Questions, comments, suggestions to fam27@cornell.edu

2004-06-10T20:37:00.000-04:00

CATCHING UP AGAIN Yeah, I haven't updated since the Draft, but nothing major has changed with the system and I'm not going to update until tomorrow. Tomorrow's update will focus on the games played today and try to catch you up on all the other important happenings. So yeah, see you tomorrow, I promise...and FREE BRAD HALSEY!!! *** Questions, comments, suggestions to fam27@cornell.edu

2004-06-08T21:22:00.000-04:00

THE DRAFT, 2004 (DISCLAIMER: The focus of this post is on the first 5 Yankee picks of the draft and random items of note after that. The MLB draft is much too long and much too much of a crapshoot for me to extend myself further, sorry.) Entering the 2004 MLB Draft, the Yankees biggest need was pitching. Though most teams draft on a best player available basis, since many of the players won't develop in time to address a present need, the Yankees entered the 2004 draft with their sights set on pitching, and rightfully so. This was a result of, for better or worse, having plenty of long-term commitments at the major league level. In addition to these long term commitments, the system had decent to good positional prospects in the form of Dioner Navarro, Eric Duncan, Robinson Cano, and Melky Cabrera. On the other hand, the major league rotation would need to be overhauled relatively soon and there was not much in the way of reinforcements coming from the minor league level, as many of the organization's top pitching prospects profiled better as relievers than starters down the road. So, with all that in mind, let's try and get a handle on what took place over the last couple of days. With their first pick in the 2004 draft, the Yankees took HS RHP Philip Hughes. Hughes hails from the amateur baseball hotbed of Southern California. By the time this pick was made, I was angry. Not so much at the pick itself, but at what did not happen. What did not happen was that Drew and Weaver were not available for the Yankees. Both players had been considered for the number 1 pick, but eventually fell due to signability concerns and my hope at the time was that the Yankees could scoop up one of the two. Unfortunately, Anaheim and Arizona took care of that. Once I calmed down about missing out on these two, my issues with Hughes began to arise. I would just like to state that I am not saying Philip Hughes isn't a potential stud, several people think he may be, but there are some concerns I have about him. Most of these concerns revolve around his strikeouts, or lack thereof. Philip Hughes struck out 83 batters in 61 innings. At the high school level, and for a supposed top pitcher, I don't find that total very impressive. Of course this total comes with the caveat that Hughes played in one of the more competitive high school regions, but without much of a standard to compare Hughes' numbers to, I am not impressed. On the other hand, Hughes only walked 3 batters, so his control was there. Combined with some quotes from Hughes about his not striking out that many guys because he'd rather work on his control and delivery, this renewed my hope. Then, I read the BA scouting report that another reason Hughes didn't miss many bats was that his fastball is straight. Hughes could become a star and I may be praising him before this minor league season is out, but as of now, he seems to be an overly risky pick to me. This risk may be more due to the nature of the 2004 draft than anything else though as I think I would have drafted him in the spot as well. After Hughes, is where the draft picture gets fuzzy, or at least, where I begin to disagree with management. With their first choice in the supplemental first round, the Yankees chose Jonathan Poterson. My initial reaction upon hearing this was, "Jon who?" I had no idea who he was, but thanks to the magic of Baseball America I quickly changed from confused to angered. Poterson's calling card as a prospect is that he is a C with a ton of power potential. That seems great, until you realize that Poterson has almost no chance at staying at C, and not "no chance" as in Eric Duncan has little to "no chance" of being able to stay at 3B, but rather "no chance" as in Drew Henson facing Pedro in his prime. In addition to having defensive issues with the position, Poterson, just out of high school, has already had some leg issues. So the Yankees drafted a player that will more likely than not end up in LF or 1B, the positions where you must hit and hit a ton to be productive. Basically they are hedging all their bets on the bat of a high school C, high school Cs, by the way, are the only draft demographic that rival high school RHP in risk. More so than Poterson's personal failings, I was angry about whom the Yankees didn't take with this pick. They had already gotten Philip Hughes in the first round, and I felt the Yankees should have picked up Jay Rainville. That would have given them 2 of the top 5 or so HS RHP in the draft. Rainville ended up going 2 picks after Poterson, to the Twins. Just as Hughes, a more highly though of prospect, has holes, so does Rainville. Though he struck out almost everyone he faced, he pitched at Rocco Baldelli's alma mater, which is not in a great baseball region. As a result of the lack of competition, Rainville did not have much in the way of impressive secondary offerings. Rainville is nothing sure, and probably riskier than Hughes, but I would have taken him over Poterson. With their second supplemental first round pick, the Yankees drafted RHP Jeffrey Marquez, this was another "who" pick for me. Marquez was coming out of JUCO and so I did not know much about him, but once again, thanks to the great folks over at BA I was able to learn about him. Marquez has decent fastball velocity right now and the Yankees obviously think highly of him. With the pick immediately following Marquez, the Yankees chose RHP Brett Smith, a college arm. I didn't mind the pick of Marquez too much, and Smith struck me as a more polished Marquez, so I'm not too upset about that. Since the picks were similar in being RHP who throw in the low 90s I would have liked the Yankees to pass on one of the two, Marquez, and gone for a big time hitter. Other than pitching, the Yankees system also lacks a big time bat, outside of Eric Duncan. The bat I had my eye on was that of Eduardo Martinez-Esteve, who went 70th overall to the Giants. According to the work of Craig Burley, Martinez-Esteve was the 7th best hitter in college baseball this past season, better than teammate Stephen Drew. I think that is enough justification. The fifth pick made by the Yankees on draft day was Christian Garcia. Garcia is a prep RHP without much experience. Despite being very raw, Garcia attracted attention because of a fastball that reaches the mid 90s and projects to the upper 90s. This was one pick where I was surprised, but happily so. Though, as previously stated. HS RHP are risky, I think the Yankees did a good job here of getting an arm that doesn't have a ton of mileage on it, but is still good. The key will be the ability of the player development personnel to harness Garcia's ability. I think this could be the key pick made by the Yankees. While I, unlike many sabermetrically inclined Yankee fans, was not upset by the drafting of tons of inexperienced RHP, I WAS upset by a couple of the guys the Yankees passed over, and that is reflected in the different choices I made. So I agree with the high-risk high reward strategy that the Yankees took, but not the overall execution. To review, the Yankees top 5 picks were Hughes, Poterson, Marquez, Smith, and Garcia. Were I in charge, I would have gone Hughes, Rainville, Smith, Martinez-Esteve, and Garcia. It will be interesting to keep track of each group to see who looks better down the road. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to fam27@cornell.edu

2004-06-08T12:39:00.000-04:00

LOWER LEVELS Tampa, like Trenton, only managed 2 games during my period of silence. Both games were disappointing for me because of the performances of Matt DeSalvo and Jeffrey Karstens, two pitchers whom I have been quick to praise. Logically, DeSalvo's start should be his last at the A+ level because the ASB and end of the first half is approaching, but after a poor outing the Yanks may not promote him, it is still unclear at this point. DeSalvo went 6 innings and gave up 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 4. He also served up his first homer of the season. DeSalvo's last 2 starts have suffered due to his lack of control, something that bothered him early in the season, but had seemingly been conquered. Despite these recent issues, I still think DeSalvo has proven himself worthy of promotion and it will be disappointing if he does not report to AA Trenton after the All-Star Break. Karstens, on the other hand, definitely has some more work to do at the A+ level, and should remain there for the foreseeable future. At 21-years-old, it is not as though he is too much too old for the level either. In Monday's game, Karstens was very hittable as he gave up 10 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, and only struck out 2 in 6 innings of work. His ERA ballooned to 4.02. Melky Cabrera and Bronson Sardinha weren't their usual hot-hitting selves over the 2 game period. Cabrera was only 2 for 8 with a double and 3 Ks. Melky has now struck out 10 times, in comparison to 2 walks, in 54 at bats. The patience needs to return and do so quickly. Sardinha was 1 for 8 with a single and 3 Ks. Bronson is now hitting 4th, right behind Melky, and were it not for the Marlins using Lenny Harris in the meat of the order, Bronson would qualify as one of the least feared "power" hitters in organized baseball. Only 14 of his 71 hits have gone for extra bases, but despite this he has still put together a good season due to his advanced strike zone judgment, if he is not promoted along with DeSalvo that would be disappointing. Battle Creek has been the most disappointing Yankee affiliate over the "silent stretch". Hector Made was 2 for 12 with 6 Ks, though he did hit a homer, and Eric Duncan was 2 for 11 with 2 walks and 4 Ks. That's almost too much negativity from the team that has been the shining light for the system, but there's more. Witness Estee Harris' 0 for 7 with a walk and 2 Ks and the performances of the pitching staff...have left a lot to be desired. Tyler Clippard pitched on Saturday, but unfortunately for him, had none of his trademark command/control and against the best hitting team in the MWL and without a blazing fastball, that is not a recipe for success. The results, 5 innings, 7 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and 1 strikeout, were not shocking, though they were still disappointing. Facing the same team, Abel Gomez did not fare much better. Gomez also went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, and striking out 3. For good measure, Gomez threw in 3 homers. About the only positive for Battle Creek during the stretch was the hitting of Erold Andrus. The OF was 4 for 13 with 3 singles, a double, and 2 Ks. *** Draft review next time. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to fam27@cornell.edu

