The Yankees are promoting middle infield prospect Rob Refsnyder today, a move originally reported by the YES Network’s Jack Curry (on Twitter). The 24-year-old Refsnyder hasn’t wound up on many top prospect lists, but he’s been a strong hitter throughout his minor league career and was hitting .290/.387/.413 for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, so there’s hope he might provide the Yankees with a bit of extra offense. Chad Jennings of the Journal News looks at the implications of the move, wondering what it means for incumbent second baseman Stephen Drew, who has 12 homers but is batting .182/.257/.372 this season. In the short term, Drew could move to a utility infielder role, but in the longer term, there might not be a role for him. Jennings also wonders whether the Yankees might look for a second base upgrade like Ben Zobrist on the trade market if Refsnyder doesn’t hit immediately. Here’s more from the American League.
- The Twins have also shown interest in free agent Neftali Feliz, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Neal notes that several other clubs have interest as well. That’s not surprising, since it’s rare that a young big-league reliever with Feliz’s pedigree is available as a free agent at this point in the season. Feliz opted for free agency after the Rangers outrighted him last week, and beyond Glen Perkins, Blaine Boyer, Brian Duensing and J.R. Graham, the Twins’ bullpen has struggled lately. An unconfirmed report last night had Feliz agreeing to terms with another club, however. We’ll likely know more about his status as the day unfolds.
- The Athletics have placed starter Jesse Hahn on the 15-day DL with a forearm strain, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes. Chris Bassitt will start for the A’s today. A forearm strain sounds ominous, but A’s manager Bob Melvin sounds hopeful that the injury isn’t serious. “This time of the season, typically starters who have logged a lot of innings have some aches and pains and that’s where he is right now,” Melvin says. “It wasn’t getting better in the fashion where we were comfortable having him make another start, so we tried to be proactive here in giving him some time off.” Hahn, who the A’s acquired in an offseason trade with the Padres, has a 3.35 ERA, 6.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a strong 52.6% ground ball rate in his first season with Oakland.
- The Red Sox’ weak rotation has strained their bullpen, and the Red Sox have leaned hard on pitchers like Alexi Ogando and Junichi Tazawa. But the Red Sox do not want to move the hard-throwing Joe Kelly, who’s currently starting with Triple-A Pawtucket, into a bullpen role, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. “As long as we think he can start, we want to give him every opportunity to do that,” says GM Ben Cherington. The 27-year-old Kelly has posted a 2.57 ERA in 14 innings with Pawtucket, striking out 11 batters and walking five. His last start ended prematurely after he got hit in the hand with a line drive, although the Red Sox hope he can make his next start on schedule, as Tim Britton of the Providence Journal writes.
Excited to see Refsnyder get his shot, but it stinks he’ll be expected to his immediately. Would be great if he does and gives the Yankees another option as opposed to wasting prospects on acquiring Zobrist. I like Zobrist, but hate giving up meaningful prospects for him as a rental. Would appreciate using those prospects on Cueto more than anything.
Cueto is a rental too…..
Yes I know. I don’t think Zobrist is as valuable as Cueto to the Yankees in terms of their needs. So giving up prospects for Cueto, even as a rental, wouldn’t bother me as much. I’d give up Severino for him.
Yeah, that makes sense. Losing Severino or Judge would be a big lost to their farm system though. It’ll be interesting to see whether they consider trading one of them for a major upgrade. My bet is that they won’t, but we’ll see.
Definitely not Judge. I’m much higher on position player prospects than I am pitching prospects. Severino has looked great at AAA, but pitchers are such a gamble that I wouldn’t be upset at losing him for an absolute upgrade. If they trade Judge I may flip a table in anger.
I’m very glad to see NY taking a look at what they have internally before the deadline rolls around. Refsnyder is going to have to show that he can hit in relatively short order if he’s going to stick for now though, because that’s what he’d being called upon for clearly. If he had more glove to boast, he’d likely have more slack, but I think plenty of us worry about what the Refsnyder to Teixeira throws will look like on double plays. Hopefully these worries are off base and he thrives, but we shall see.
Fact is Kelly has such a straight fastball, with such mediocre control, that there is no guarantee he wouldn’t stink it up in the bullpen too.
He can probably get away with a few mistakes because of his velocity if he were to only pitch one inning though. I’m sure there are a few pitchers that have had the same problem as Kelly that have done good in the bullpen. It is worth a shot IMO, though they might want him back in the rotation if Buchholz is injured.
If Buch is hurt and they don’t DFA someone and bring up Johnson then they’re crazy. I’m not sure what else he has to do to get promoted. Kelly may be able to escape an inning unscathed. And it’s not like he could be worse than Barnes I guess. Just not sure why he’s so terrible this year when he’s had descent success up till this point.
I think it has been speculated that Johnson is taking the 5th spot in the rotation after the All Star Break, which leaves another opening if Buchholz is injured. Owens pitched last night and did so quite well, so they could call upon him too if they think he is near-ready. His control has been good lately, so I wouldn’t mind if they gave him a shot.
Not sure I could get behind having a rotation with 4 left handed starters though. Not unless they planned to finagle things a bit for when Toronto was in town. Have to think either Owens or Johnson will be on the move eventually. I guess if you’re going to pull the plug on the season it doesn’t really matter for the end of this year. It just seems like asking for trouble.
Pedro Martinez mentioned last night that Feliz was going to Detroit.
I won’t believe it until it happens. I don’t see Detroit signing another BP guy, even though the BP is terrible.
EDIT: I stand corrected. Hm.
Cut Drew, Can’t Hit and overrated Defensively! Give the Kid a Chance .
I agree with the Drew can’t hit but I’d keep him because of his defense, it’s not overrated in my opinion, but i respect your opinion.
Of course Refsnyder “hasn’t wound up on many top prospect lists.” He’s a Yankee. If he was in the Red Sox system, he’d be the second coming of Rogers Hornsby!
Future HOF-ER Refsnyder is going to hit 45hr the rest of the season…. bat .800.
And is better than Jeter!
Refsnyder has only made 2 errors since June 1st.. Hopefully, he has matured with his glove and its not a fluke.. The Sox should try to get Kelly to develop a cutter.. Mo’s fastball was straight as an arrow when he was young and we all know what he became after he mastered the cutter.. With a cutter Kelly could continue to start with lesser secondary offerings..
The problem isn’t necessarily the Red Sox’s poor rotation, it’s a combination of that, Farrell pulling pitchers out too early, and not having a true long relief guy. That’s why Masterson is so crucial moving to the bullpen. He gives us a long relief guy we didn’t have before.