In the interest of equal time, here are some noteworthy items on the Yankees..
- Kevin Millwood had a strong showing in the minors today, allowing just one hit across seven scoreless innings, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN. The Yanks brought Millwood in on a minor league deal that will balloon if he can hit certain incentive triggers.
- Earlier today, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi told the press that the club had planned to send Phil Hughes to Triple-A to work through his troubles, tweets Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com. Hughes ultimately convinced the Yankees that that wouldn't be the best course of action for his "dead arm".
- Russell Martin is proving GM Brian Cashman's doubters wrong with his strong performance thus far, tweets Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. Cashman remarked before the season that the $4MM base deal could wind up being a bargain for the club.
Totally didn’t see Martin being this good.
On another note, Joba blew CC’s lead today, so he doesn’t get the win, which means there’s a good chance CC wins the Cy this year.
PS: Yeah I’m mad! Damn Knicks…
The front office wants CC to pitch well enough to keep us in games but not well enough to win them…the worse he does the less they’ll have to pay him when he opts out of his contract this winter
That’s crazy. Yanks want to win. If CC wins 25 games then all the better.The rest will be sorted out later.
Absolutely true.
Me too, bro. Knix disappointed big time down the stretch tonight and now the Yanks are poised to hand over this game. Like the way Martin is playing though. This signing is turning out to be one of those great under the radar Cashman moves like the Swisher move was.
Cashman didn’t make any big moves in the offseason (Soriano was forced upon him) but the veterans he picked up on the cheap have helped out a lot. So far Martin looks like a guy who may stick here for a while, but also providing value are:
Freddy Garcia
Bartolo Colon
Eric Chavez
Andruw Jones
Worst move so far: Not tendering Aceves. I can’t get over that one.
Wasn’t that about whether he got a roster spot and a guaranteed contract as opposed to a minor league deal or was it one or the other or something different?
I have never heard an explanation of the exact reason why the Yanks failed to tender Aceves an offer.
Of course, it makes me doubly unhappy to see him in a RedSox uniform. I’d be far less pissed if he ended up in the NL or on a non-contender. But Epstein feeling he was still good, and Cashman thinking he wasn’t worth it is the the worst case scenario for a Yanks fan like me.
Let’s not get too excited. It’s been a few games for these guys. Unless they can all reverse multi-year trends you are looking at anomalies, not patterns.
You’re absolutely right that, with the possible exception of Martin, those players will not turn around career trends very much. But the difference in our bench is in having guys who can both field and hit. Another added plus is that they have big-game experience.
So instead of Ramiro Pena and Marcus Thames we have Eric Chavez and Andruw Jones. Chavez can hit and field (although not in the middle infield) and Andruw Jones can run into a fastball like Thames, but he can also catch and throw. It’s a plus that has already showed up in games.
As for Freddy Garcia, a decent year for him, one not much better than last year, would take up a lot of the slack created by Andy Pettitte’s retirement. His performance is the biggest question mark in an equaution where Andy Pettitte’s turning down a contract may still be the thing that defines last year’s Yankee offseason.
Good thing that Millwood is having good prep work. I think the Yankees are going to need him.
…
Hughes ultimately convinced the Yankees that he wanted his arb clock to keep ticking.
There, I fixed it!
Catching has to be the hardest position (physically) to play. I think Martin was overused in LA and the injury last year just gave him a chance to rest. As long as the Yankees give him some rest during the season I think he will be fine and rebound to the Martin from several years ago.
That that.