Contreras and Newman on State of the Yankee Farm System

In a couple of posts this weekend Mike Ashmore discussed two interesting interviews he had with Nardi Contreras and Mark Newman. They each provided their current views regarding the Yankee farm system and the prospects with the Trenton Thunder in particular. Good stuff!

Given the number of top pitching prospects in Double-A, a lot of the discussion with pitching instructor, Contreras centered around the pitching standouts so far this season:

David Phelps - 6-0; 2.04 ERA; 84 K; 0.97 WHIP at Trenton

“David Phelps, really good. He’s advanced. He’s got pitches. His curveball…I just watched his bullpen, and his curveball’s better. I know he attacks the zone. He throws a four-seam, two-seam, slider. He’s got the pitches to pitch in the big leagues, the endurance. He’s got the game. He’s got a lot of things going for him. He’s just got to go out across those white lines and continue to pitch and he’ll do really well.”

Andrew Brackman - 5-1; 2.81 ERA, 46 K in last 8 starts at Tampa before promotion

“I saw him in Tampa and of course I saw him here last night. The biggest part of it is his confidence level. Yeah, we made some adjustments with his delivery to allow him to be able to throw more strikes than what he did in Charleston. But the other part of it, is that was his first year coming off the operation. Not having pitched, we don’t know how he really felt with his arm. His delivery faltered. But the last month or so in Charleston, he started putting it together. He’s done really well and he’s on his way, no doubt.”

Graham Stoneburner - 4-3; 1.93 ERA; 39 K; 0.76 WHIP at Tampa

“Stoneburner has pitched really, really well. But he’s made one jump already, he’s gone from Charleston to Tampa. I believe he should stay there. Maybe September or the in the playoffs, if Tampa’s not (in), maybe you see him. “

Hector Noesi - 4-1; 2.20 ERA; 44 K; 1.00 WHIP at Trenton since promotion

“Well, you see, with Noesi, there’s not much to work with with Noesi. What he’s learning is his slider. He can command the fastball, he can command the sinker, he’s got the curveball. Still, he’s got to get a little better with his curveball. But, he’s got the changeup. His delivery’s solid and he can command both sides of the plate. We’ll see what happens.”

Pat Venditte - 1.98 ERA; 2 saves; 51 K; 0.90 WHIP at Tampa

“He gets people out. When it gets to this level, he’s got to get people out. It’s not about he can throw both hands, that’ll put another thousand people in the stands, it’s about getting people out.”

And here are comments from Mark Newman, the Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations for the New York Yankees about some of the positional players at Trenton.

David Adams - .309 Avg.; 32 RBI 5 SB at Trenton (On DL since May 22nd)

“It’s going to take a while, it’s going to take another couple weeks. He’s not around the corner in terms of re-joining the Trenton club.”

Brandon Laird - .293 Avg; 19 HR; 77 RBI at Trenton

“19 home runs in the first half, yeah. No one had that number.”

“Well, he’s made huge strides defensively, which is a more subtle part of the game, but it’s really been a part of his progress. He’s improved as a hitter, but he’s made more improvement as a defender.”

“Well, we’ll try to create positional flexibility with him. But it’s still first and third. It would be nice to have what we call a corner utility guy, someone who can play third, someone who can play first, somebody who can DH and swing the bat. That’s a role that’s important to us as we build our Major League club.”

When asked if he anticipated Laird staying at Trenton the rest of the year, he said:

“I don’t anticipate that far into the future. You never know.”

Newman's assessment of the system and recent successes, I thought were stated very well:

“We’ve got young players playing very well. Phil Hughes is 10-1, that’s big. Gardner is up there in on-base percentage, that’s big. Cervelli’s making contributions, Pena…Kevin Russo’s in a utility role up there, Colin Curtis is up there doing some nice stuff off the bench. Robby Cano’s one of the best players in the game. They’ve all been in Trenton in the last two, three, four years. You’ve got Ian, Austin Jackson, Joba, so yeah, that’s a pretty good run. Yes, we’ve traded some this winter, some of them I just mentioned. Phil Coke’s another one. So, we’ve got to re-stock a little bit, but we’ve got some good players here, so we feel good. Our scouts, both domestic and internationally, have really done a nice job.”

