Scranton Wilkes Barre Yankees

[jacksonianmarch]

3 games in, here are some highlights

 

Juan Miranda is on fire. 6/13 2 doubles, 2 homers, 2 walks, 9RBI

Austin Jackson is hitting well. 6/13 triple and a walk

Ian Kennedy threw a gem yesterday. 6IP 4H 1ER 11K 0BB

SWB relief has been spotless.

Melancon 2 perfect innings with 3K

Claggett 4.1IP 4H 0ER 0BB 6K

Robertson, 2IP 1H 3K

Cox, Jackson, and Kroenke combined for 5 scoreless innings.

Aceves had a rough outing today

Hughes is supposed to go tomorrow

[yankees228]

They were talking on the YES broadcast today about bringing Phil Hughes up at some point in order to cut down on Chamberlain's innings. Obviously they wouldn't go to a true six man rotation, but I'm interested to see how they would handle that.

 

If Hughes pitches well in AAA, considering what kind of spring he had (I know, I know, it's spring training), the Yankees might be inclined to bring him up in some capacity.

 

I guess the more likely scenario is that someone gets hurt, and he gets into the rotation as a replacement.

[jacksonianmarch]

How would you work that though? Would you skip starts? Would you intersperse starts between Hughes and Chamberlain? Once sent down, you cannot call that same player up again for 15 days. So, you go three MLB starts, then send him down to skip a start and throw 2 starts, then bring him up? I doubt it. I expect the yankees to skip Chamberlain every chance they get. They already moved him back so CC could start. But they only have 4 off days in the first two months, so moving him back is gonna be tough to do. But I am sure they could do it. I bet they could have a low pitch count for the first month and then work his way up.

[yankees228]

Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think the solution would definitely be to skip him when given the chance, and just keep his pitch count down initially.

 

I only brought it up due to what they were talking about during the game. I'm still optimistic about Hughes, not to be an ace, but to be a solid number three are so. He seems like the likely replacement for Pettitte once his contract runs out.

[jacksonianmarch]

I am more optimistic about Hughes than most. He has very good stuff and when he is on his game, he strikes out a ton of hitters and has solid control. We rushed him, though, and that is not what he needed. I hope he spends almost all of 09 in AAA. Works on perfecting the changeup and the location for the tighter curveball and then wins the competition for the last 2010 rotation slot

[diony]

Hughes won't come up unless one of the starters loses a significant amount of time on the DL.

[26 to 6]

How would you work that though? Would you skip starts? Would you intersperse starts between Hughes and Chamberlain? Once sent down' date=' you cannot call that same player up again for 15 days. So, you go three MLB starts, then send him down to skip a start and throw 2 starts, then bring him up? I doubt it. I expect the yankees to skip Chamberlain every chance they get. They already moved him back so CC could start. But they only have 4 off days in the first two months, so moving him back is gonna be tough to do. But I am sure they could do it. I bet they could have a low pitch count for the first month and then work his way up.[/quote']

I think it's 10 days, could be wrong though.

 

i think Hughes should stay in Scranton for a while, give it a month or 2, and if an injury occurs or circumstances change somehow then bring him up, let him gain some confidence by dominating those hitters for a while.

[ORS]

It's 15, but that does not apply when calling someone back up to replace a player going on the DL.

[jacksonianmarch]

True, I should have made that a caveat. Now, they could cheat the system and alternate them on DL stints, skip a start and then have them throw a "rehab" start in AAA before being activated. But that gets murky and would be a very easy way for the union and the commish to get angry at the team.

[jacksonianmarch]

Hughes had a pretty good start for #1 of the yr. 6IP 6H 3ER 2BB 6K

 

And Melancon is knocking on the door loudly. Thus far, 2G 3.2IP 0 baserunners, 7K

 

Miranda won Player of the Week honors. 9/19 2 doubles, 2 homers, 2 walks, 11 RBI.

[yankees228]

I expect Melancon to be up sooner rather than later to deal with righties out of the bullpen, but that is only from stuff I've read. Jackson, you know much more about these guys than I do...what do you think?

 

Also, if Brett Gardner's struggles, is there any chance we could see Austin Jackson before September?

[diony]

Robertson today

 

3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7K

[jacksonianmarch]

Kevin Russo, the 24 yr old infielder, returned after missing 3 weeks due to injury and he continues to hit well. .449 with a 1.010 OPS through 11 games aint too shabby. He wont keep it up, but he's been nothing short of solid at 2b. He also fits the supersub role. It will be interesting to see how the yankees want to work it when ARod shows he can stay in on a regular basis. We know Berroa is history. The yankees will want to add some pop, and that could be John Rodriguez or Miranda. But if they decide to give Pena some time to hone his craft in AAA, then Russo could very well become the yankees supersub.

