On the Yankees beat

He's the closest thing to a stopper that the Yanks have. if he's down for any significant length of time, kiss the post season goodbye.
Chew on a Twins/D'backs series Fox!

Yes, they are cooked especially if the Yanks are concerned to allow Kennedy to pitch against the Angels. Is this baseball or life and death military actions. Come on Yanks either the kid has it or not.

Larry,
I for one, do not have the confidence in Kennedy right now. To me, that's the Yanks' fault for rushing this kid through the system and not letting him develop properly. But, then again, I don't follow the progress of minor league players like some of the guys on here do.
200+ million dollar payroll and this is what we have!
They have to go 30-20 the rest of the way to have any kind of shot and that will give them 91 wins.

Not good for Girardi as another prospect is doomed under his watch as Manager.

The telling signs were there yesturday and if the team could remove Joba from games they did'nt have to remove him from, Yesturdays game was an example of when you need to remove him after awhile with the heat and etc. once you saw him laboring in the 4th he should have removed him

At least we have Pavano coming up soon. Yea right! What a joke. This is very dissapointing. I for one think it's nothing serious and I sure hope I'm right.

Glad to see Xavier Nady doing well.

At least we have Pavano coming up soon. Yea right! What a joke. This is very dissapointing. I for one think it's nothing serious and I sure hope I'm right.

Glad to see Xavier Nady doing well.

Crashman's dynamic duo/duds doomed the team. He had no back-up plan if they failed, and fail they did miserably. You can see that Crashman has no confidence in Kennedy, since Geise takes Rasner's place. Could've packaged Kennedy, Cabrera (benched for non production) + 2 other prospects for Johan, but Crashman staked his "reputation" on P(avano)hil Hughes & Kennedy, and look where things stand now. All good things come to an end. Ask the Braves. Join the RAYvolution.

If Joba has to miss more than 2 starts I think the Yanks are in trouble. When you get into a 10 day stretch there is a big difference in being 5-5 versus 7-3. However the Rays and Sox can help out by losing some more games to the Royals and Indians.

Anonymous you are a moron. Jobas injury has nothing to do with Girardi. He mis managed his young pitchers in Flo, ok we know that. Get over it. And skippy there is nothing wrong with a Twins/D back WS except for prob the worst WS ratings ever. It is a proven fact that when a major market team is not in a championship te rating are terrible.

I see that I'm getting attacked by a troll. Hilarious! Skippy with the little dickey strikes again!
You are small Skippy with the little dickey so you think small.
Besides Skippy is a yuppie name.
Isn't that so Skippy with the little dickey!

Ok am I the only one who thinks that A-Rod should be booed again. This guy is back to his same old tricks. Like I said the other day. Battin .233 with RISP is pittiful for supposedly one of the best players of all time. It's time to send him packing.

Maybe we should go after Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia. They could be the next Small and Chacon. Any thoughts?

If Joba heard or felt a "pop" in his shoulder, as is now being reported.....Joba is DONE for the season.....at least.

Don't panic. We will still be there in the end. Just need this one time through the rotation and then bring up Hughes, and either Aceves or Kennedy. I still think Andy and Moose can hold the fort until reinforcements arrive. Hughes WILL be lights out when he comes back.

We will get to the top, just will take a little longer than expected. Concern? Yes. Loss of confidence? Hell no!

Lets Go Yankees! Devil Rays schedule will get progressively harder and Bay will be figured out. There is still hope!

Garcia won't be ready for a while and Hernandez is cooked, even though I did mention bringing him in on the last thread, I really don't want to see it. I'd rather the Yanks live with Hughes, Kennedy and Giese then go that route.
This whole "popping" in the shoulder that the Final Score boys are talking about has me seriously worried. If Joba needs surgery he will never be the same....this is terrible.

No Jim A., it's not terrible, it's fantastic. A wonderful day.

Wow. One decent year and all of a sudden you guy's are in love with A-Rod. This guy is a bum and will always be a bum. Will never ever hit in the big spot. Please someone agree with me! Larry is the only real man on this blog who is not in love with A-Rod. Please boo A-Rod any time you can!

Anon, I've been saying for years that A-Rod is a cancer to every team he plays for. He is "that guy" who puts up huge numbers and never wins a title.

Jim,

Finally someone who agrees with me. Give me the guy who hits ,285 25HR 85-100RBI who hits in the clutch over that overated bum!

To me, the greatness of a player really shows up in the clutch and he is not that player and never will be!

So you guys must really thinks Jeter sucks as well.

Yes Jeter is not having one of his Jeter years, but other than last year, you tell me when A-Rod has ever performed in the clutch.

I don't Boss, but the problem with Jeter is that he never gives himself some time off to help heal the injuries that he gets. It's been mentioned before on the Yankee broadcasts that they feel his hand was injured in Boston earlier this season and that it has affected his swing. I've never seen him ground into so many DPs as he's done this season.
As far as Chamberlain goes, he probably needs to sit for a while. The Yanks are going to have to bring Kennedy up and try to keep in contention. One of them is going to have to step it up.