2004-06-07T23:10:00.000-04:00

DRAFT DAY FATIGUE The draft hasn't gone exactly as I would have liked (comments section of the last post), but that will be discussed more tomorrow. For now, it's time to get updated on what the guys who are actually in the system have been doing. In the Columbus Clippers last 3 games, 2 pitchers of significance have started. Brad Halsey went on Saturday and Alex Graman went on Sunday. Both left-handers were able to pick up victories to run their records to 5 and 2. Halsey went 6 innings and allowed 7 hits while striking out 7. There were no other blemishes on the left-hander's line as he has now lowered his ERA to 2.91, Brad is demanding attention from the front office right now, whether that results in being traded or given a shot remains to be seen. Though Graman had a quality start on Sunday, it was not his best work. He went 6 innings and allowed 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, walked 5, and struck out 4. Graman also gave up 2 homers. His ERA rose to 2.22. At fault for this less than stellar outing was Graman's control, something he has had problems with in the past. The other pitchers of note to take the mound over the 3 game stretch were Scott Proctor and Colter Bean. Proctor went 1 inning and allowed 2 hits and a strikeout. Bean had a dominant outing on Sunday and then was bad on Monday. Overall, in 4 innings of work, the right-hander allowed 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 2. Despite having had 2 poor outings in the past week or so, I still have faith that Bean could be potentially useful as at least a right-handed specialist. Offensively, the biggest story of late for Columbus has been Andy Phillips' discovery of the walk. The H (for hitter, defensive positions don't apply to him) has gone 1 for 9 with his sole hit being a homer, but more importantly, has drawn 4 walks compared to just 1 strikeout as he continues to complete his offensive package. Trenton only had 2 games, their Sunday contest was rained out, and Navarro and Cano alternated good games. On Saturday, Cano went 2 for 4 with 2 singles and the always-appreciated walk, while Navarro was 1 for 5 with 2 Ks. Then, Monday's contest saw Navarro go 3 for 4 with 2 singles and a double, while Cano was 0 for 4 with a K. The results of the Monday contest are especially relevant to me because I was able to watch the game, thanks to the wonders of YES and Minor League Mondays, and came away with several impressions. Robinson Cano, despite the improved walk numbers, is still quite a hacker. He was at the plate attempting to kill every pitch, which may be justifiable considering he has 26 extra base hits, but that type of approach will hurt at the big league level. It is a wonder and a possible statement of his natural abilities that he does not strike out more than he does. Defensively, I was very impressed with Cano. He looked like a grizzled veteran in the field, and not in the slow, plodding way, but in the way of a calm demeanor. He handled his chances cleanly and showed good range and awareness. As impressive as Cano was in the field, Navarro was equally outstanding at the plate. He took a couple of imprudent swings, but for the most part was able to lay off pitcher's pitches and attack his pitches. From the left side it appears that he loves the ball down. When Navarro did swing, two things became apparent to me. One was that his bat seemed much quicker than I remembered as there were points where I didn't know if he had taken a full cut or just checked his swing because it went by so quickly. On the "negative" side, his swing does not seem to be made for much home runs as it was more of a line drive swing, though that is acceptable from a 20-year-old. Also, watching Navarro field, I cannot help but get visions of Pudge Rodriguez. *** Tampa and Battle Creek, in addition to a draft review, tomorrow. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to fam27@cornell.edu

2004-06-06T13:31:00.000-04:00

STORM CONCLUDING EARLY For some time now I have been hinting, rather talking, about a draft preview. I wanted to give a general idea of where the Yankees would/should go with their draft picks. However, it is now less than 24 hours from the draft, and the number one pick, and a lot of draft selections, are more up in the air than usual. This has created a ripple effect and I now have no real idea of how this one is going to shake out. As a result, I'm going to save myself the time and trouble and not do a draft preview. Sorry about that. For great draft coverage, just head over to Baseball America. I'll be back later today with normal coverage. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-05T18:33:00.000-04:00

SECOND STORM BREAK Columbus had one of the best days of the Yankee affiliates, in terms of what was done by the potentially useful players. Scott Proctor was his usual self, pitching 2 dominant innings of relief where his line was clean except for 2 strikeouts. Offensively, everyone was at least decent. Andy Phillips was 1 for 4 with a double, which is a pretty poor game for him, Bryan Myrow was 1 for 3 with a double and a walk, Jeff Deardorff was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and Caonabo Cosme continued to destroy his early season work by going 0 for 3 with a walk. No pitchers of note were in action for Trenton, but the offensive duo played. Dioner Navarro's hot streak is almost certainly over, as the C went 0 for 4 and his average has dropped to .284. Without his usual extra base power, Navarro needs to hit .300+ to truly be a great contributor to the Trenton offense. Robinson Cano is apparently not done yet; the 2B had his best game in some time, as he was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a walk. Considering that the game was played away from home, my suspicions about Cano's possible home/away splits are growing. The Tampa Yankees shook up their batting order last night and things seemed to work out well. As a team, they pounded out 18 hits and 13 runs. Melky Cabrera, moved to the 3 spot, was 2 for 5 with 2 singles and Bronson Sardinha, the new and unlikely number 4 hitter, went 3 for 4 with a walk. Even the long forgotten Ferdin Tejada managed to have a good day; the soft "hitting" SS was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and 2 singles. The 21-year-old now has 6 hits in 44 at bats for Tampa. Battle Creek also had a strong offensive night, as a team they had 4 runs and 14 hits. Unfortunately, Eric Duncan was left out on the action, he was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts and is definitely mired in a slump right now as his average has dropped from .310 to .286. Erold Andrus, Hector Made, and Estee Harris managed good nights though. Andrus was leading off again and was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a sacrifice. Made hit second and was 2 for 5 with a double and his resurgence continues. Estee "It's a wonder I've yet to be demoted" Harris stopped his slump, at least momentarily, by going 2 for 2 with a sac fly and a hit by pitch. Steven White had the best night on the Battle Creek Yanks. White pitched 7 innings and limited his opponents to 3 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked 3 and struck out 10. White also gave up a homer. This was the first outing where White has really looked like the Baylor standout the Yankees thought they were getting. The key for him was limiting his walks. *** The storm continues next post...probably... *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

THE STORM (PART 4): THE LIST 1. Eric Duncan 2. Dioner Navarro 3. Melky Cabrera 4. Robinson Cano 5. Tyler Clippard 6. Bronson Sardinha 7. Abel Gomez 8. Brad Halsey 9. Jeffrey Karstens 10. Metthew DeSalvo Let me know what you think in comments. I'm going to try and push out some more content today too, but I won't guarantee anything, because I'm almost exhausted. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-04T15:18:00.000-04:00

THE STORM (PART 3): THE RISING The following prospects won't necessarily be in the new top 10, but they are guys that have been hot as of late, or have performed well enough to enhance their status within the organization. Brad Halsey, SP, 23, AAA Columbus (Name, Position, Age, Level) I placed Halsey on my preseason based on his peripherals improving for the most part once he was promoted to AA last year. Then this year he started off somewhat rough in AAA and I pretty much gave up on him. Perhaps I was too quick to do that. While Halsey still isn't fooling too many batters, only 33 Ks in 62 innings, he is doing everything else you want a pitching prospect to do. He is decent at limiting hits, 61, but has excellent control, 17 walks, and is incredibly good at avoiding the long ball, 1 thus far. Though I am still weary because of the K rate, I don't think I would mind the Yankees giving Halsey a shot at some point this season if Jose Contreras continues to struggle. He could turn out to be a serviceable innings eating back of the rotation starter, which is what Freddy Garcia, the guy the Yankees are often rumored to be after, is. In addition, he wouldn't cost Navarro. If Contreras does pitch as I think he can, Halsey may be able to replace Lieber in next year's rotation, though that is not likely considering the Yankees general reluctance with young players. STOCK: Up Jeffrey Karstens, SP, 21, A+ Tampa Karstens, has come from relative obscurity to establish himself as one of the organization's better pitching prospects. His last start, which was bad, has messed his numbers up a bit, but Karstens is still doing everything well enough. He has slightly more hits than innings pitched and less than a strikeout per inning, and has not kept the ball in the park as much as you would like. Despite all this, I am impressed by his control and coming from the University of Texas aids in that it shows he has at least a decent baseball pedigree. All of Karstens numbers should improve as the season progresses and it will be interesting to see if he gets promoted to AA, though it wouldn't be any great fault on the Yankees part to allow him to spend the entire year in Tampa. STOCK: Up Matthew DeSalvo, SP, 23, A+ Tampa Though Karstens has been good for Tampa; his contributions have been overshadowed by those of Matt DeSalvo, who is in desperate need of a promotion. DeSalvo was an excellent college pitcher, the all-time leader in career wins and strikeouts, but did not get much attention as a prospect. This was probably due to missing a year with a knee injury, in addition to being a short right-handed pitcher. Apparently, enough teams felt that was enough to overcome his body of work and low to mid 90s fastball. The Yankees were able to sign him as a 5th year senior and since then he has been nothing short of spectacular, especially this year. Consider that DeSalvo has more strikeouts than hits and walks put together and has yet to allow a homer. At this point, DeSalvo has two faults. The first, which is out of his control, is that he is a 23-year-old in A+, which puts a damper on what he has accomplished. The second is within his...control. DeSalvo has walked 24 men in 62.1 innings, which while not ridiculously high, is higher than ideal. If DeSalvo is promoted to AA, which I think will happen in a week's time, and continues to tear through the opposition, look for him to begin getting a lot more press and just remember where you heard about him first. STOCK: Up Hector Made, SS, 19, A- Battle Creek I considered putting Made on the preseason top 10 list, but at the end of the day I decided that he didn't dominate the GCL and the things I was high on him for, patience and power, were not necesarily going to transfer to full season baseball. Well, Made is starting to transfer those. He began the season hitting pretty much all singles, but since May 9th he has begun throwing in extra base hits and walks. In fact, since that date, over the course of 86 plate appearances, he has hit .307/.372/.440/.277 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). That is obviously much better than his seasonal line of .268/.314/.340/.226. Due to the marked improvement in plate patience and discipline, which is also evident in his at bats, I am apt to believe that this represents a real change in ability for Made. Defensively, Made has had the classic young SS problem of spectacular play one time, boot an easy play next time, but overall he has been more consistent than I thought he would be. Perhaps my standards were too low. STOCK: Up *** The storm still isn't over... *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-04T12:54:00.000-04:00

