By the time you read this, it will probably be dated :- ) but still...
.
=== Expansion Draft City ===
Baker alerts us to Jon Heyman's report that the Yankees froze 5 young prospects* in expansion-draft style: Joba and Hughes, both loosely comparable to Brandon Morrow in terms of value; Romine and Montero (both catchers), and Austin Jackson, a 5-toolish AAA center fielder who is loosely in the Adam Jones mold.
John Sickels has only 3 hitters in his top 14 Yankee spects, and the Yankees pulled them all off the table. The reasoning is obvious: they've got a 15-man redundancy in their pitching cupboard, only 12 pitchers play in NYY at a time, and they're all going to be imported free agents anyhow.
So, after their only three hitters plus Huges and Joba, "Otherwise take your pick."
Take any other one prospect? Any other 99 prospects for 2 cents? Or what? Heyman doesn't bother to say.
.
=== Putting a Face to the Name Dept. ===
Abstracts are one thing, specifics another. D-O-V was against trading Washburn just to flush him, and was also against trading Washburn for non-elite players such as the guys we got for Betancourt.
...................
But hold on now. Are you saying that the Mariners could take Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman (two behemoth near-7-footers throwing 95+) for two months of Jarrod Washburn? That's a whole 'other subject. :- )
The Yankees really are stacked with minors pitching (in part because they have little hitting). "Take your pick" of any one, that's tempting. If "Take your pick" means any two, that's a deal. If "Take your pick" means any three, it's beyond no-brainer.
If Zduriencik is playing brinksmanship, thinking he can get a Phillip Hughes MUCH LESS JOBA CHAMBERLAIN?! ... or a big package from the Twinkies? Whooo boy.
By the way, here is our May 2006 shtick on Dellin Betances.
.
=== F'r Instance?, Dept. ===
Was a bit surprised to see a few late-nighters express skepticism on the Yankee arms. Nay verily, amigos.
Betances is 6-foot-8, 245 lbs, is hitting 98 mph this year, and is essentially their version of Phillippe Aumont. He reportedly throws the 94-98 fastball downhill, high release sharp downward angle, has a power 12-6 curve and a change with screwball action.
Brackman has been reported to scrape 7 feet tall now, has supposedly hit 101 on the gun along with "a true sledghammer" curve, was a #30 overall in the first round.
What would we be saying about a Mariner minors starting pitcher who was 6' 10" and had hit 101?
Lefty Phil Coke was 9-4, 2.51 at AA last year as a starter, with 115 K in 118 innings, only 39 walks... and this year IN THE MAJORS has debuted with a 34:14 control ratio in 43 innings.
Who is that guy for us, a lefty who torched the high minors and who has a sparkling ML debut going?
Those are just three of quite a few Yankee arms that intrigue. I doubt that Heyman means the M's can pick two or three, but if that's the case, I don't see how you pass it up.
.
=== Brinksmanship ===
The first sip of real vintage, on the names talked about for Washburn, pretty well blew me away. I had no idea that the market would be so strong.
We sort of laughed and shrugged when we read that outrageous report about the M"s asking Joba for Washburn. We didn't even process it mentally, just sort of flew by it.
But apparently that's the kinda thing Capt Jack is trying to do for yer. Good on 'im.
BABVA,
Jeff
Is not Hannahan...it's BELTRE. In three games. It's majorly upgraded from 30 OPS+ Cedeno to 90 OPS+ Wilson. It's Saunders and not Chavez/Wlad/Langerhans. We didn't fix C or DH yet/
But it's not as bad as you're making it sound.
And I don't see the point in trading Washburn for pitching that is far far away from being ready. Betances and Brackman are three years away. Easily.
Beltre's going to be back quickly? Huh. That would shock me, but I could buy it.
..................
Betances might look like he's far away, but check the 'net and you'll see he's fast-tracked... next year, even, and this Sept. gets talked about. I'm just sayin'.
Brackman is three years away, easily, in the same sense that Phillippe Aumont is three years away, easily. Whenever either pitcher finds his command, he's in there.
...................
Still, those are just two names thrown out, amigo. The Yankee system is stacked with arms. Zduriencik's crack squadron would pick their guys.
The M's are leading the league in ERA -- and are -50 in run differential. I think that's a pretty good definition of a terrible offense, when you have the league's best pitching and your offense more than cancels it.
C'mon, man. Give it up. :- )
Andrew Brackman is a guy reportedly near 7 feet now, who had TJ recently. TJ routinely works out great in the 21st century.
He's beginning his comeback in '09, wild, but what I'd like to know is, does anybody have a MPH report on him.
I know, it's 99% moot, but am just curious. The Yankees have some verry interesting pitching. :- )
Agreed Doc, this offesnse is horrible. And over the last week, save for a few games where they tacked on a couple of meaningless 9th inning runs, it has been putrid. Pushing this style of play requires believers to suspend the reality of what is going on.
I said the offense was not as bad as Doc described. The official team line is that Beltre is coming back in three games...Tuesday of next week. He's taking BP and hitting the ball with authority. So no...it's not going to be Hannahan at third. And we did upgrade our offense at short and in left field in the last two weeks. And Griffey has been coming around a little bit offensively, though I do not expect much from him.
The point is....they've made small improvements and the team always had offensive upside with Beltre not hitting up to snuff.