ksushi

I think it will happen before the end. Probably in the second half, ala papelbon.

Absolutely. He is too intriguing to leave down at pawtucket. He has the ability to contribute to a major league team, Pawtucket would be stupid. He needs to learn to throw his change up a little better, but ST could help that, if we convert him to a reliever, it won't be exposed nearly as much. Besides, if he impresses, and we need a long-term set-up guy, I wouldn't rule him out. Sure, he has been a great starter, but I don't think I expect him to be sub-3 for any lengthy stretch of time. Mid-3 maybe, but I don't know how sustainable this current streak is. Our rotation next year looks pretty nice even without him, with Beckett, DiceK, Lester, Buchholz and possibly wakefield. So, I don't think the need for another starter is very pressing, if he steps into a bullpen role and has a big enough impact, that could add a pretty special dimension to our team and push us over the edge for this year and provide a whole lot of stability in the bullpen going forward. Masterson to Papelbon? That could be nice. Death to RHH's

He'll be in the bullpen in the bigs before the season is over. With Okajima struggling, we're going to need someone and he is probably the prime candidate. MDC is impressing, but we can't get by on him alone. He'll be in the rotation until either Colon or Buchholz get themselves together and get back up here.

Advantage Lohse as he hasn't faced many guys in our lineup. But hopefully his massive suck blows that for him and we out him by the third inning. The Cards just got man handled by the royals, I think we can deal with them

Could be. He has had a fantastic first half. It would be deserved. Anyone know if he is still the youngest player in AA? BTW, rdsx, props for the old school Lester avatar.

A three team deal doesn't necessarily help a team with little to give net a big star. It helps a team with a lot to give deal with a team that has needs in areas other than the areas of strength of the team attempting to acquire the star. Example: The andy marte trade was a delayed three team deal. The sox knew the Guardians coveted Marte. They sent Renteria to the Braves for him and then spun him to the Tribe to get Coco. We need an outfielder, they needed a 3B prospect, we had none, so we found a team that did. It didn't happen all at once, but thats basically the principle behind a three team deal. Teams aren't going to find some lowly team out of the race willing to help a contender become a power-house by giving up their talent. That isn't the way it works, but in some instances teams find ways to work deals where there isn't a lot of common ground between two teams, and a third can come in and make the pieces fit.

I hate lyle overbay.

JD Drew = potential MVP candidate if he keeps this up.

Big showing from MDC today. We need someone to step up and take a set up job.

Who is replacing Masterson? I'm at work and gameday isn't working for some reason.

espn pfx had it in the strike zone and not really close.

More pace info for those of you that love it: If you extrapolate Mastersons innings out to 200, he is on pace to give up well over 30 bombs. Eh. Anyhow, this isn't really a big deal. I think if they weren't getting Matsuzaka back they probably would not have put Colon on the DL, but like Beckett last year, this seems to be one of those luxurious occasions where you can throw a guy on the DL and not really miss a beat in doing so. So why not go for it? Give him some rest, let the kid stay with the club and hope Matsuzaka pitches like he normally does on extended rest: Like Zeus throwing god damn lightning bolts. We need it right now. The Cy is still within reach if DiceK has a big second half. Do it.

Where was this after last September? Minaya is proving at every opportunity that he doesn't have what it takes to be a GM in New York. Who knows, maybe this works out, but it should have been done months ago.

I just know what I saw was not promising from the get go. No control, no buckling down. There were bright spots, sure, especially either one hit innings against the royals and ten K's against the mets. My point is simple, if Lester were a Yankee, and I a Yanks fan, the way I held out hope for him would have been beat up just as much as any Yankee fan currently holding out hope for Kennedy. It is pretty similar. That said, Lester was always the better pitcher and comparing the two is giving Kennedy too much credit. 's all i'm sayin'

I think the difference between both of their early numbers is that Lester was lucky to get bailed out of situations that poor performance led him to, and Kennedy is left out to dry by a bullpen that for the most part is unreliable at best. To me, that is a key difference. They were similarly poor in their early performance and I know Lester was unbeaten for quite some time but W-L record is never a tell tale stat when it comes to judging a pitchers performance. Lesters WHIP numbers and total innings in those first five starts should be pretty telling when it comes to judging exactly what kind of pitcher he was in that stretch. I can tell you, as a big Lester fan when he was in the minors, I was not very impressed with the difference I saw in his performance at the major league level.

In jacko's defense, if I had been a Yankee fan and Lester was a yankee, my unceasing love for him would have been ripped apart all over this board when he first came up. Similar to Lester's early goings, Kennedy looks like he sucks. Granted, Lester was of much better pedigree and had won awards such as "Eastern League Pitcher of the Year" and what not, but Lester looked equally bad and look how that turned out. He is one of the better pitchers in the AL right now. That said, if I get the motivation, I'm going to find the thread I remember perusing where Jacko said a bunch of happy things about Kennedy that now look funny. You know I have to, dude. No offense. If you had made good on our bet, I wouldn't be so happy to do so.

It was a prospect run off, and when you compare two farm systems, gotta throw in the whole package. Reddick, Anderson, and Carter are guys with realistic chances to contribute to a major league team in due time. They deserve mention. I would even say Felix Doubront deserves mention, but I left him out because he hasn't had any kind of breakthrough anything. I wish I knew as much about NYY's system.

Reading through this thread out of boredom... felt like adding a useless tidbit.

All the kudos belongs to the exceptional player development staff. The way they teach these players to adjust to their competition is unbelievable. It is already ingrained in them by the time they hit the major leagues that the adjustment process is a constant one in baseball and that their games have to constantly be evolving, and that is why the transition has gone so well, and that is what is keeping these guys from hitting the prolonged slumps that usually mark the early stages of a players career.

Seriously though, I just wanted to point out that Jacoby is blossoming into an extremely productive major leaguer. We are spoiled rotten at this point. We have so many quality rookies coming out of our farm system and contributing right away, and whats more is that they are continuing to contribute in subsequent seasons after their debut, not just getting hot out of the gate. Our system does a great job of showing our prospects how to make adjustments over the course of a season and it is showing. Papelbon, Lester, Ellsbury, Hansen, Delcarmen, Masterson and Pedroia (note: having a down year, maybe the hamate hasn't completely healed, or his approach needs tweaking but his quality of AB's has drastically improved over the last month, I don't see this stretch last for much longer) have all become quality major league players worthy of starting on a championship team. That is an unreal thing. Look at the season Jacoby is having. Great on-base ability, great swing, has an invaluable effect on pitchers when he is on the base paths. I would probably argue that base-stealing doesn't doesn't add a lot to a team over the course of a season, but what I saw today made me realize that in a close game his ability to take over the bases is unreal. A great piece of hitting gets him on first base and two pitches later, there is, standing on third. Brilliant. Man, we're spoiled.

Brutal line up tonight. Volquez should eat us alive.

If I were his manager I would mind those comments more than I do. I don't really care, everyone in the world knew we were probably going to plunk someone anyway.

I am so proud of this team. So proud. I can't say anything. I can't remember a more satisfying win since game 7 of the ALCS. No more satisfying play that Rayrays drive and basket since Pedroia's bomb. Love this team. One more, guys. Keep playing.