BRIEF STORM BREAK Yesterday, as my former Physics teacher would say, was a "below average" day for Yankee prospects and hopefuls. Most of them struggled and the struggles begin at AAA Columbus, with their band of replacement players. Columbus was absolutely destroyed 13 to 2. Buffalo scoring 13 runs against Columbus included Colter Bean having his worst outing of the year. Bean simply did not have his control yesterday, which is something that a guy with a fastball in the 80s needs. In 1.2 innings, Bean gave up 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, walked 1, struck out none, hit a batter, and threw a wild pitch. That is an ugly line, but considering how well he has pitched all year, I'm willing to brush it off as an anomaly. The fact that Bryan Myrow had the best day of the replacement level All Stars by going 1 for 3 with a single and a walk is very telling. DH Andy Phillips was held in check, something that does not happen often, as he was 0 for 3 with a walk. As I said yesterday, it is nice to see the walk. 3B Jeff Deardorff was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and Caonabo Cosme, showed up my slight optimism from yesterday, by going 0 for 4. Trenton lost 8 to 7 as "Tiger" Wang did his best Jose Contreras impression. The start was Wang's worst of the season, and possibly his career, as he allowed 8 hits, 7 runs, 7 earned runs, and a walk while striking out none...in .2 innings pitched. Dioner Navarro was the DH and went 0 for 4 with a hit by pitch, his worst offensive performance in quite some time. Robinson Cano had what has to be considered a great game for him at this point; the 2B was 2 for 5 with 2 singles. Hopefully, Cano will get hot and get his average back up to the .300 range as he is now sitting at .282. This is an off the cuff observation, but Cano seems to hit better on the road. I'll try and look into this somewhere down the line. Tampa was yet another Yankee affiliate to lose their game yesterday, they did so by a score of 8 to 3. A large part of the problem, at least offensively, were the numbers 2 and 3 hitters, they combined to go 2 for 9 with 2 singles and 3 Ks. Melky Cabrera was the worse of the duo, going 1 for 5 with 2 Ks, but this Giambi kid was not much better. Playing 1B he was 1 for 4 with a strikeout and with a .167 average, has not been very impressive. While Bronson Sardinha had a good game at the plate, 2 for 4 with 2 singles, his defensive problems grew, as he made 3 errors. Sardinha's bat probably profiles better at 3B than it did in CF, but I wonder why the Yankees ended that experiment. The OF is the only position where Sardinha has not been a butcher, and while LF would have asked for too much from him offensively, CF seemed about right. This, of course, is all a moot point if Sardinha just did not have the speed to play CF, which is what I suspect. To cap off a minor league day full of losing, Battle Creek lost to Dayton by the score of 2 to 9. Elvys Quezada continued to be under whelming, outside of the no-hitter, as he pitched 4 innings and allowed 4 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, walked 3, and struck out 7. Last season I was impressed watching Quezada at Staten Island and figured he could have a shot to be a decent prospect, assuming that he started at Tampa. Well, Quezada got injured, started at Battle Creek, and is struggling, there goes that theory. The worst part of the Battle Creek team's effort yesterday was the "offense", which managed 3 hits and 2 runs. Eric Duncan has slumped all the way down to .291 as he was 0 for 3 with a strikeout, though he did manage to draw a walk. Duncan also made his first error in quite some time. Erold Andrus, moved all the way up to 7th, was 0 for 3 with a strikeout. It is somewhat sad that Hector Made, who was 0 for 2 with a walk, had the most encouraging night. The walk is why his night was encouraging as Made continues to regain the patience that made him an exciting prospect last year. *** More post(s) are coming today as the storm continues, after a brief interruption... *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

THE STORM (PART 2): UPDATED TOP 10 About one month ago, I updated my preseason top 10, and the new Yankee top 10 was as follows: 1. Dioner Navarro 2. Eric Duncan 3. Robinson Cano 4. Bronson Sardinha 5. Rudy Guillen 6. Abel Gomez 7. Melky Cabrera 8. Sean Henn 9. Tyler Clippard 10. Ramon Ramirez Well, it's time to review that list, look at some other prospects making moves, and then update it. 1. Dioner Navarro, C, 20, AA Trenton (Previous Ranking, Position, Age, Level) When this list was last done, Dioner Navarro was hitting .267/.362/.367/.255 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). At the time I said that "If [Navarro] can maintain his plate patience and discipline at the level it has been thus far, and make the batting average and power improvement, Navarro will certify his status amongst the best prospects in baseball". Well, Navarro's seasonal line now stands at .298/.385/.405/.275. Since I told him to do as much, Navarro has made great strides in the batting average department, lesser ones in the power department, and kept his plate patience/discipline at great levels. This still isn't good enough though, Navarro has shown more power in the past and I expect him to continue to do so. Therefore, I don't think Navarro's power numbers will be satisfactory until he gets into the ~30% extra base hit area of ~.150 Isolated Power. At this point, his numbers in those categories are 24% and .107, respectively. In addition to the lack of power, Navarro has had some defensive problems as he has committed 5 errors in 36 games behind the plate, but has done a solid job of throwing runners out. At this point the errors and lack of power are the only 2 true faults I can find with Navarro, which is my way of saying he still remains a very good prospect as is, and if he can regain his power, he will be an excellent one. STOCK: Neutral 2. Eric Duncan, 3B, 19, A- Battle Creek The last time I updated the top 10 Eric Duncan was in the midst of what was his worst slump to date. It was a 1 for 19 doozy and since then Duncan has been almost fault-less offensively. In about a month his numbers went from .291/.391/.468/.293 to .298/.400/.530/.313. Though his production is now superstar good, it was already pretty good, so at the time I never critiqued him for it, after all, I was only expecting .290/.350/.450/.270. What I did critique Duncan for were his strikeouts and his errors. Duncan had had 21 strikeouts in 79 AB, but with only 24 strikeouts in his last 102 AB he has obviously made great strides with that. Even more impressive though, has been Duncan's defensive improvement. In the beginning of the season, it seemed as though every ball that Duncan got to, he was either bobbling completely, or mishandling and then getting off a bad throw. This led to him having 12 errors in 21 games and me already giving up hope on him being able to stick at 3B. Since then, however, Duncan has made an incredible defensive improvement with only 2 errors in the 30 games since. He is now one of the better defenders on the team and has greatly improved his chance of sticking at 3B. If he does then his offense will make him one of top 3B in baseball, easily. The season isn't over yet, but thus far Duncan has the look of a true top prospect and one of the steals of the 2003 draft. So no, I don't really have anything bad to say about him. STOCK: Up 3. Robinson Cano, 2B, 21, AA Trenton My, how the mighty have fallen. A month ago, I was already planning out Cano's exact summer 2004 Stadium arrival date. Now, I'm just hoping he can start hitting at AA again. In a month's time, the 2B has seen his numbers plummet from .325/.367/.590/.313 all the way to .279/.339/.497/.277. Despite the overall drop in productivity, there are some reasons for hope within the numbers, which would be that basically what has happened is that Cano lost singles...a lot of them. His isolated discipline has basically stayed the same, from .042 to .040, and his isolated power has dropped, from .265 to .218, but not a ridiculous amount, just a good one. Despite all these troubles, Cano is still above the league averages of .257/.333/.401/.250. Basically, he has gone from being a decent prospect having an excellent season to a decent prospect having a solid season. The hope for being a major contributor to the big club is still there, but it just won't materialize in summer 2004. Stock: Down 4. Bronson Sardinha, 3B, 21, A+ Tampa Bronson Sardinha has gone from .349/.433/.442/.305 last time around, to .322/.394/.411/.280. Offensively, he is the same player now that he was back on May 1st. He's hitting for a high average and taking his walks, but with little to no power. I am still holding out hope that this power outage is a product of the FSL and if things go as I expect, this will be known very soon as Sardinha should be promoted sometime in the next week. I have stated in the past that Sardinha should be a primary part of any deal the Yankees do this summer, and I still feel that way. Sardinha has no role on this team, because he is similar to Eric Duncan in that they play the same position, hit for average, and have good patience/discipline. The problem is that Duncan is 2 years younger, has A LOT more power, and plays a better defensive 3B (after making 6 errors in his first 22 games at 3B, Sardinha has gone on to make 12 in his next 22); Duncan's presence makes Sardinha expendable. That said, I still like Bronson as a prospect and wouldn't mind if he stuck around, I just wouldn't mind if he was dealt. Stock: Neutral 5. Rudy Guillen, CF, 20, A+ Tampa Guillen was hitting .314/.354/.384/.255 last time around, since then he went into a hitting slump that dragged his numbers down to .271/.313/.346 before injuring himself and going on the DL. I haven't been able to find out what Guillen's injury is, but since he was placed on the DL he hasn't played and there has been no news on him. Whenever he does come back, he will have to go on a tear in order to build on what he did in 2003, in addition to having to likely adjust to having lost his position (CF, Melky Cabrera) and lineup slot (3, Eric Duncan). Stock: Down 6. Abel Gomez, SP, 19, A- Battle Creek Abel Gomez has been consistent this season. He has consistently limited the number of hits the opposition has gotten. He has consistently allowed weak hits, if any are to be allowed. He has consistently struck out a very good amount of batters. And perhaps most importantly, he has consistently been wild. The wildness is important because were it not for the walks, Gomez would be a much "safer" prospect. With the walks, while it is easily acknowledged that his other peripherals equate a high ceiling, they are a warning that the risk is also very high. Gomez has made the slightest of improvements in walk rate as the season has progressed, and since balls in play against him are not generally hit very hard, it wouldn't be too bad if he walked less men, but perhaps gave up more contact. Gomez remains a good pitching prospect for now, but his walk totals must be watched closely, if they decline, look for him to begin moving through the system quickly. STOCK: Up 7. Melky Cabrera, CF, 19, A+ Battle Creek Melky Cabrera made my preseason list of Yankee prospects for one reason; he was an 18 year old who drew walks in the NY-Penn League. I noticed this last summer and took note of it, so while seemingly no one else expected as much out of him as I did, I kept my faith in Melky. Thus far, it seems as though my faith is paying great dividends. Though my faith in Melky was based on his plate patience/discipline, early in the season he was not walking much, though he was hitting for a high average. Such was the case when he was hitting .333/.356/.444/.271 back on May 1st. Then, just as I expected, Cabrera began to take walks and his power began to grow a little more. Soon after, the Yankees promoted the CF to A+ Tampa. After hitting .333/.383/.462/.288 at Battle Creek, Cabrera has hit .333/.359/.500 in his first 36 at bats at Tampa. Once again, the familiar Melky trend of hit then become patient seems to be occurring. Cabrera in 2004 has been pretty much everything I could have hoped for when I went out on a limb and ranked him higher than anyone else I know of. Before I go crazy with all the praises and back patting, I will point out that Cabrera has one thing I would love to see rectified. Thus far, over the course of 207 at bats, and 24 extra base hits, Cabrera has no homers. Not a single one. He has been the very definition of a gap hitter. STOCK: Up 8. Sean Henn, LHP, 23, AA Trenton Looking back, I jumped the gun on Sean Henn for my May rankings. I praised his first handful of innings of work as being great; when in actuality they were pretty mediocre. In addition, I also put more emphasis on that body of work than I did his 2003 performance, which at that early point is especially stupid. Since then, Henn has been even more disappointing. Despite the improvement in fastball velocity, Henn still struggles to miss bats, which should not be a problem for a lefty with his type of stuff. In addition, Henn also consistently battles his control. So basically he's been like Abel Gomez, except without the strikeouts, and with more hits and more home runs, which is to say he hasn't been very good. Henn still has a shot, but this is due more to his being very inexperienced for a 23-year-old pitcher (witness his JUST having learned a sinker), than it is for me having actual statistical evidence of potential improvement. That being said, I hear the Yankees need a left-handed reliever to shut down lefty bats, I wonder how a lefty with a mid 90s fastball could do in such a role? STOCK: Down 9. Tyler Clippard, RHP, 19, A- Battle Creek Gomez and Clippard are like the Johnson and Schilling of the MWL. Similar to Schilling, Clippard has outstanding control, which is his best feature as a prospect. The strikeout to walk ratio of over 7 attests to this. In addition to having outstanding control, Clippard misses a good amount of bats. Averaging slightly more than a strikeout per inning attests to this. In addition to having outstanding control and missing bats, Clippard limits his opposition's number and quality of hits. The less than a hit per inning and homer about every 15 innings attests to this. Clippard does all this with a fastball that consistently only clocks in at 86 to 88. The key is his curveball. Clippard's ability with this pitch is way ahead of anything batters in the Midwest League are used to seeing and the results show this. As I've said in the past, I would love to see what Clippard does to hitters once his fastball gets...faster. Were that to happen, I think the Yankees would have their own version of Giants pitching prospect Matt Cain, though this is just a complete hunch on my part. With promotion season fast approaching, it would be great, but highly unlikely, if the Yankees promoted Clippard because playing in the MWL does not do anything for him. The vast majority of hitters there cannot touch his breaking stuff so he can just throw that all day without working on the rest of his repertoire, in addition, it not as if the Yankees can tell him to work on his control, because that's already there too. STOCK: Up 10. Ramon Ramirez, RHP, 22, AA Trenton Well, it turns out there was a reason Ramon was pitching terribly, he was injured. Stock: Down To Be Continued... *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-03T12:10:00.000-04:00

