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Flying Squirrels Down Thunder

Monday, May 6th, 2013

Myworld travelled south to the Diamond to watch the Richmond Flying Squirrels host the Trenton Thunder. Justin Fitzgerald, third in the Eastern League ERA race tamed the Thunder bats in their 5-1 win. Down in Richmond they really know how to entertain the fans, which may be why they lead the Eastern League in attendance.

The Thunder got to Fitzgerald early, all the result of poor defense. Jose Pirella hit a high chop to third baseman Mark Minicozzi, who snagged it backing up but overthrew the firstbaseman. Tyler Austin lined a ball to center. Ryan Lollis made a poor choice to dive for the ball, or tried to do his best imitation of the Flying Squirrel. The ball skipped past him and rolled to the wall, Pirella scoring the first run with Austin stopping at second. Fitzgerald buckled down getting Kyle Roller on a check swing third strike and coaxing Slade Heathcott to go fishing on a curveball in the dirt for another strikeout stranding Austin at third.

The Squirrels lost a scoring opportunity in the first. Joe Panik slapped a one out single. Mark Minicozzi followed with a shot down the right field line. Panik should have scored easily on the hit but fell flat on his face rounding third. He had to return to third where he was left stranded. After a walk loaded the bases Ricky Oropesa flied to shallow left field and Brett Krill grounded to short.

The Squirrels got to Caleb Cotham in the third. Javier Herrera started the rally lining a double over the third base bag. A one out walk to Minicozzi put runners on first and third with one out. Andrew Susac drove one deep to right field. Neil Medchill tracked the ball poorly, backtracking after the ball to watch it sail over his glove. Herrera scored on the hit. With two out Brett Krill and Jarrett Parker hit back to back RBI singles to make it 3-1. A walk loaded the bases, setting up a 2-run single from Ryan Lollis, who made up for his defensive miscue in the first. Herrera batted for the second time in the inning, swinging at a 3-0 pitch and popping it up to the shortstop for the final out. Cotham did not come out to pitch the fourth inning.

The Squirrels defense again got them in trouble in the seventh on two high throws. Fitzgerald made a high throw to first and Oropesa could not bring the glove down to make the tag. Kevin Mahoney hit a ground ball to Oropesa, who instead of taking the easy out at first tried to turn to make the throw to second, sailing it to pull Joe Panik off the second base bag. Fitzgerald was able to get out of the inning with two ground outs.

The Squirrels went to their bullpen in the eighth inning. Lefty submariner Phil McCormick looked nasty facing lefthanded hitters. Kyle Roller took a called third strike to end the eighth. Slade Heathcott made a poor swing on a curveball to lead off the ninth, his third whiff of the day. Neil Medchill made it three straight whiffs against lefties. Righthander Ali Castillo hit the ball hard, grounding a two out single past the shortstop. Lefty Kevin Mahoney grounded a ball weakly to short to end the game.