Posted byFrank Barra

View the Original article

State of the Yanks

COMMENTS: None Yet

It’s no secret that the Yanks have looked like trash over the past week or so. The team has dropped two in a row (TO THE METS!!!!), five of six and six of eight overall.

However, the team still boasts an impressive 26-18 record (5 1/2 back of the Rays), showed signs of life late in games and posted 28 runs over their last six setbacks. In five of their last six losses they have brought the tying/winning runs to the plate in the ninth but failed to capitalize. In the one loss that they failed to get the tying run up the team still banged out four runs in the ninth. I know, a day late and a buck short but it is still impressive for a team that’s been bamboozled with injuries and has unproductive stars.

A major factor for this recent losing has definitely been the pitching. The bullpen has looked like shit and the rotation is not getting the job done as of late:

CC: 12 ER over 18 IP in his last three starts (0-2).AJ: 16 ER over 17 2/3 IP in his last three starts (0-2).Pettitte: Only had one real clunker, Thursday against Tampa Bay (the best team in the Majors). The veteran lefty was tagged for six ER over five IP to take the loss, his only on the year. He still has a 2.68 ERA, good for sixth in the AL.Javy: I’ll spare you the gory details of his early-season struggles, but he HAS looked solid over his last three appearances (granted one was just four pitches). The guy everyone loves to hate has given up just two ER over his last 13 1/3 IP. I’ll take that from a guy who had everyone and their sister calling for his head on a stick a week ago. I just fear this finger booboo might be worse than the team is letting on.Hughes: The future ace has surrendered nine ER over 10 2/3 IP in his last two starts to see his ERA “balloon” to 2.72, which is still eighth best in the AL.

Elsewhere on the bed-shit circuit:

Tex has just 3 hits in his last six games (25 at-bats) and is batting .209/.327/.378/.705 on the season. I have faith that Marky Mark will turn it around, but when does a small sample size turn into a large enough sample to warrant pant pooing?Gardner is 1 for his last 18 (including a 0-for-13 showing against the Mets) with 1BB and 4K. GGBG is now putting up a .294/.372/.373/.745 line.A-Rod has two homers and six RBI in his last nine games. His line is .291/.375/.485/.860, which pales in comparison to his career .305/.389/.574/.963 average. He also went 0-for-4 Sunday and had a HUGE whiff batting as the go-ahead run in the ninth inning against K-Rod to end the game.Cervelli is seven for his last 29 and saw his average drop 61 points to a still-phenomenal .354. Obviously starting seven games in seven days, nine games in 10 days and 15 games in 20 days will do that to a young guy’s average. He is still putting up great numbers for a player with 161 career at-bats (82 this season), but I’ve got a feeling his numbers will continue to decline as pitchers figure him out and the daily grind eventually gets to him.

Injuries:

Posada is out 3-4 weeks with a hairline fracture in his right foot.Nick The Stick was just transferred to the 60-day DL (for the sake of roster moves) after undergoing surgery on his right wrist. He is expected to make a return sometime in July.Grandy is out with a strained left groin but could soon make a return to the team.Ace is out with a bulging disc in his back but also could return soon.Javy suffered a bruised right index finger on Friday against the Mets (after shutting them down) but is expected to start on Thursday. His bullpen session was moved back to Tuesday and we’ll get a decision if he starts Thursday after that.Thames was hurt after STEPPING ON HIS BAT after a hit, and has only pinch hit since then.

On the bright side:

The team was 25-19 through 44 games last year (one game worse than 2010) and that campaign played out just fine.Grandy is doing well in the minors and could join the Yanks as early as Thursday.Aceves is making progress, but might still be hampered by his back.Thames was hurt after STEPPING ON HIS BAT after a hit, and has only pinch hit since then.

How worried are you about the 2010 Yanks?

Meh. They've had some bad luck but I'm confident they'll bounce back and start running shit again Splash (The only sound heard after my plunge from a tall bridge) I'm at a happy medium between the other two answers

View Results

View the Original article