THE STORM (PART 1) On June 1st, AAA Columbus faced off against the Ottawa Lynx and one of the better RHP prospects in baseball, John Maine. Maine has struggled a bit in AAA and the Clippers were able to take advantage of this as they won the game by a score of 6 to 5. The final score was that close mostly because of Scott Proctor, who had his first poor outing in quite some time. In 1 inning of work, Proctor would allow 1 hit, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and strike out 1. His ERA has now risen to 3.68. Brian Myrow had the best night of any Columbus hitter, as the IF was 3 for 5 with 2 doubles. Andy Phillips had a good game as well, which is pretty much expected at this point, Phillips was 2 for 3 with 2 singles and 2 walks. Walks, or a lack thereof, have been the biggest hole in Phillips' offensive profile this season, but he has managed to quietly work his way up to 10 walks in 114 AAA at bats and 13 walks to 156 at bats on the season. His strikeout to walk ratio is also at 1 for the season. Jeff Deardorff is another replacement level player who had a good game on Tuesday; Deardorff was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and a walk. Caonabo Cosme showed signs of life as he went 1 for 3 with a double while playing SS, and Jackson Melian got the start, but did not do as well as he usually does while pinch-hitting. The RF was just 0 for 4 with a strikeout, as his AAA average plummeted to .391. Since my last post, the Trenton Thunder have played back-to-back extra innings games, for a total of 26 innings of play. They won both games, the first 6 to 4, and the second 3 to 2. Offensively, the star has been Dioner Navarro, whose bat seems to have really woken. In the 2 contests, the 20-year-old C was 4 for 9 with 2 singles, 2 doubles, and 3 walks, the most important thing being the doubles. Hopefully, those serve as a sign that Navarro is going to start showing the power that he has in the past as that has been the biggest weakness for him in 2004. Meanwhile, I think it can now officially be said that rather than slumping, Robinson Cano was regressing to the mean. While he has definitely improved as a player, check the increase in patience and power; he is not nearly MLB ready, which is what it seemed like after about 150 at bats. During the back-to-back extra innings contest, the 2B could only manage to go 2 for 12 with a walk and 2 singles. The biggest story of the second game was the performance of Sean Henn. Coming off some less than stellar outings, the lefty needed to right the ship, and that he did. Henn went 8 innings and limited the opposition to 7 hits, 1 run, and 1 earned run while walking 1 and striking out 5. Perhaps more encouraging than the performance was the reason given for it; apparently Henn was just taught how to throw a sinker after his last start, and he credits that with his performance yesterday. It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, this brings about in his subsequent performances. Tampa continued their recent trend of mediocrity, losing 5 to 3 on Tuesday, and winning 5 to 4 on Wednesday. Jose Valdez sucked, a lot, in losing Tuesday's game. Valdez went 4.2 innings and gave up 7 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 4 walks, and struck out 3. His ERA also went up to 4.99, which is awful in the pitcher-friendly FSL, as his prospect star continues to fade. Though Tampa won on Wednesday, Jeff Karstens, the starting pitcher, received a no-decision. Karstens was less than great, to put it kindly. In 6 innings of work hr gave up 9 hits, including 2 homers, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out 3. Despite this, Karstens continues to have success in his first taste of full-season ball. While Valdez came into the season as a more touted prospect than Karstens, Karstens has passed him at this point. Bronson "FSL All-Star" Sardinha and Melky Cabrera continued to hit from the top of the order. Cabrera was 3 for 10 with a double and Sardinha was 3 for 8 with a double. Unfortunately for Sardinha he also made his 18th error in 49 games at 3B. Oh yeah, some guy named Jason Giambi was 0 for 2 with a walk in last night's game. He is already over 30 and still in A+ so it's not certain how much, if at all, he'll be able to help a major league team down the line. In a very rare occurrence, Tyler Clippard and Abel Gomez both had solid performances, but somehow Battle Creek lost both games. Clippard pitched on Tuesday and in 6.1 innings he gave up 6 hits, 2 home runs, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 9. Obviously, Clippard fell victim to the long ball, which is why I have no long-term concerns. Clippard has now given up 4 homers in 59.1 innings this season, which is very good, and 7 in 103 career innings, which is also good. Basically, for one game, something that is not a concern for Clippard, took advantage of him. Wednesday was a typical Abel Gomez start, meaning he was wildly effective. Gomez pitched 5.1 innings and allowed 2 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 7. He also hit a batter. Like I said, wildly effective. The loss was the first of the season for Gomez, who stands amongst the league leaders in wins, winning percentage, strikeouts, and ERA. The blame for the losses falls on the shoulders of the offense. Battle Creek has scored 2 runs in their last two games, in comparison to the 9 scored by the opposition. One of the offensive culprits has been Eric Duncan, who was 0 for 7 with a walk and a strikeout, as his batting average has dropped below .300 for the first time in a while. Hector Made started the Tuesday game, only to sit out the Wednesday game. Made was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout, as his patience continues to return to him. Erold Andrus started the first game and had another ineffective leadoff performance, 0 for 3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts, only to be dropped to last in the lineup for the Wednesday game. Andrus promptly responded with a 1 for 3 with a single and a strikeout performance. Estee Harris played CF in the Wednesday game and struggled...again. Harris was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts. Harris is now hitting .216 and it is one of the great mysteries of the Yankee system that Harris has not been demoted...yet, as I doubt Anderson Amador, Wady Rufino, or any other number of young Yankee OF prospects could do any worse. *** With the FSL All-Star game rapidly approaching, it will take place next weekend, look for the movement within the Yankee organization to begin. After the game, I expect Sardinha to move to AA Trenton and Eric Duncan to take his place at Tampa. Matt DeSalvo should also join Sardinha in Trenton, and though I doubt it will happen, I would love to see Clippard replace him at Tampa. *** More update(s) coming today. Stay alert. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-06-01T01:07:00.000-04:00

CALM BEFORE THE STORM Trenton's game was rained out yesterday, so only 3 Yankee affiliates played. On the bright side, all 3 managed to win. Columbus was able to pull out a victory mainly due to their pitching and two of the bigger contributors hailed from the bullpen, Bret Prinz and Colter Bean. Bean came into the game in the 7th and got the win by going 1 inning and walking 1 man while striking out the side. He did not allow a hit or a run. Prinz followed Bean in the game and pitched a scoreless 8th while striking out 2 and walking none. Prinz also did not allow a hit. Prinz, Bean, and Proctor have been nothing short of phenomenal out of the AAA bullpen as of late. Yesterday was not the best day for the hitters. Andy Phillips had a "bad" game, 1 for 4 with a single and a walk, as did Brian Myrow, 0 for 5 with 2 Ks, and Jackson Melian, 0 for 3 with a walk and a K. Felix Escalona and Jeff Deardorff hit well though as both went 2 for 4 with a double. Matt "Why am I still here" DeSalvo was very wild in his Monday start, but still pitched well. In 5.1 innings he held the opposition to 2 hits, 1 run, and 1 earned run, but walked 6 while striking out 8. DeSalvo had been having control issues early in the year, but this is the first they have re-emerged in quite some time and unless the walks begin to appear consistently again I don't think it means much. Either way, this man needs to be promoted, and I will continue to say this after every DeSalvo start, until it actually happens. While Bronson Sardinha struggled, on his way to an 0 for 4 with a walk and a strikeout night, Melky Cabrera had an excellent offensive night. The 19-year-old CF was 3 for 4 with 3 doubles and a walk and is doing very well in his handful of A+ plate appearances. The Battle Creek Yankees battled the weather and Chase Wright's ineffectiveness on the way to their victory yesterday. Wright would only go 5 innings, but that was enough time for him to give up 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 4 walks, and strike out 4. Free Jason Stephens. As a team, the BC Yanks had a good offensive day, and Hector Made was a big part of that. The SS, who has been hitting much better lately, was 2 for 4 with a single and a controversial home run. Unfortunately, he was the only one of the team's big prospects to have a nice day at the plate. Eric Duncan had a bad day as his lone hit in 4 at bats was a double that would have been caught under normal weather conditions, and Estee Harris was worse, going 0 for 4 with 1 strikeout, though the lack of Ks is a small victory for Harris. *** I will attempt to post the updated top 10 sometime during the day today. If I don't get to it today, it will be delayed until later in the week, though the normal content will continue to be updated regularly. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-31T14:49:00.000-04:00