Game Notes: Thunder had back to back singles to start the fifth. Ramon Flores grounded to first baseman Ricky Oropesa. Nick McCoy hesitated from first, was tagged out by Oropesa, who then made the short trot to first to complete the double play…Justin Fitzgerald struck out five hitters in the first two innings. After that 12 of the next 15 outs were the result of ground outs, including two double plays. Another out was his sixth strikeout…Mark Minicozzi has a unique walk up song. Frank Sinatra and “Fly me to the Moon”…For whatever reason the Squirrels have a Pirate just past the first base stands, who gets raised up on a plank when the Squirrels get a runner on base. When they score a run a Pirate flag is raised…The Squirrels also have a Viking that walks onto the field after a win. They call him the Victory Viking…Other between inning escapdes include rolling a pig named Parker along the infield border in a cart. The pig appeared very calm as he was being raced along the field by an intern in a John Denver farmer outfit. Interns were throwing pig noses to the crowd. The also have Flingo the Flamingo, an intern strapped inside a plastic flamingo who throws hot dogs into the crowd. That appears to be an imitation of the vendor in Reading who rides an ostrich and shoots hot dogs into the stands. There are also the racing peanuts, a cashew, a walnut and a regular peanut. Bags of peanuts are thrown into the stands as part of the promotion. The regular peanut won. As if this isn’t enough entertainment they have the Molly Maid drag queens, which were four women and one man dressed in hula skirts dragging the infield. They also do a dance in the middle of the field manicure to whatever song was playing at the time (not YMCA)…The Richmond mascot is named Nutzy the Flying Squirrel. It appears his head is too big. Whoever was wearing the suit need to keep their hand on the head to see out of the slot in the costume…When entering the stadium you are treated to live music. That was a pretty neat touch…Whack the intern had a good name, but the execution was poor. This is where a kid has a plastic hammer and the four interns stick their head out of a slot and the kid whacks the interns with this hammer. Each intern represents a section of the field and the intern whacked the most wins a prize for that section of the field. Counting the number of whacks each intern received seemed pretty random…Before the game the team held a moment of silence for the death of Virginia Commonwealth coach Paul Keyes. The Diamond is also the home park for VCU. Keyes died at 50 years of age from stage 4 Melanoma. He wore uniform number five and many of the players raised their hands holding out five fingers. His son threw out the first pitch showing potential to be a pretty good baseball player with a rifle of an arm.

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Posted in Yankees, Giants | No Comments »

Yankees Use the Unwanted to Blast Orioles

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

Injuries to the Yankees starting lineup has forced them to pick up a few waiver claims for players released by other teams to complete their roster. Lyle Overbay, Brennan Bosch and Ben Francisco were recently released by their teams and picked up by the Yankees to fill holes created by injuries. Bosch slugged a 2-run homer in the seventh and Ben Francisco followed with a homer to make it back to back, both balls travelling in the same left centerfield area to lead the Yankees to an 11-8 win. Lyle Overbay also had a couple hits in the win.

Alex Casilla did not have a very good day for the Orioles at short, a position he will need to play to fill a utility role. He made two errors to open the gates for the Yankees first three runs in the second inning. Jair Jurrjens was also removed from the game in the second after being drilled in the lower back by a Troy Neal line drive comebacker in the second. Alex still tried to retire Neal at first, wildly throwing the ball into the dugout. The Yankees scored three runs in the inning, two of them crossing the plate on a Bobby Wilson double to left center.

The Orioles tied the score in the fifth, finally getting to David Phelps. Through the first four innings Phelps had only given up one hit and struck out six, facing just one batter over the minimum. A one out walk to J.J. Hardy set up the 2-run homer from Nate McLouth that struck the palm trees far over the right field fence. A walk and two singles, the last by Nick Markakis tied the game at 3-3. Phelps still came on to strikeout the leadoff batter in the sixth to give him nine strikeouts for the night and a good memory about the game.

Mark Hendrickson did not help his bullpen chances for the Orioles in the sixth when he walked the first two hitters he faced in his second inning of work. A double steal by Jason Nix and Thomas Neal put them in scoring position where Nix scored on a Bobby Wilson fly ball. For Wilson he finished the game with three RBIs.

The Yankees blasted Chris Petrini for six runs on six hits, one walk a wild pitch and an error by Petrini in the top of the seventh. The Orioles came roaring back off Josh Spence and Brandon Pinder with five runs in the bottom frame to make it 10-8. Taylor Teagarden had the big hit with a 3-run homer to finish off the scoring. After the 11 run seventh myworld abandoned ship for the 2 hour ride back to Orlando.

