The Yankees aren't actively pursuing pitching help now, but GM Brian Cashman told Chad Jennings of the Journal News that pitchers with no options remaining and/or bad contract tend to become available later in the spring. Here's the latest on the Yankees' rotation plus other notes from the AL East…
- Mariano Rivera told Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork that Manny Banuelos is the greatest pitching prospect he has ever seen. "I like everything about him," Rivera said. Cashman says the left-hander, who turns 20 this weekend, will not start the year higher than Double-A.
- Red Sox prospect Lars Anderson told Tim Britton of the Providence Journal that he was "bummed" when the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez, but only because they traded away Anthony Rizzo and Casey Kelly, two of his friends and former teammates. Anderson says he considers Gonzalez a potential teacher at first base.
- Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star examines the Blue Jays' rumored interest in Kevin Slowey and suggests that "the only reason that would make sense for [GM Alex] Anthopoulos in terms of trading for Slowey would be if it was to set up another deal that involved one of the Jays' current" starters. I examined the possible fit between the Jays and the Twins earlier tonight.
lol @ Cashman
Poor guy makes millions and hasn’t won a ring since 2009. He’s probably suicidal.
I just found it funny that he stated the obvious. Nothing more.
Just don’t trade away Banuelos pleeeeaaaaaaaaase. Small by pitcher standards, but he’s looked awesome in spring training and last season in the minors.
how about drabek lawrie and gose for slowey? [i am a twins fan, can you tell?]
And a bieber fan. sad :
Man Ban is the truth! I can’t wait till he makes the bigs.
It’s not like Lars can’t call them on the phone for some bro time during the season.
I see the Killer B’s Turning out like this:
Brackman=Reliever
Banuelos=Starter
Betances=Joba 2.0
maybe. I also see Brackman as a reliever because of his injuries and inconsistent minor league numbers as a starter. I get the sense that he has trouble facing the order a second or third time. Manny Banuelos looks sick and I hope he gets a September callup at least this year and maybe gets a shot at the big league club next year. Dellin Betances could be an awesome reliever with a sky high K rate, but I would give him a chance to try starting first. He has maintained incredible K rates as a starter and his control isn’t terrible. If he can improve his control, he can make it as a top of the line starter. All in all, I like where the young pitching is going on this team, even if they are real thin this year at the ML level. Rotation 2012 or 2013 at the latest could be: CC, Hughes, Banuelos, Betances, AJ with Brackman in the bullpen as a David Robertson type of reliever, set up maybe to Mo/Soriano.
Keepin mind that Brackman has only pitched two seasons and the 1st was his first since college and it was two years later. Saying he has inconsistent numbers because of 2009 and 2010 is sort of an odd way of judging him. From what ppl were saying, his velocity was back and his curve was outstanding. Also, with the way free agency is now and how almost all of the elite young pitchers are being locked up ALL of the top pitching prospects should be looked at as starters until they prove themselves as being unfit. With Mo, Soriano and Joba there is simply no reason to turn any of them, especially the killer b’s, into bullpen arms.
On just about any other team Joba would be someone’s #4 or #5 starter in 2011. Cashman, for some reason, is scared his arm will fall offsimply because he isn’t throwing 99 mph anymore.
supposedly it’s joba who is worried his arm will fall off if he throws 99mph and cashman who doesn’t think he can start effectively unless he throws 99mph.
I think Joba lost his intimidation factor. Teams aren’t afraid of him anymore which makes hitters more confident when they face him.
LOVE Girardi’s plan to have Joba go to intimidation lessons lol
He doesn’t have to throw99 pmh to intimidate ppl. Just throwing inside at 94-96 does the trick. You know who I would’ve loved to mentor Joba? Roger Clemens. I think when it comes to power pitchers he and Nolan Ryan are the best to train power pitchers on how to train, on how to use there legs and on how to pitch as power pitchers. Too bad Clemens has all the steroid drama circulating around him or else he could be an excellent advisor.
He just needs to hit a couple dudes in their faces, and BAM! Intimidation like no other!!
He threw over Youk’s head a few times; I don’t think it intimidated him as much as pissed him off.
Two thing I would like to hear less of:
a) The uncertain status of the back end of the rotation.
b) How great the Killer B’s are.
Definitely the second one considering how cringeworthy that nickname is. Has any young pitching threesome actually worked out well? We all know how Generation K turned out and a few years ago you had that Hughes/Chamberlain/Kennedy flop (as a starting trifecta).
I want the kids to be confidentin themselves but not so gassed up that they can’thandleit when things get tough for them. Spring training success is cool but I think pitchers have an advantage early on. Just let them play. Water always finds it’s own level.
Cahill, Anderson, Gio is working out, but they don’t have a nickname.
Two B’s, a couple L’s, and a D……the Red Sox rotation….no? haha.
The team that was ranked 6th in the AL in SP last year?
yes they do: it’s called Balls In Play Luck.
Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz in Atlanta. Zito, Hudson, Mulder in Oakland.
Admittedly Maddux and Smoltz weren’t actually drafted by the Braves, and Maddux was closer to his prime when he arrived.
A few years back, the Rangers had DVD; Danks, Volquez, and Diamond. Although no longer in the organization, Danks is an above average starter, Volquez made an all-star team and pitched game 1 of a playoff series, while Diamond is a bust.
lol @ Lars Anderson the “prospect”. More boring east coast media hype with no real talent behind it, yawn.
westsiiiddddeeee brapp brapp
Your right no talent ever comes out of the AL East LMFAO! Geez a team doesn’t drop a once highly regarded prospect and you would think they came out and benched Adrian for him as a sign of confidence.
Yeah it just took dumb luck, and having 5 teams for Cali to get one.
Anderson is bummed about the wrong thing. Barring major injury to Gonzo, he won’t be starting at first as long as he’s there.
hmmmm your logic confuses me
How is the best pitching prospect ever in the Yankees organization…?
Well if you re-read what it said, he’s the greatest pitching prospect Rivera has seen. Obviously Rivera hasn’t seen every prospect in the game.
Do you mean who? Or how is he…?
Prospects are no where as hyped now as they were in the past so there’s that disctinction. There wasn’t even and internet or blogs when Ford, Guidry, Stottlemyer or even Brein Taylor were coming up. I would say that Guidry and Ford were the most accomplished homegrown starters while Taylor still holds the title for most hyped.
I’m a Sox fan and I have to say Banuelos is the real deal. I watched him pitch a couple of times and his mechanics are so smooth he makes it look so easy while having legit stuff.
It is actually refreshing to hear people give Banuelos credit instead of an over hyped Yankee prospect
thread does not deliver
Lars,
Zip the lip….. go to Pawtucket. Hit 20 hrs & bat .300 through to the All-Star break and hope that the Red Sox package you in a deal for another starting pitcher or injury replacement…for their 2nd half run…
Tough luck Lars… Suck it up buttercup!
I’d be pissed at becoming trade-bait personally.
I was going to say “Well played, Lars, well played” but I like yours better.
He should be happy if he gets dealt. He wasn’t going to get any playing time with the Red Sox. His stock as a prospect has fallen dramatically since ’08.
I really don’t think he is, or should be, pissed about anything. Youkilis had 1st pretty well locked down even before they traded for Gonzalez and it was basically a foregone conclusion that they were either going to get a big name 1B or leave Youk at 1st and get a 3B so this isn’t anything new; it was also becoming evident that Rizzo was going to challenge him for the position anyway.
All that being said I really wouldn’t be shocked at all to see him get a chance to stick with the team as a DH if they don’t re-sign Ortiz for cheap money after this year, and a good year by Anderson in the minors, I think, would make the chances of them bringing Ortiz back even less likely.
Joba has not been poop. Look at his numbers.
What people do not realize about Hughes victories, is that all but 2 of them, he gave up 3 runs or less. I’d say he fairly earned a majority of them.
Not that I’m using W-L to judge a guy, don’t get me wrong
You sir wouldn’t no the truth if it dropped your draws and serviced you. The majority of his wins came in games where he allowed 3 runs or less. Those victories were his whether the score was 4-3 or 15-3. Stop being tollish dude. I see such potential in you.
I know the NL West is a cake walk!
Certainly Joba had a lot of hype from Sept of 07. To me he isn’t a finished product yet. Just look at the facts.
a) He didn’t have a heralded career in college. He was good but wasn’t in the Prior, Price, Cole league.
b) He spent all of 1 year and 83 innings in the minors before making his mlb debut all in the same year (2007)
c) He was bounced around, shuffled back and forth and a minor arm injury.
All that said, he’s 25 years old and has a 3.63 FIP (3.77 ERA),a 3.77 xFIP in 353 IP, a 45% GB rate and a 9.22 K/9 rate for his brief career……..only in NY would that be considered a failure.
Dig deeper and look at his number as a starter in 43 starts from 2008 and 2009:
43 starts, 221 IP, 4.27 FIP (4.18 ERA), 8.36 K/9 and a horrible 4.10B/9.
Obviously walks were an issue. The IP/start is sort of murky simply because of the “Joba rules”.
His stats though, with the caveat of fewer innings thrown, are comparable to Dice K (4.21 FIP, 8.33 K/9), Jonathon Sanchez (4.07 FIP, 9.43 K/9), Matt Garza (4.24FIP, 7.13 K/9), Ervin Santana (4.33 FIP, 7.52 K/9) and John Danks (4.21 FIP, 6.97 K/9)
I dig Cashman for the majority of his choices but unless Joba’s arm will fall off after throwing 100 innings or more, then he should be the mix for a rotation spot this spring. I can forgive the Carl Pavano deal more than I can wasting his arm in the pen as a 6th or 7th inning guy.