100th POST The Yankees may be in need of a left-hander out of the pen. Alex Graman is a lefty, and though he hasn't been coming out of the AAA Columbus bullpen, he has been pitching very effectively. Yesterday was no different as Graman lasted 7 innings and allowed 6 hits, 1 run, 0 earned runs, walked only 1, and struck out 5. In 46.2 innings of AAA work Graman has a 2.12 ERA with 34 hits, 4 home runs, 16 walks, and 46 strikeouts. Scott Proctor was the reliever to follow Graman and he had a clean line in his 1 inning of work. So it still bears pondering why Tanyon Sturtze remains on the major league roster when younger, better options exist. Columbus won the game 9 to 2, and with that much offense you would have to figure that Andy Phillips was involved, and of course he was. Playing DH, he went 3 for 4 with 3 singles. Caonabo Cosme, back at 2B, could not get back to hitting and was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Late in the game, Jackson Melian pinch-hit for Phillips and continued the offensive onslaught. The 24-year-old tripled in his only at bat as he continues to impress in his very limited AAA action thus far. He may find himself in a starting role if he keeps this up. Though Columbus lacks much in the way of actual prospects, following them has made it very clear that they have a lot of replacement level talent. Guys who, if anything goes wrong with a Yankee major leaguer (knock on wood), can step in and hold their own. I would look at this as being a major purpose of a AAA team, so Columbus is doing a great job in that respect. Some of these replacement level standouts, other than the guys who normally receive attention here, include 25-year-old SS Felix Escalona, .314/.383/.410/.275 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA), 27-year-old IF Bryan Myrow, .276/.374/.455/.282, and 25-year-old 3B Jeff Deardorff, .277/.358/.497/.285. Trenton won 8 to 0 yesterday as Dioner Navarro and Robinson Cano both had good days at the plate. Cano was 2 for 5 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts, while Dioner Navarro was 2 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. You would love to see Navarro start to demonstrate the power that he did in the first half of 2003 and all of 2003, but at the least he is hitting for average and getting on base. The Tampa losing streak reached 4 games yesterday as they lost 7 to 1. Ferdin Tejada, who I'm about ready to stop paying attention to, gave his usual anemic offensive performance, in this case it was an 0 for 3 with a strikeout one, while Melky and Bronson were not at their best. Melky, who was 1 for 4 with a single and 2 strikeouts, was a little better than Bronson, who was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. When those two aren't hitting, it means that combined with Tejada there are at least 3 auto-outs in the lineup so it's almost a forfeit. Battle Creek took their game by a score of 4 to 3. The game lasted a mere 6 innings due to weather issues, so the hitters did not have as many chances to do damage as they usually do, but they did well in the time they had, for the most part. Hector Made was 2 for 3 with a double and a walk as he looks to get hot again, Eric "I'm going to push my OPS to 1.000, maybe then the Yankees will promote me" Duncan was 2 for 3 with a double and a strikeout. The doubles were Made's 8th and Duncan's 14th. Erold "world's worst leadoff hitter" Andrus was 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Estee "this season has sucked" Harris was 0 for 2 with a walk and a strikeout. At this point it is an accomplishment for him when not all of the outs were Ks. On the pitcher's mound to start yesterday's game was Steven White. White had a poor outing as he would go 5.1 innings and give up 7 hits, a home run, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, walk 3, and strike out 4. The right-hander from Baylor has struggled with his consistency and not been as impressive as I thought he would. *** Reminder: Updated top 10 prospects coming this week, in addition to a draft preview *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-30T14:41:00.000-04:00

GRADUATION When I say graduation, I'm not referring to a prospect being promoted, but rather to my recent graduation, which is why there has been a delay in updates. Anyway, enough about me. Columbus has played 3 games since I last mentioned them, a doubleheader on Friday and then one game yesterday. They lost both games of the doubleheader, the first 7 to 2, and the second 6 to 4. They then won yesterday's game 2 to 0. Bret Prinz and Colter Bean both had work over the course of the 3 games, and both did their jobs. Prinz went 1 inning and struck out 2, with no other marks in his line. Bean went 2 innings with a clean line other than 1 strikeout. The most significant starting pitching performance of the past 3 games was that of Brad Halsey. Halsey started yesterday and went 7 strong innings allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 3. He is now 11th in the International League in ERA with a 3.19. Playing 1B and DH, Phillips has gone 5 for 12 with 2 doubles and 2 strikeouts over the 3 games. He remains hot, but with the success of the 1B/DH replacements at the major league level and the recent Enrique Wilson hot streak Phillips will not be getting a shot anytime soon. Jackson Melian also remains hot; he was 2 for 5 with a double and a walk over the 3-game stretch. Despite only being used sparingly, Melian has been very impressive thus far at AAA. He is 8 for 15 with 4 doubles, 1 triple, a walk, and 3 strikeouts, which gives him a line of .533/.588/.933/.498 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). Caonabo Cosme is about done, as he was 0 for 7 with 5 Ks, while playing SS and 2B, and his numbers have fallen all the way to .264/.339/.362/.240. It seems that Cosme was simply having a hot streak to begin the season and has returned to his low batting average, low power, and decent patience ways. On Friday, Trenton lost a marathon game to Binghamton, 5 to 4, and then they lost a regular game to Binghamton, 3 to 1. The Friday game featured a decent pitching performance by "Tiger" Wang. Wang went 8 innings and allowed 7 hits, a home run, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, walked 1, and struck out 5. In the 2 games, Dioner Navarro cooled off some. He was merely 1 for 9, a single of course, with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Meanwhile, though Robinson Cano had a bad second game, 0 for 4 with a strikeout, in his first game showed signs of a breakout. The 2B was 2 for 5 with a double and a triple. Since the team as a whole only managed 4 hits in the second game, I am betting that the first game is more indicative of Robinson's present level of offensive play than the second. Tampa lost their last 2 games, 7 to 5 and then 6 to 5. In the first Jeff Karstens had a disappointing performance. The 21-year-old right-hander only lasted 4.2 innings, which, unfortunately, was enough time for him to give up 6 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, and 2 walks, though he did manage 7 strikeouts. Despite this hiccup, 41.2 innings into the season, Karstens has the impressive line of: 41 hits, 23 runs, 17 earned runs, 2 home runs, 9 walks, and 40 strikeouts. Melky Cabrera has been decent over the last 2 games, 4 for 11 with a triple and a strikeout and has thus far not been great or horrible at A+. Bronson Sardinha, meanwhile, had a nice couple of games. He was 5 for 11, though it is still disapointing to see the lack of extra base hits, as all hits are singles. The most interesting part of the second game, as far as Sardinha is concerned, is that Bronson switched over to 2B late in the game. This could mean nothing...or it could be important. Sardinha has really struggled at 3B this season, with 17 errors in 45 games so this could mean that he is being moved to his newest position within the organization in order to have a consistent position to play. He has already been moved from SS, LF and CF. This could also mean that Cano is about to be promoted to AAA and Sardinha will become the new AA 2B, but I don't think that is very likely. The most interesting scenario, in my opinion, would be that Sardinha is moving permanently to 2B, with Duncan taking over his 3B spot on the Tampa roster. In their Friday game, the Battle Creek team saw Abel Gomez have his first truly poor start in a while as they lost 8 to 7. Gomez went 4.2 innings and gave up 7 hits, 1 home run, 6 runs, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 8. Gomez was more hittable than usual, but at the same time, his defense failed him in this game. Then in the Saturday game, Elvys Quezada had trouble following up his no-hitter, but BC won 14 to 5. The Seton Hall right-hander would only last 4 innings, in which he gave up 6 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 6. Quezada has been very inconsistent this season. In the absence of Melky Cabrera, Erold Andrus has found himself moved into the leadoff spot. This makes little to no sense to me since Andrus, unlike Cabrera, does not have much of a history of taking walks. During the 2 games, Andrus was 2 for 10; both hits were singles. Hector Made, with a solid grip on the 2-slot in the order, was 2 for 10 with a single and a double. Eric "why haven't I been promoted" Duncan, continues to impress. For the 2-game stretch, the 3B was 2 for 6 with 2 singles and 4 walks. Estee Harris played in the first game, went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts, and then sat out the second game. *** Update on today's action either later today or early tomorrow. Updated top 10 coming soon also, the draft preview will wait a little longer. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-28T11:00:00.000-04:00