Game Notes: Matt Wieters struck out in all three of his at bats. Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy had back to back strikeouts, neither one of them taking the bat off their shoulder off David Phelps. Brian Roberts struck out twice and Adam Jones struck out three times after hitting a single in the first inning. It is nice the Orioles are showing patience, but there were too many called third strikes…David Phelps was only hitting the high 80s with his fastball on the radar gun. He appears to have made the Yankees starting rotation with the news Phil Hughes will start the season on the disabled list. He is just one of many Yankees starting the year on the disabled list, joining Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and possibly Derek Jeter. These Yankees are not young…It was a double Nix day for myworld. We saw Laynce play for the Phillies in Lakeland for the day game and Jason play for the Yankees in the night game. Jason had the better day, scoring three runs with a walk and a hit…A Mason Williams sigting. He had a soft single to left that was ruled a double after the ball bounced past the charging Nate McLouth…If the Yankees are not out of the pennant race by May it will be a brilliant managing job by Joe Girardi, weaving in a bunch of released players to fill a lineup ravaged by a number of regulars appearing on the disabled list to start the season. It looks to be a long season for Yankee fans, but at this point in the year they are underdogs, with most experts picking them for fourth place in the division. The underdog slot is a rare position for them to be in.

Posted in Yankees, Orioles | No Comments »

Blue Jays Crush Yankees

Friday, March 15th, 2013

Myworld was at Dunedin to see one of the more interesting games of the spring. The Yankees looked more like the Bad News Bears than a playoff contender losing to the Toronto Blue Jays 17-5. They were down 15-1 after two innings, with Yankee prospects now suspects Jose Ramirez and Adam Warren walking nine batters in the first two innings.

The game got off to a decent start for the Yankees when Kevin Youkilis roped a solo shot in the first inning. The game turned into a nightmare after that. Jose Ramirez walked four of the first seven hitters he faced, only retiring one batter. Adam Warren followed him and walked five, giving up eight runs on four hits. After two innings the Blue Jays had scored 15 runs on only eight hits.

Leadoff hitter Maicer Izturis had the big bat for the Blue Jays driving in five runs on two hits, plus scoring three times. Melky Cabrera got some revenge against his old teammates, driving in four runs with three hits, including two doubles.

Despite the long delays as the Blue Jays batted around in the order twice Josh Johnson pitched well, giving up only the solo homerun to Kevin Youkilus in three innings of work. The Blue Jay infielders committed two errors behind him, but with runners on second and third and one out Johnson bore down and struck out both Kevin Youkilus and Travis Hafner to end the threat. He was hitting the low 90s with his fastball.

Game Notes: There were three dropped popups in the game, one by Caleb Joseph, who has been playing some horrible defense and the other by Luis Jimenez, who had no business attempting to catch the popup with the second baseman next to him…Francisco Cervelli misjudged a foul popup hit by leadoff hitter Izturis. Jose Ramirez then walked Izturis and the slaughter had begun…Jose Pirela also dropped a pop up. Both Joseph and Pirela dropped balls playing second base with the catcher batting…A couple lines from the beer vendor - “If you can’t catch a ball catch a buzz” and Canadian beer in an American bottle made in China.”.

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Posted in Yankees, Blue Jays | No Comments »

Dominicans Thump Yankees

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

Myworld revisited George M. Steinbrenner Stadium to watch the Dominican Republic thump the New York Yankees 8-2. The Yankee bats were held hitless through the first six innings until Dominican Zoilo Almonte clubbed a 2-run homer just over the outstretched glove of right fielder Moises Sierra.

Most of the Dominicans offensive damage was done against Yankee pitchers who will not play a big role on their roster. The starter Hiroki Kuroda threw three shutout innings, only giving up two hits. When the Yankee bullpen arrived the Dominican bats woke up.

The first victim was Cody Eppley. Cody was getting behind in the count to most of the batters giving up two hits and a walk in his one inning of work. A bloop single to right field by Carlos Santana drove in the Dominicans first run and got some excitement running through the quiet stadium.