 

Austin Jackson continues to rake. .365/.432/.452. His power hasnt come around at all. But his eye (11BB) and his speed (7 steals) make him a solid offensive contributor. With Melky grabbing hold of CF, Jackson can comfortably spend the rest of the yr in AAA working on improving before coming to the bigs. He is nearly ready as a prospect.

 

Shelley Duncan has gone crazy again, but alas is on the DL. His line is ridiculous. .333/.405/.687 with 10 homers. He might be added to the 40 man if he is back from the DL once Berroa is DFAd.

 

John Rodriguez, another 40 man candidate is hitting the piss out of the ball as well. .299/.387/.523 thus far.

 

Chris Malec took his promotion well, hitting .299 with a .347OBP.

 

Juan Miranda has cooled off considerably since starting off so hot. His line is still respectable, but his recent cold spell likely will cost him a promotion. .284/.378/.495

 

The pitching has been hit very, very hard by the bigs lack of success and by injury. Hughes and Aceves, two players who started the yr in the rotation, are with the big club. Eric Hacker was DFAd so Tomko could be brought up. Ian Kennedy was dynamite until being diagnosed with an aneurysm in his axilla and will miss a good amount of time. Kei Igawa has been solid, but then again, he is Kei Igawa. George Kontos was brought up prematurely and has had one solid start and one pisspoor start. Right now, the rotation has Josh Towers, Casey Fossum and Jason Johnson in it. Yikes. Quite a dropoff from Hughes, Kennedy, Aceves, Hacker, and Johnson.

[jacksonianmarch]

George Kontos is starting to make a case for a promotion. He's now thrown 16.1 consecutive scoreless innings. His first 2 starts in AAA were pretty crappy. But the last 3 have been solid.

 

Juan Miranda broke through tonight after having a pretty bad run. 2/3 with a walk, double and homer.

 

AJax continues his hot ways. 1/3 with a BB and a double. His BA is up to .345 and his OBP has risen to .432. Rumor has it, the yankees shortened his swing in the offseason and that is the likely culprit for his lack of power. That being said, he is starting to hit for extra bases, with 3 doubles in his last 4 games.

[jacksonianmarch]

Jackson is 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 SBs today. His AVG is up to .353

[Gom]

After today, this is the only place I want to see Hughes stats line.

[diony]

After today' date=' this is the only place I want to see Hughes stats line.[/quote']

 

His K:BB ratio on his last 3 starts is 21:3. Patience, he's getting there.

[Gom]

His K:BB ratio on his last 3 starts is 21:3. Patience' date=' he's getting there.[/quote']

 

I'd still rather see CMW.

[jacksonianmarch]

CMW looked vintage and I dont disagree that Hughes might benefit from some AAA experience. I think they give him another few starts and try to piggyback Hughes and CMW, eventually with CMW taking his slot in the rotation. Fact is, though, Hughes is getting more and more solid and his K rates are increasing. This is a very good sign

[Gom]

CMW looked vintage and I dont disagree that Hughes might benefit from some AAA experience. I think they give him another few starts and try to piggyback Hughes and CMW' date=' eventually with CMW taking his slot in the rotation. Fact is, though, Hughes is getting more and more solid and his K rates are increasing. This is a very good sign[/quote']

Let's ignore his WHIP and ERA and won-loss.

[diony]

CMW looked vintage and I dont disagree that Hughes might benefit from some AAA experience. I think they give him another few starts and try to piggyback Hughes and CMW' date=' eventually with CMW taking his slot in the rotation. Fact is, though, Hughes is getting more and more solid and his K rates are increasing. This is a very good sign[/quote']

 

He needs to pitch in the majors. He has absolutely nothing to prove in the minor leagues.

[a700hitter]

Can we have the numerous Yankee minor league threads merged? I barely care about the threads involving their major league team. Do we really need threads for multiple minor league levels of the Yankee organization?

[Gom]

Does it really bother you that much? It gives Jacko something to do. Let him be.

[TheKilo]

Can we have the numerous Yankee minor league threads merged? I barely care about the threads involving their major league team. Do we really need threads for multiple minor league levels of the Yankee organization?

 

+1

[jacksonianmarch]

a700, why the hell you in this section anyway?

[Dipre]

He needs to pitch in the majors. He has absolutely nothing to prove in the minor leagues.

 

Thank you.

 

Apparently i'm not the only one who thinks so.

[Gom]

I think he should go to the bullpen, to be honest.

[jacksonianmarch]

Putting him in the pen will stunt his growth

[Gom]

Putting him in the pen will stunt his growth

 

Yet succeeding against inferior talent in the minors while the Yankee bullpen struggles is more important?

[jacksonianmarch]

No, it has more to do with stretching his arm out, and yes, that is more important. I would rather Hughes be able to throw 180-200IP next yr when he slots in for Pettitte. In order to do that, Hughes needs 150IP this season. If 120IP of that comes in the rotation and the last 30IP comes from the pen, then I am totally cool with that. But for right now, he needs to be in the rotation somewhere.