THAT TOOK A WHILE After what seems like forever, Robinson Cano finally broke through with a good night as Trenton edged their opponents 8 to 6. Cano was 2 for 5 with a double, his 14th of the season, and must feel relieved that that awful stretch is over. The key for Cano will now be to put a couple good games together and get that OPS back over .900, the quicker he does that, the quicker he sees AAA. While Cano was finally breaking out of a funk, Navarro continued his recent hot streak. By going 2 for 5 with 2 singles, Navarro extended his hitting streak to 11 games. While Navarro has done a great job of hitting for average lately, I would still like to see him hit a few more doubles and get his walk rate back to the ridiculous level it was at earlier this year. For now, I will have to be comfortable with the batting average beginning to reach .300, as it is now at .295. While the offensive prospect duo at Trenton had a good night, pitching-wise, the results continue to be poor. Last night it was Sean Henn's turn to pitch poorly, though he managed to collect the win on the strength of the offense. Henn went 5 innings and allowed 5 hits, 5 runs, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out 3 and his seasonal ERA has risen all the way to 4.24. Henn could really use a dominant start sometime soon. Tonight, "Tiger" Wang takes the mound and attempts to be a Trenton pitching prospect who doesn't perform below expectations. Tampa had their 3-game winning streak snapped as the offense could only muster 2 runs and 5 hits, in comparison to their opponents 3 runs and 10 hits. Bronson Sardinha, in particular, had a very bad game. The 3B was 0 for 3 with a HBP at the plate and then made an error, his 17th. Melky Cabrera wasn't much better at the plate, as he was 0 for 4, but he did draw his first A+ walk. This game also saw Cabrera return to his usual leadoff slot, while Sardinha was in his normal 2-hole. Ferdin Tejada also still can't hit, as he was 0 for 2 with a walk and is quickly plummeting off the prospect radar. The starting pitcher for yesterday's loss was Jose Valdez, who is still struggling to miss bats and has stagnated. In 5 innings he allowed 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, walked 1, and struck out 2. That just won't do and someone who can get into the mid-90s on a regular basis should not be missing so few bats. Tonight's starter, Jeff Karstens, should not have the same problem as he attempts to continue to impress. Tyler Clippard had another fine performance yesterday, helping lead the Battle Creek squad to a 7 to 3 victory. The right-hander went 6 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, and struck out 3, as he lowered his ERA to 3.06. Outside of his one disaster, the start against Kane County, Clippard has compiled the following numbers: 51 innings, 40 hits, 17 runs, 9 earned runs, 5 walks, 49 strikeouts, 1 home run. Simply put, Clippard is a stud already. It will be interesting to see what happens to his numbers once he picks up some more fastball velocity. The other stud Battle Creek pitcher, Abel Gomez, will take the mound tonight. I would look for a huge game from him tonight. Hector Made and Erold Andrus would love to forget about their plate appearances from yesterday. Andrus, batting in the 2-spot, was 0 for 5 with a K and Made, hitting 6th, was 0 for 4. It appears that the hot streak for both is over, or perhaps this is just a blip on the path. Estee Harris continued his recent trend of having solid games by going 1 for 4 with a double and limited himself to 1 strikeout. Finally, Eric Duncan had his typical strong offensive game. Duncan was 1 for 4 with a home run, and a HBP. For those of you wondering, Duncan is now hitting .304/.400/.553/.318 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA), and it would really be nitpicking to find a gaping hole in his offensive game. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-27T11:42:00.000-04:00

MOVING ON Columbus lost 10 to 6 yesterday, and there wasn't much in the way of "prospect" action. Andy Phillips had his first bad game in recent memory as he only managed to go 1 for 5 with a single while playing 1B. Caonabo Cosme did his best to make sure that those who thought he was coming out of his slump were proven wrong by going 0 for 4 with a strikeout. The only real positive on the night was Jackson Melian. Melian came into the game as a pinch-hitter and did his job, collecting a double in his lone at-bat. So in 10 AAA at bats Melian now has 6 hits, 3 of which are doubles and 1 triple. He is swinging the bat very well right now. Trenton beat up on the opposition by a score of 8 to 0 yesterday. Of the 13 hits collected by the Thunder, 3 belonged to Dioner Navarro who was 3 for 4, though all of his hits were singles. Navarro is now 9 for his last 19 with a double, 2 homers, and a walk. Then there is Robinson Cano. On the one hand, it's great that he got a walk last night, while not striking out, something that has been a problem of late. On the other hand, he was also 0 for 4. Cano is now 1 for his last 19, which is pretty bad, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say he has a good game tonight as he begins to push his OPS back into the elite level. Tampa won 7 to 5 last night, on the strength of their starting pitching and offense. The pitching star was Matthew DeSalvo, who went 7 innings and allowed 2 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 8. After this stellar performance, Jeremy King entered the game and pitched 1 inning and allowed 3 hits, 1 home run, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, and struck out 1. DeSalvo now ranks 1st in WHIP, 2nd in strikeouts, and 1st in ERA. I'm going to try and say this as calmly as I can, PROMOTE HIM! There is absolutely no reason why DeSalvo is still at Tampa. He is clearly DOMINATING his competition, as there hasn't been a team to give him a challenge in weeks. In addition it's not as if he is some young phenom who needs to be coddled. DeSalvo is a 23-year-old accomplished college pitcher; he should be treated as one and be pushed through the system aggressively. Lastly, it is not as if the Trenton rotation is filled with stud prospects or stud performers. As a matter of fact, as of this writing, Sean Henn, who pitches tonight, is the only prospect still in the Trenton rotation and as a whole...the Trenton pitchers have sucked. So, there is clearly no reason to hold DeSalvo back, just promote him and get it over with. Find out if you have something useful, a Joe Blanton or John Maine, rather than letting him play with his competition. Of course, the big offensive news from the Tampa game was the A+ debut of Melky Cabrera. I thought Melky would be taking over in the leadoff spot, but instead he hit second, pushing Bronson Sardinha, the former second place hitter, to the third spot. Things seemed to work out fine, as Cabrera was 1 for 3 with a single and a sacrifice fly, Sardinha was 2 for 4 with 2 singles. It will be somewhat interesting to see what is done with Rudy Guillen when he returns as he had been hitting 3rd and playing CF, and both of those spots are now taken. Battle Creek lost its first game in the post-Melky era by the score of 6 to 4. The biggest reason for their loss was the starting pitching, on this night it came in the form of Chase Wright. Wright continues to strive for further depths of pitching suckiness. He only lasted 3 innings and gave up 4 hits, 6 runs, 6 earned runs, 5 walks, and struck out 2. In 48.1 innings pitched this season Wright has allowed 65 hits, 39 runs, 34 earned runs, 3 home runs, 27 walks, 10 wild pitches, and 29 strikeouts. As demonstrated by the wild pitch and walk numbers, Wright has ENORMOUS control issues. At this point there is no reason not to move the 21-year-old left-hander back to extended spring training and work with him in order to get him ready for the Staten Island season. I feel as strongly about Wright's need to be demoted as I do about DeSalvo's need to be promoted. Seriously, FREE JASON STEPHENS! Erold Andrus had the best night of the prospects left in Melky's absence. Andrus was 2 for 5 with a double and a single. Eric Duncan also had a decent night, going 2 for 5 with 2 singles and a stolen base. The stolen base was Duncan's 5th of the season and under the new Battle Creek manager, Duncan has really begun to be more aggressive on the bases. The one negative thing about Duncan's night was that he struck out twice. That brings his season total to 41 strikeouts in 157 at-bats, or a strikeout in 26.1% of his at bats. While Duncan's strikeout total is not very alarming in and of itself, it does concern me that his walk to strikeout ratio has deteriorated as the season has progressed and is now at 23:41, how this will affect him later this season and at Tampa is beyond me, but it is something to keep an eye on as a hole in an otherwise near-flawless offensive game. Speaking of strikeouts, Estee Harris was 0 for 2 last night with a strikeout and 2 walks. This game neither does anything too positively or negatively for Harris. With the departure of Cabrera, Harris may also hang around a little longer as he can play all 3 OF positions and provide BC with some depth. *** The Cabrera promotion has had one negative effect for me. Melky was a member of my 4-man team in the BC fantasy game and I now am handicapped with less than a week to go for this month's game. Currently sitting in 6th place, I am going to need my other 3 players to step it up over the next few days and help me win some free merchandise. Yeah, I know it's a cardinal rule of blogging that you shouldn't talk about your fantasy team, oh well. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-26T08:29:00.000-04:00

DOUBLE DUTY The Columbus Clippers have won their last two contests, including Monday's game by a score of 11 to 1 and Tuesday's game by a score of 9 to 1. Both games featured great offensive and pitching performances from the players of note on the Columbus roster. Brad Halsey was the winner of the first game, running his AAA record to 3-2 and improving his status as trade bait. Halsey went 6 innings, allowed 7 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked 2, and struck out 5. His ERA is now down to 3.60 and after a rough start to his AAA career, Halsey has really gotten into a groove. If the Yankees make any major deals, Halsey could play a large role. If the organization has enough faith in him, and the major league team continues to struggle with starting pitching, Halsey has a very small chance of getting a shot. Colter Bean was his usual dominant self in relief of Halsey, in his 1 inning of work, Bean allowed a hit and struck out 2 men to lower his ERA to 1.01. For the Tuesday night game, Alex Graman did his best to outstrip Halsey's performance, he went 7 innings and allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, walked 3, and struck out 5. Scott Proctor came in after Graman and pitched a scoreless eighth, only allowing 1 walk, while striking out 2. Bret Prinz then handled the ninth, with a clean line of work. The offensive stars of the games included Jackson Melian, who was 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a hit by pitch. Melian has gotten off to a hot start to his New York Yankee AAA career, as he is now 5 for his first 9, with 3 extra base hits. Andy Phillips can't stop hitting, while playing 1B in the first game and DH in the second, the 27-year-old went 5 for 9 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, and a walk. In 22 games at AAA thus far, Phillips is now hitting .384/.430/.721/.374, which is of course after he started his first 10 games in AA hitting .357/.383/.738/.357. As soon as Enrique Wilson goes back to hitting like Enrique Wilson, or as soon as the replacement 1B stop hitting, Phillips should get a shot. Even Caonabo Cosme was hot, at least in comparison to what he's done of late; the 2B was 2 for 8 with 2 singles and a walk. Trenton only had one game over the last two days, and it was yesterday's pitcher's duel that saw Trenton victorious by the score of 1 to 0. Robinson Cano continued his slide back to mediocrity with a 0 for 3 night, on top of that horrid offensive performance, Cano also made an error in the field. The pessimist in me wants to give up and say Cano is really just regressing to the mean, but the more optimistic, contemplative side says that he is just in a horrific slump. The reason for my confidence is that Cano had quite clearly made real improvements in his power and patience/discipline, so that the performance he was having earlier was closer to the "real" him than the way he has been performing lately. Hopefully, he can snap out of his slump soon, because even though his .290/.350/.531/.290 would be more than acceptable over the course of a full season for a 21-year-old middle INF in AA, it won't get him the Yankee 2005 2B job that I want him to have. Dioner Navarro was 1 for 4 with a single, and while not an impressive night in and of itself, it was impressive in comparison to what the rest of the lineup managed to do. Like Columbus, Tampa also managed to win both of their games. Both were come-from-behind victories, the first by a score of 4 to 3 and the second 7 to 5. Since I don't really believe in the A-ball relief-pitching prospect, there was not much to report from that side of things. Offensively, Tampa's almost complete lack of prospects leaves much to be desired when reporting on them...for now (more on that later). As it was, Bronson Sardinha went 2 for 7 with a double and a walk over the 3 game stretch. In the first game, Ferdin Tejada even managed a hit, as he was 1 for 3. Battle Creek won their Monday game 7 to 0, and lost their Tuesday game 4 to 6. The Monday game, as many of you probably know by now, was Elvys Quezada's no-hitter. This really means nothing to me, thus far Quezada's Battle Creek stint has been unimpressive as he has struggled with his control and I won't be impressed by any numbers he DOES put up, because he is a short 22-year-old right-handed starting pitcher in A-. Which is my way of saying Quezada is a middle reliever in the making, IF everything works out for him. Steven White struggled with his control in the Tuesday game as he went 6 innings and allowed 4 hits, 1 home run, 1 run, 1 earned run, 3 walks, and only struck out 2. Eric Duncan was 2 for 7 with a double and 2 walks over the 2-game period. Estee "Big Whiff" Harris was 2 for 8, which isn't bad, with 6 strikeouts, which is horrific. Having Harris struggle like this, after such an impressive debut in 2003, is really disheartening. It is a wonder that the Yankee organization has yet to demote him. Hector Made was 3 for 7 with a walk and after a bad slump in late April/early May, has begun to hit much better with an improved walk rate. Melky Cabrera, on the other hand, has been horrendous of late. He was 1 for 8 with a walk and 3 strikeouts over the 2-game period. He is also now just 1 for his last 14. Of course, this is just a slump, and I was joking about the horrendous comment earlier, as the Yankee organization has decided to promote Cabrera to A+. Hopefully, he continues to do well there, as he helps Tampa towards a 1st half title, and if things get rough, he can rest assured that Eric Duncan will be there soon enough. Cabrera leaves the MWL with a line of .333/.383/.462/.288. *** More on the Cabrera replacements and ramifications of the promotion later. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-24T12:12:00.000-04:00