Clay Rapada gave up two hits and two walks, a Robinson Cano single past the diving Jayson Nix driving in the second run. After Clay walked Edwin Encarnacion to load the bases Jim Miller was called on to pitch. He coaxed Hanley Ramirez to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Miller was not so effective in the sixth. After striking out Nelson Cruz to lead off the inning he walked Carlos Santana. Ricardo Nanita doubled into right field and a poor cut off throw from Juan Rivera allowed Santana to cross the plate. Alejandro deAza rocketed a ball deep over the retreating outstretched glove of a shallow Melky Mesa and legged it out for a triple. Three straight walks forced in a run and ended the day for Miller as well as a possible roster spot.

The Dominicans scored a run in each of the next three innings. Miguel Tejeda got the loudest ovation from the crowd when he pinch hit in the eighth and walked. Moises Sierra hit a slow hopper to Dan Johnson to third, who threw the ball away. For Johnson it was his second error of the game at third in just two innings. The ball bounced against the bullpen screen and rolled back to the infield. Tejeda streaked all the way home, sliding just ahead of the throw that one hopped the catcher. The crowd cheered until he stepped out of the dugout to acknowledge their cheers.

Game Notes: Dominican fans outnumbered Yankee fans at Yankee stadium. The Yankee fans did not have a lot to cheer about, being no hit through the first six innings. The day before they were shutout 2-0…Dan Johnson played an ugly third base. Yankee fans have to hope he won’t have to play the position if he makes the roster, which is a long shot…Before the game the Dominican side of the field was crowded with fans trying to take pictures of their Dominican heros. The back of the Yankee dugout was virtually empty. The only Yankee in the starting lineup yesterday who had any significant time on their roster last year was Eduardo Nunez…Dominican fans near us said the Yankee security didn’t allow them to bring in any of their musical instruments, so the Dominican fans were a little tame at this game, compared to how they are in the Dominican. The stadium in Puerto Rico should allow them to be at their best…Eduardo Nunez almost appears as if he is bothered by a sore arm. He threw a six bouncer to first and his next throw seemed forced. He only had to make two throws from first. The Yankees don’t need another injury…The Tampa stadium does not have any mascots running the field, or team personnel throwing t-shirts into the crowd. It seems a very traditional park. They even have recorded music for the singing of the National Anthem and God Bless America. They also had a number of empty seats at the two games myworld was at…We did have seats OO7, which was pretty cool.

Posted in Dominican Republic, World Baseball Classic, Yankees | No Comments »

Braves Blank Yankees

Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

Legends Stadium now named George Steibrenner Stadium is supposed to be loud and raucous. After all, it is the home of the New York Yankees spring training team. The crowd was quiet, almost as if on prosac, the announcer sounded too polite, reminding me more of elevator music, speaking in a soft whisper and the bats were silent. The Braves shutout the Yankees 2-0.

You knew the Yankees were in trouble when it was announced Jayson Nix was hitting third and Eduardo Nunez was hitting fifth. But then, Robinson Cano is playing with the Dominican Republic and Mark Teixeira came down with a wrist injury while taking batting practice with Team USA. The injury is expected to sideline him for at least two weeks. There is not a lot available for the Yankees to put in the spring training lineup. This says a lot about their depth.

Paul Maholm started for the Braves and was shaky. He did not give up a run in his three plus innings of work, but he left six men on base. Chris Stewart smacked a bullet to left field with the bases loaded but it was right at Justin Upton. In the second, with runners on first and third, a steal of second by the Yankees Brett Gardner got a pump fake to second from Matt Pagnozzi. Corban Joseph took the bait and moved forward from third, but Pagnozzi picked him off for the third out. In the third Chris Stewart lined another shot towards Justin Upton who made an awkard backhand shoestring catch.

The Braves scored the only run they needed in the first when Jordan Schafer opened the game with a double. He advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a ground out to short.

Tyler Pastornicky was responsible for the second Brave run. He singled to lead off the seventh, stole second and advanced to third when the throw from J.R. Murphy sailed into centerfield. A balk allowed Pastornicky to score. Tyler is getting an opportunity to show what he can do with regular shortstop Andrelton Simmons playing for the Netherlands.