UP AND DOWN The Columbus offense had another big game yesterday as they beat Ottawa 9 to 5. Bret Prinz closed out the game with 1 inning of clean work, other than the 2 strikeouts he picked up. Andy Phillips played another game at 2B and was 1 for 4 with a single and a walk. Since Phillips took his position, Caonabo Cosme played SS and continued his slide with a 0 for 3 night; he also threw in a sacrifice fly for good measure. The newest member of the Columbus team, former top prospect Jackson Melian, was 2 for 4 with a triple and a single. It will be interesting to see what Melian does at AAA since he is still only 24-years-old. Resurgent Matt Smith had probably his worst start of the year yesterday. The 24-year-old Trenton left-hander went 1.2 innings and allowed 2 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 3. The reason Smith's outing was so short was that he left with an injury and is expected to go on the DL as the Trenton pitching situation becomes direr. Matt DeSalvo should be positioned by the phone. Robinson Cano and Dioner Navarro continued their paths of late. Meaning, Cano was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts, while Navarro was 1 for 3 with a single, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. Cano is now 1 for his last 12 with a double and a walk. Navarro is 5 for his last 12 with a double, 2 home runs, and a walk. The slump, hopefully that's what it is, has seen Cano drop below .300 for the first time this season and his seasonal mark is now .296/.356/.541, which is still good compared to the league average of .257/.333/.399, but not obviously not as great as he was doing before. There was quite a pitcher's duel in the Tampa game yesterday as Angel Guzman, one of the top RHP prospects in baseball faced off with Jeff Karstens. In the end Guzman prevailed by a score of 2 to 1, but Karstens did very well for himself as he went 7 innings and gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 10 batters. The 21-year-old right-hander has been very impressive thus far this season and could be a sleeper pitching prospect, especially if he gets a taste of AA this year and continues to do well. Bronson Sardinha continued to do what he has done all season, hit and have fielding issues. He was 2 for 4 with 2 singles and made his 16th error of the season. Oh yeah, Ferdin Tejada continued to demonstrate his lack of hitting ability by going 0 for 3. Battle Creek was finally able to have their doubleheader and won one game and lost the other. Chase Wright continued his month long suckiness in the first game by only lasting 2 innings and allowing 7 hits, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, and only striking out 1. Wright's ERA now stands at 5.56 and that's after he started the season on fire. I wonder if Chase Wright continues to suck, will Jason Stephens, or another of the good pitchers from last year's GCL team be promoted? That should be interesting, as I would love to see Stephens, a 2003 HS right-hander who scouts like better than Clippard, start getting some action. Abel Gomez started and won the second game, it was his 5th victory of the season, compared to 0 losses. Gomez went 5.1 innings, gave up 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, walked 3, and struck out 7. Two of the runs were charged to Gomez because his bullpen let them in after he left the game. In addition, Gomez was also named the MWL pitcher of the week. He continues to battle his control, but at the same time, continues to get results. Melky Cabrera had a bad day as he saw both his hitting and on base streak end in the first game of the doubleheader, on the day he was 0 for 6 with 2 walks. Despite the conclusion of the streaks, it's still nice to see the 2 walks. Erold Andrus had a good day at the plate, going 3 for 7; all his hits were singles. Eric Duncan was 1 for 6, but his lone hit was a big one, as he hit a 2-run home run. Estee Harris was 2 for 6 on the day, both hits were singles, and is now 10 for his last 32, with a ton of strikeouts. Hey, you take what you can get. Hector Made did not start the first game, and had a forgettable night at the plate in the second game as he went 0 for 3. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-23T13:14:00.000-04:00

PROMOTION TIME The Columbus Clippers won both games of their doubleheader yesterday, as Andy "promote me now" Phillips had a huge day at the plate. Phillips played the first game as the DH and the second as the 2B; he was a combined 4 for 6 with a triple, a home run, and a walk. Through 73 at bats for Columbus, Phillips is now hitting .370/.410/.671/.352 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). With the recent injury of Jason Giambi, Phillips may get a shot at the 1B job, if Tony Clark performs poorly. If not that, then the Yankees recent move of Phillips back to 2B could mean that they are grooming him as the short term solution for the growing 2B problem since Miguel Cairo is beginning to cool off and Enrique Wilson has always sucked and will continue to do so. If the Yankees ever plan on getting anything out of Phillips, now would be the opportune time as he is in his age 27 season, which is typically the prime season of a player's career, so they could benefit from him hitting above his head. Former Yankee top prospect, Jackson Melian, has seemingly been promoted from AA as he went 0 for 1 in the second game of the doubleheader. Melian has power potential, but has not done much in the way of actual production since 1999. Despite this, he is still only 24 and may have value as a backup OF down the road. Caonabo Cosme started the 1st game at 2B and went hit a single in his only at bat while drawing 2 walks. In the first game Scott Proctor was the winning pitcher as he pitched 1 inning of relief and had a clean line other than 1 strikeout. Trenton won their game 12 to 5 yesterday; "Tiger" Wang struggled, but was still able to pick up the victory. He went 5 innings and gave up 8 hits, 1 home run, 5 runs, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Robinson Cano had a poor hitting night as he was 0 for 4 with a sac fly, but Dioner Navarro continued his hot hitting of late. The 20-year-old C was 3 for 5 with a double and a home run, and seems to have finally broken out as he has hit home runs on consecutive days. Jose Valdez gave a decent effort for the Tampa team yesterday in order to get his 4th victory of the season. He went 7 innings and gave up 6 hits, 3 runs, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 4. Bronson Sardinha began the effort to recover from his first real slump of the season by going 2 for 5 with a double, his 9th, and Ferdin Tejada continue his hitting struggles. Tejada was 0 for 4 and is now 1 for 10 at the A+ level after hitting horrifically at the AA level. Battle Creek had their scheduled double header turn into just one game, as rain issues delayed the first game of the twin bill and caused the second game to be postponed until today. Though the Battle Creek team lost 3 to 0, there were some good prospect performances. Tyler Clippard pitched a complete game, going 6 innings and giving up 9 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, and struck out 8. Despite giving up more than a hit per inning, most of Clippard's problems in that area were due to defensive failings rather than his own. Offensively, Hector Made and Erold Andrus were the only prospects of note on the team to have poor nights. Made was 0 for 3 with a strikeout, and also made 2 errors in the field. Andrus was 0 for 3. Amongst the guys that did well, Estee Harris played RF and went 1 for 3 with a double and the customary strikeout, as his average has now gotten all the way up to .235, which, for those of you keeping score at home, is the highest it has been since April 30th. He is 8 for his last 26 with a double and a home run. That COULD be the sign of a breakout, but the double digit K total in the same span says "no". Melky "I don't like home runs" Cabrera went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles and Eric Duncan had a single in 2 at bats to go along with a walk. The best news out of last night's prospect happenings is that of the potential impending promotions. The general idea seems to be that Duncan and Cabrera have done enough in A- to be promoted, but because the Yankee organization wants to win at the minor league level they may stay there a little longer. Then, around early June, expect Duncan to take over as the Tampa 3B while Cabrera takes over in CF for Tampa. This would mean that Bronson Sardinha would most likely be promoted to AA to take over 3B there, as they have really struggled to get production out of that position anyway, and Tommy Winrow, the current Tampa CF would become the Trenton CF. With Cabrera as the Tampa CF, look for Rudy Guillen, when he returns from the DL, to permanently move to RF, which is where most thought he would end up anyway. It will be exciting to see all of this shake out. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-22T16:23:00.000-04:00

POSTPONED There was no action for either AAA Columbus or A- Battle Creek yesterday. Both games were postponed until today, giving the farm system a 6 game slate, which should make for tons of recapping tomorrow, though today's recap will be shorter. AA Trenton came out swinging, scoring 3 runs in the first inning, but eventually lost 5 to 3, not collecting a single hit after that first. Despite this, the Trenton prospect duo of Navarro and Cano had productive nights. Cano was 1 for 3 with a double, and most importantly, drew another walk. Meanwhile, Navarro was 1 for 4, which isn't great, but did manage his second home run of the season, which is great. Though Sean Henn was dominant through the first 3 innings he eventually fell apart to the tune of a 5.1 inning, 8 hit, 1 home run, 5 run, 5 earned run, 1 walk, and 6-strikeout performance. Henn's WHIP is now well above 1.5 for the year and he has pitched poorly as of late. The left-hander is going to have to turn in a huge performance, which he seemed on the way to doing yesterday, his next time out. Thankfully, considering the recent performance of Henn and the injury situation at Trenton, help may be on the way in the form of Matt DeSalvo. DeSalvo only lasted 5 innings, but performed well giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, and striking out 6. DeSalvo now leads the league in ERA and is second in strikeouts. Promote this man. Prospect-wise, despite Tampa winning the game by a score of 10 to 2, there wasn't much going on, as Bronson Sardinha was only 1 for 5 with a single. *** I will try and post something about the Giambi situation later today or early tomorrow. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-21T14:42:00.000-04:00

ON THE GOOD FOOT...SORT OF AAA Columbus triumphed in extra innings by the score of 5 to 4, which gave Colter Bean a chance to really strut his stuff. Bean collected the win by pitching the final 3 innings where all he gave up was 1 walk, while striking out 3 batters. He is unstoppable, but the major league bullpen is one of the strongest aspects of the team so there is no spot for Bean now. Alex Graman was the starting pitcher for this marathon and went 6 innings, while giving up 4 hits, 2 runs, 0 earned runs, 2 walks, and striking out 5. It seems that Graman may have figured AAA out at the tender age of 26. From the hitting side of things, Caonabo "there goes my chance" Cosme has been demoted to the 7th slot in the lineup and went 1 for 5 with a single and a walk. Bubba Crosby was 2 for 6 with 2 singles and a walk from the leadoff slot. Andy Phillips played 3B and went 2 for 6 with a single and a home run. The homer was Phillips' 5th in 67 AAA at bats and the 27-year-old's 9th of the year in 109 at bats. Trenton has now won 3 in a row, including yesterday's game by the score of 7 to 1. Despite the offense putting up 7 runs and 13 hits the prospects were left out. Robinson Cano was 0 for 5 with an uncharacteristic 2 strikeouts, and Dioner Navarro was 1 for 5 with a single. Cano's night included going 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts against lefties; while I don't have Cano's career LHP/RHP splits, it would be interesting to find out if he does have a problem facing lefthanders, so I'll attempt to keep a closer eye on that. As Trenton has fought to get back to respectability, Tampa has really struggled. They lost by the score of 5 to 4 last night to extend their losing streak to 6 games. Bronson Sardinha was 0 for 5, but managed to get on base once due to a hit by pitch. Ferdin "I wish I could hit like Miguel" Tejada was 0 for 2 with 2 walks, if nothing else, it's nice to see the walks because Tejada is nothing more than a singles hitter at this point. That's even stretching it a bit as he hasn't been getting any type of hit consistently this season. I wouldn't expect Tampa to come out of their hitting funk tonight either, as LHP Andy Sisco, a top pitching prospect from the Cubs organization, will take the mound for the opposition. At the very least it should be a good pitchers duel as Matt "hopefully I will be promoted after this start considering the need for pitching at AA Trenton" DeSalvo will go for the Tampa squad. After their hottest streak of the season Battle Creek has lost back-to-back games. Steven White started last night's game and was ineffective, mostly due to control problems, as he lasted 6 innings and gave up 5 hits, 4 runs, 4 earned runs, 4 walks, and 3 strikeouts. The right-hander has struggled with his control all season and now has 14 walks in 23 innings. TJ Beam was dominant out of the bullpen to hold the fort after White left. In his lone inning of work all Beam gave up was 1 hit, while striking out the side. The hitters had a decent night, despite the loss. Erold Andrus, was not a part of the positive aspect of the decent offense. The LF was 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly. Melky Cabrera was the second worst of the offensive prospects as he only managed a single in 5 at bats, while striking out twice is as surprising for him as it is for Robinson Cano. After getting two days off since being hit by a pitch, Eric Duncan returned to the 3 spot in the lineup and went 2 for 4, both hits were singles, Duncan even got his 4th stolen base of the season. Hector Made continued his hot hitting of late by hitting 2 singles in 4 at bats and Estee Harris had another "I'm not quite dead yet" night by also getting 2 singles in 4 at bats. Harris is now hitting .232, and to use one of the ESPN stats I've always hated, when making contact, Harris is hitting .419. *** Just to put the word out, I'm going to attempt to a site re-design in the next couple weeks as school is over in 8 days. In addition, I will attempt to start giving some draft coverage as things start to pick up. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-20T20:24:00.000-04:00

BAD NEWS IS GOOD NEWS...KIND OF Columbus was shut out 2 to 0 last night. The offensive effort was...offensive as Bubba Crosby was 0 for 4, Andy Phillips was 0 for 3, though he did draw a walk, and Caonabo Cosme was 0 for 3. This was Crosby's first truly bad night in a while so I wouldn't put too much stock into this, same with Phillips; it was also nice to see Phillips draw a walk. Cosme on the other hand, is either deep in a slump or regressing to his proper level of performance. Sadly, I think he is regressing to his normal performance and though he was hitting .340 through his first 100 at bats, Cosme is now down to .289/.360/.407/.264(AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA) as he is 5 for his last 35. Interestingly enough, in this game, Cosme played SS and Phillips played 2B. I think this may be a sign that the Yankees believe Phillips has a superior bat to Cosme, which is probably true, and they are once again testing his defensive abilities at 2B in order to see what he does over there. If he can continue to hit well, while holding his own defensively, and there continue to be 2B problems at the major league level, Phillips may receive a shot. Brad "I heard the Yankees have a potential 5th starter opening" Halsey took the Columbus loss, but pitched somewhat well, going 7.1 innings and allowing 6 hits, 1 run, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. In 49 innings of AAA ball, Brad Halsey now has the following stats: 50 hits, 23 runs, 21 earned runs, 1 home run, 13 walks, 25 strikeouts. He also sports a 3.86 ERA. If the Yankees are to make any big deals this summer, I think they should try to sell Halsey as an important part of the package, he is a lefty with decent stuff, fastball in the 90 range, and gets good results, leading the system in wins last year. In addition, at 23, Halsey is not too old to be considered a prospect. Due to his low strikeout rate I am not convinced about Halsey's chance of being successful down the line, though there is still a chance he may be as K rates are indicators and not definite signs of success. Trenton won 6 to 1 yesterday and as has been the case with that team this season, Robinson Cano was the star of the game. Cano was 1 for 3 with a home run and 2 walks, 1 intentional. On the season the 2B now has a line of .324/.386/.592/.322. With a strong recovery from a brief slump, and the improved power and patience numbers, I am increasingly inclined to say that this is the new Robinson Cano. I am also about ready to say definitively that this man needs to be promoted. There is a gaping hole at 2B at the major league level and this guy is clearly better than his competition at AA. Dioner Navarro, who is attempting to overcome a slow start to his season, went 1 for 4 with a single as the wait for him to start driving the ball again continues. The important Trenton pitching news has nothing to with yesterday's game. Rather, it is an injury report. Apparently there is a reason Ramon Ramirez has been so awful this season. He had been having some shoulder issues and was attempting to pitch through them. The good news is that at least Ramirez has a reason for pitching so poorly so far, the bad news is that it is a shoulder issue and no matter how an organization tries to spin it, shoulder issues with pitchers are almost never minor. In the other bit of Trenton injury news, Matt Smith was having some elbow issues though he and the team claim they are nothing serious. Once again, I am going to have to doubt what the team says on the issue of the severity of a pitcher's injury. These cases are examples of why pitching prospects are so dangerous to put too much faith into; there is a huge injury derailment rate. The Tampa team, that once seemed unstoppable, lost its 5th in a row and 7 out of its last 9 by a score of 6 to 0. The "highlight" was Bronson Sardinha who was 1 for 4 with a single. Also, this game was the 2004 A+ debut of Ferdin Tejada whose struggles with the bat have seen him demoted to the level where he played most of last year. In addition to going 1 for 4 with a single and 2 Ks, Tejada also made an error. Battle Creek did not have a game last night. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org

2004-05-18T23:21:00.000-04:00

SOME GOOD, SOME BAD AAA Columbus slugged it out with their opponent today, but eventually lost by a score of 15 to 11. Bubba Crosby played the role of leadoff hitter and was 1 for 5 with a single and a walk. That's now 6 walks compared to 31 at bats for Crosby, though he is not hitting with much power. Andy Phillips continues to hit, as he was 2 for 5 with a double and a walk. This slugfest also featured Colter Bean getting absolutely rocked, in his worst appearance of the year, Bean pitched 1.1 innings and gave up 3 hits, 1 home run, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. The prospect duo from Trenton was very successful tonight. Cano was only 1 for 4, but his lone hit was a triple and Navarro was 1 for 2 with a single and 2 walks. After a horrible slump, Navarro is back on track, once he gets his power to its normal level he can begin to assert his position as the top catching prospect in the game as his plate patience/discipline this season has been about as good as it can get. Cano on the other hand, staved off his slump very quickly and is clearly dominating the competition at this point. Bronson Sardinha is the Robinson Cano of the Tampa team, except take away the incredible power and replace it with incredible plate patience/discipline. Either way, the point is that Sardinha is dominating his level offensively. After a 2 for 4 night, with two singles, his seasonal line now sits at .341/.423/.449/.303 (AVG/OBP/SLG/GPA). The power is still not where you want it to be, but it has improved as the season has progressed and the Florida State League is a tough league in which to hit homers. Jeff Karstens started the game and rebounded from a poor outing his last time out by going 5.1 innings and giving up 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 earned run, 0 walks, and striking out 4. Battle Creek saw their hot streak come to a close, especially offensively, as they lost 3 to 1. Melky Cabrera was able to barely extend his hitting streak by going 1 for 4 with a single. Erold Andrus was also 1 for 4 with a single. Estee Harris had one less at bat, due to his position in the lineup, but otherwise managed the same result. Harris also struck out once for good measure, giving him an even 50 in 108 at bats, which is always nice. Hector Made, who was 2 for 3 with 2 singles, had the best offensive night of any member of the team as he continues his hot hitting of late. The starter for the Battle Creek game was Elvys Quezada who went 6 innings and allowed 5 hits, 1 home run, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. I like Quezada as a future long man, but not much else. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org