After the second inning the Yankees failed to advance a runner to third.

Game Notes: Corban Joseph had a rough game. He made two errors at third, got picked off at third and made the last out of the game…The Yankees played taped music for the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America. It was the first stadium myworld has visited where the Star Spangled Banner was not performed live…Chris Stewart made a poor throw to second on an attempted steal creating this comment from a Yankee fan “keep throwing like that and you’ll be playing in boston.”…Freddie Freeman spoiled a shift by bouncing a ball to the third base side of the infield…Ernesto Mejia appears to be swinging too hard in his attempt to make the roster. He struck out twice tonight…Adonis Garcia broke his wrist taking batting practice so he won’t be an option to replace Curtis Granderson in the outfield. He was a long shot to begin with.

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Posted in Braves, Yankees | No Comments »

Laird Leads Astros Over Yankees

Friday, March 1st, 2013

Ex-Yankee Brandon Laird slugged a grand slam homerun to finish an Astro 5-1 comeback to take a 7-5 lead. Both teams combined for 11 runs in the sixth inning. The Astros hung on for a 7-6 win.

Lucas Harrell and Brett Marshall each worked three innings in their starts. Two double plays aided Lucas who only faced 11 hitters in his outing. Brett would like to slide in the starting rotation for the Yankees. He benefited from two caught stealings by Francisco Cervelli to face the minimum nine batters in his three innings.

Once Marshall left the Yankee bullpen had trouble throwing strikes. First there was Dellin Betances who walked two and hit a batter to load the bases. He would have thrown a ball to the backstop to allow a run to score but the pitch hit the top of J.D. Martinez bat as he tried to duck away from the pitch. Dellin struck out J.D. to get out of the inning but he needed about 30 pitches to finish.

Brad Peacock pitched solid two innings, the Astros pulling a third double play. Ross Porter is familiar with him from his days on the Nationals. Ross Seaton committed a crucial error in the sixth to foil a fourth double play and give the Yankees an opening. He threw a combacker up the middle into centerfield. Singles by Zolio Almonte and Matt Diaz drove in one run each. Melky Mesa connected off a Sam Demel fastball for a 3-run homer to complete the scoring, giving the Yankees a 5-1 win.

The Yankees used three pitchers in the bottom frame, walking three, hitting one and giving up the grand slam homerun to Brandon Laird to put up a six spot. The Astros hit for the cycle in the inning, getting only four hits. Jose Martinez collected the triple, Jacob Goebbert the double and Carlos Pena the single. Goebbert had pinch run for Pena and later in the inning hit the double.

Yankee pitchers walked six and hit two in the loss. The Yankees scored their last run in the eighth after a Tyler Austin triple and a clutch two out single by Adonis Garcia to drive in the run. Ramon Flores had struck out prior to the Garcia at bat.

Game Notes: Adonis Garcia looked bad going back on a flyball from Jose Martinez deep into centerfield, turning what should have been an out into a triple. Tyler Austin was also very slow retrieving a single by Brandon Barnes, who never stopped turning the single into a double…Yankee games are normally sell outs. Perhaps it is still early in the season but only 3,213 attended the game, far short of a sell out. Of course, the A team was playing and losing to the Blue Jays in Tampa 1-0…Dellin Betances had trouble with his curveball not breaking, one of them hitting Altuve. After a wild pitch Betances threw 6 straight balls…Rick Ankiel hit a homerun and went 2 for 2 in the DH spot. He looks to be winning a spare outfielder spot…Tony Pena was the acting manager for the game today…Jose Altuve turned three double plays in the game. He also found himself on base all three times, once on an error, a hitbatsman and a single…Tyler Austin looked good in an at bat, fouling off 4 or 5 two strike pitches before lining a triple past the flailing glove of Jimmy Paredes.

Posted in Yankees, Astros | No Comments »

Yanks Take Advantage of Braves Miscues

Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

It’s only the second day of spring, so the Braves have a chance to work out the kinks in their fielding. A dropped popup by Chris Johnson, an error by Dan Uggla and a wild pitch in the third inning gave the Yankees an early 4-0 lead in their 8-3 win over the Braves. Zoilo Almonte drove in the first two runs with a booming shot over the 385 foot marker in left center field.

Robinson Cano also went deep for the Yankees and Austin Romine roped a 2-run single to lead the Yankee offense. The Yankees trotted out their all prospect outfield in the sixth inning with Ramon Flores in left, Slade Heathcoat in center and Tyler Austin in right. The three combined to go 0 for 3 with Slade drawing a walk. They also started their right handed hitting non-roster outfielders with Juan Rivera at DH and Matt Diaz in left. Juan went 1 for 2 with a walk and Matt went 0 for 3 with a ground in double play.

The Brave offense was triggered by Evan Gatttis, who doubled in the fourth to set up the first run and hit a 2-run homerun in the sixth to drive in the other two runs. Evan finished the day 2 for 3 with one hit by pitch. Freddie Freeman also got two hits.

The pitcher with the most velocity today was the Braves propsect J.R. Graham. He hit 100 on the radar and was in the high 90s for most of his one inning of work. He walked two hitters and had a three ball count on three of the five hitters he faced so he had a little trouble finding the plate with his heat. A double play ground out helped him get out of the inning without giving up a run. His curveball also had very little break, but it is still early in the spring.

Jordan Walden was victimized in the third inning by the poor Brave fielding, but his fastball only hit 92-93. He gave up the booming homerun to Almonte. Edwin Nunez also smoked a double off him down the line. When it was all done he had given up four runs in one inning of work.

The Yankees had Brett Marshall throw two innings. He gave up one run and a couple hits getting his fastball up to 93. He got Freddie Freeman to swing and miss for strike three on a nice changeup in the dirt.

Dan Uggla did not look good swinging and missing at three pedestrain fastballs from Mike O’Brien. He also made some poor fielding plays that included a bad pivot throw to first and an error. He still has a lot to work on in the spring.

Braves Notes: Like the way Ernesto Mejia looks at the plate and at first base. He just isn’t going to get a lot of opportunity with Freddie Freeman at first. He has to hope for an injury or trade to get some playing time. He has zero speed to move to the outfield…Bill the Bucket won the Home Depot Tools race. The other tool participant in the race is two bit…Luke Murton is another player who has a lot to haul when he runs. He’s a big guy who needs to make it as a firstbaseman if he is going to play for the Yankees. He went 0 for 3 grounding into one double play.

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Posted in Braves, Yankees | No Comments »

2013 Hot Stove - Yankees

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013

Hard to believe next week myworld will be in Florida enjoying spring training. As promised, we have finished a review of all the major league teams hot stove moves. Myworld will do a recap later on this week.

Overall Assessment: Many of the players on the current Yankee roster would not look out of place at an old timers game. Don’t sell that experience short. This lineup can score runs. If Joe Giradi weaves the lineup judiciously to give proper rest to his seniors they can be a force to contend with at the end of the year. Alex Rodriguez appears to be toast for most of the year but they signed Kevin Youkilus to fill his position. If Alex can return he may need to play most of his time at DH before playing the infield, perhaps platooning with Travis Hafner. The Yankees were also pretty silent in the free agent market, trying to get below the luxury tax before the 2014 season ends. This prevented them from signing free agents who were seeking long term contracts. When did you think the Yankees would be outbid by the Pirates for the services of Russell Martin? They re-signed many of their veteran players who they are comfortable with the knowledge they can play in New York, but they also lost a few players. That will result in the subtraction of 95 homeruns and 42 saves to free agency. They are also only a plus one with the loss of A-Rod and the addition of Kevin Youkilus in the homerun category. One of their strengths last year was their offense and their ability to hit homeruns. The balls may not leave the park as much in 2013.

Hot Stove Season: They recently signed Travis Hafner to a contract. He will just be one of many lefthanded bats on the roster and may take the role of Raul Ibanez as the occasional lefthanded DH. He only hit .228 last year with 12 homeruns, but the Yankee fences are more inviting than Jacobs. Matt Diaz could be a sold free agent signing since he rakes lefthanded pitching. He will rotate the corners, spelling Bret Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki when a lefthander takes the mound. Juan Rivera is another righthanded bat they signed for the outfield. He will turn 35 in 2013 so he fits in fine with the geriatric set. Kevin Youkilus was signed as a free agent to replace A-Rod at third. We’ll see if Yankee fans can forgive his Red Sox past. They made no trades so that is the extent of their moves. If they don’t make the playoffs Yankee fans will start wondering what Brian Cashman did for his winter.

Strength: Experience. They also still have a strong right side of the infield that can slug 50 plus homeruns. Mark Teixeira admitted to the aging factor reducing his production but he will still be good for 25 plus homeruns and Gold Glove defense. Robinson Cano will provide the other 30 plus homeruns. It will be interesting to see if they can sign Cano to a long term contract. If Mariano Rivera can stay healthy the bullpen will be strong.

Weakness: They lost Russel Martin to the Pirates. They will have to see if one of their young catchers can handle a very experienced pitching staff. That has got to be a bit intimidating. There is always a mid-season trade if none of the younsters Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine or Chris Stewart pans out. They have two corner outfielders who are not big power guys. They can resolve that by moving Bret Gardner to center and Curtis Granderson to left, but you don’t want to upset the veterans. At 32 years old he doesn’t cover as much ground as Gardner. This team could be hurting if Mariano Rivera can not complete the season or misses long stretches. The bullpen is strong if they can stay in their roles, but with Rivera gone they will be forced into unfamiliar roles with David Robertson the possible closer.

Top Position Prospect: Gary Sanchez is said to be a better defensive player than Jesus Montero, but he is still a couple years away, so he won’t be one of the candidates to fill the major league catching job. He did commit 18 passed balls and 16 errors last year behind the plate, so that tells me he still needs a lot of work. He does have the bat to move to first base if he can’t work out his defensive problems, but that would make him less valuable.

Top Pitching Prospect: They were expecting a lot from Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances. Injury shelved Banuelos and command issues pushed Dellin two steps backward. Manny will miss the 2013 season but we liked what we saw of him in the spring of 2011. From a long range perspective myworld still feels he has the best shot of being a better rotation starter than Jose Campos, who was one of the players acquired last year in the Jesus Montero trade.

Watch out for: Dante Bichette Jr. He is still a couple years away from the major leagues. He struggled last year hitting only .248 with three homeruns. That is not the Dante we saw last year in spring training, who got two at bats and launched two balls over the centerfield fence at Kissimmee. That almost equals his 2012 season. Granted, it was against the Astros spring training bullpen but those balls could be defined as majestic.

Rookie of the Year Prospect: Mark Montgomery could find himself in the bullpen with a good spring. He has a two year 1.65 career ERA in 72 games. Despite his 30 saves he doesn’t appear to have closer stuff, but he could become very effective in a setup role. Melky Mesa is a righthanded bat that could come in handy with all the lefthanded hitting outfielders. He needs to have a big spring and show he’s a better alternative than Juan Rivera. At least they wouldn’t have to find a 40-man roster spot for him.

Projected on Paper Finish: There are a lot of people selling the Yankees short this year. They are good at acquiring mid-season acquisitions if they are short term and will help the team make the playoffs. Myworld will jump on the bandwagon and also sell them short. They will mis the AL playoffs in a very competetive division with the five teams doing a pretty good job of beating each other up.

Posted in Yankees | 1f54 No Comments »

Nakajima Gets His Major League Contract

Monday, December 17th, 2012

Last year the Yankees put up some money to win the rights to Hiroyuki Nakajima. Once they got him they didn’t know what to do with him. In hindsight, with the injuries to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez he might be a pretty valuable player to their roster for the 2013 season, even if they couldn’t find a use for him in 2012. That won’t happen after the Athletics signed Nakajima to a two year $6.5 million deal with an option for a third year at $5.5 million.

He will not have the kind of impact as Yoennis Cespedes, but he won’t be the bust like Tsuyoshi Nishioka. The Athletics don’t really have a strong option at shortstop after the departure of Stephen Drew. Many feel that Nakajima does not quite have the range to play shortstop in the major leagues. He was considered more of an offensive shortstop in Japan and that offense will not translate as well in the major leagues.

The Athletics also do not have a strong option at third base either, but just like Donaldson, Nakajima appears to be short in the power department for that position at the spacious Oakland facilities. The best role for him would seem to be as a super utility player who roams around the infield. His best position appears to be second base, but the Athletics are covered there with Jemile Weeks. Myworld was kind of hoping the Orioles would sign him for second base depth, but it looks like they have some satisfaction with Alexi Casilla and a hope and a prayer that Brian Roberts will give them a final season.

If you want to see his numbers you can go here: http://bis.npb.or.jp/eng/players/01005113.html. Japan had a big drop in offense last year, but to Nakajima’s credit he didn’t seem to be impacted by the use of the new ball. He didn’t hit as many homers as in previous years, but he exceeded his career .302 average with a .311 season. With the drop in runs his RBI totals decreased by 26 from the previous season (100 to 76).

Nakajima also averaged more than 20 stolen bases for four seasons including a 21 for 23 success rate in 2011. Last year he only stole seven bases, getting caught six times. He will turn 31 on July 31 so the speed is probably not what it used to be, a worry for a shortstop expected to have a lot of range.

Posted in Japan, Yankees, Athletics | No Comments »

Tigers Sweep Yankees/Cardinals One Win Away

Friday, October 19th, 2012

The major league playoff games were real yawners. The Yankees did not put up much of a fight against the Tigers, losing their fourth game 8-1. Delmon Young drove in his fourth game winning run to win the MVP award for the series. Miguel Cabrera, Johnny Peralta and Austin Jackson all went deep. Peralta went deep twice.

C.C. Sabathia did not have it, giving up 11 hits in just three plus innings of work. It would not have mattered since the sputtering Yankee offense could only get two hits off the Tiger pitchers. Max Scherzer went five plus innings, striking out ten to get the win. He gave up the run and the two hits.

Phil Coke pitched the last two innings for the Tigers. In 2009 the Yankees needed a veteran centerfielder. They traded promising prospect Austin Jackson and Phil Cook to the Tigers and Ian Kennedy to the Diamondbacks in a three way trade to acquire Curtis Granderson. Jackson hit .353 and Cook pitched three games against the Yankees without giving up a run. Curtis Granderson went hitless in the American League championship series. The Tigers also got Max Scherzer from the Diamondbacks in that trade. Advantage Tigers.

The Tigers have now beaten the Yankees in three straight playoff series. Prince Fielder now gets to do with the Tigers in his first year what he couldn’t do with the Brewers in his six years there.

Not much of a game in the National League either. The Giants started Tim Lincecum and he pitched like he did in the first half of the season, giving up four runs in less than five innings of work. Adam Wainwright shut down the Giant bats to win the game 8-3.

The Cardinals got production from their entire offense, whacking the Giant pitchers for 12 hits. John Jay, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina each drove in two runs. Pablo Sandoval hit an anti-climatic 2-run homer in the ninth for the Giants with the score 8-1.

Lance Lynn will go against Barry Zito in game five. Matt Carpenter played in place of Carlos Beltran, contributing a hit, two walks and two runs scored.

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