Nobody said Girardi is to be blamed, however you think the front office or better yet Hank is going to take blame , what is going to be said is when the time to apply Joba rules was needed instead it was ignored (107 degree weather = problems) or perhaps this was a potential problem with removing him from the pen where he could have been over throwing

I know, John G...neither do I. I'm just surprised to see Rick Keyes and others who completely think A-Rod is a joke. And I understand what you are saying about the DPs, but he did the same thing in the playoffs last year, and killed many a rally. Yet people continue to blame A-Rod for every little thing that goes wrong with this team. Like Alex gave up a walk, single and single in the 1-0 loss the other nighth. Or a grand slam in the 9th last night.

Mike, explain "in the clutch". Since 1987 he's a .344 hitter with the bases loaded, and a .303 hitter with RISP.

In 05 he hit .438 with the bases loaded and .302 with RISP and 2 outs.

In '06 he hit .478 with the bases juiced, .313 with RISP and .303 with RISP 2 out.

And you mentioned last year already, so you know what he did then.

BTW, I can't seem to find anything on Big Papi hurting his wrist again. Does anyone have details?

I will tell you this about A-Rod Boss. His problem in pressure situations is he expands the strike zone. He chases that breaking ball away and he'll never hit it. He's too good a hitter for that and he should know better. That's what I see anyway.

Boston.com has a blog on it. I read it this morning.

If anyone is currently listening to Michael Kay’s show right now (Max Kellerman is filling in), you may understand why I couldn’t listen to his gibberish after about 5 minutes.

Basically, his argument is that the worst case scenario for Joba (losing him for the season) could be easily replaced by the likes of Kennedy, Hughes, and Dan Giese.

He says Giese has been unhittable for three years and could do the job. He also added that the Yankee offense is "very good" and would make up for any lackluster performances.

I guess he hasn't bothered to watch the Yankee offense struggle for most of the season.

Hey, Kellerman knows his boxing for sure - but his baseball IQ hovers in the mental retardation range.

Kellerman is a joke. Can't wing it when it comes to baseball - baseball is a stat oriented sport, so Kellerman shows his dumbness even more. What a loser! Joba can't be replaced, but we could weather the storm at least once through the rotation. Aceves might be better than we think and Hughes is very, very close.

What would be the problem with letting Hughes throw his 65-80 pitches up here instead of in the minors? I agree with the Yankees making Kennedy wait (what an ego!), but we do have some options. Someone please tell Girardi he needs to leave Giese in the pen as the long reliever. That is where he is most valuable. Bring up Aceves or Kennedy for that Angel start.

Come on, Andy! We need ya tonight.

A few thoughts:

1. Gene - you're being a moron. NO General Manager, not Cashman, not Theo, not Billy Beane could possibly have enough back-up plans in place to survive injuries to 4 of his starters.

2. Before we start pushing Girardi out the door for abusing Joba, lets a) find out what the injury is and b) see how much time he's going to miss.

There are some good things to look at here - first Joba passed all the strength tests they gave him after the game which means it's muscular not structural. If he had, for example, torn his rotator cuff he wouldn't have still been throwing in the 90's when they lifted him and would have been in a lot more pain.

3. The complaints about Alex this year with runners in scoring position or in close games are valid, but to say that he's a bum (as Keyes and some others do) shows a lack of baseball knowledge and a general ignorance. Most likely it is the result of some people who think that because Alex and Derek had issues they are bad Yankee fans if they look at Alex as anything other than a bad guy.

4. Aceves has cooled and, according to both internal and external scouts - don't be fooled by Kennedy's numbers in AAA. They are actually saying the same thing about him that some said about Dan McCutchen. His numbers look good because he's fooling AAA hitters, but the stuff that he's fooling them with isn't good enough to get the same results in the majors. Lets see what happens with Joba's arm exam.

5. I have been for Freddy Garcia since the winter and I'm still for him now. I have no interest in Livan Hernandez - he's a grinder but the stuff isn't there anymore. Let him go to the Mets.

6. I refuse to listen to Max Kellerman - he makes my ears bleed.

Yanks can be considered a pitching rich organization if Joba and Wang return in 09 as good as new, throw in Kennedy, Hughes, Pavano to end this year and get primed up for next season.

So basically, the Yanks made a mistake by not trading Kennedy when they had the opportunity to do so. Now they're stuck with an exceptional AAA pitcher who may be .500 at best as a major league pitcher. As i said earlier, you guys know more about the minors than I do.

Too bad the Yanks didn't get Bonds. They could have batted him cleanup and batted A-Rod 3rd. (or 5th depending on whether or not you all liked Abreu). Taking A-Rod out of the cleanup spot may be a good thing although that won't happen now.

Francessa is back to stomping his feet for the Yankees to get Bronson Arroyo. Is he Arroyo's agent or what?

John G.

Kennedy is an exceptional AAA pitcher right now. We tend to forget because of how quickly he hit the majors, but he was only drafted two years ago. Players often spend a couple of years in the minors learning how to face professional hitters.

I, personally, think that Kennedy's future is with another team and that the Yankees will move him for a hitter this winter, but that doesn't mean I don't think he's a quality pitcher. Sometimes it just takes some time to develop.

Just something you may want to consider (or not) to go along with my point about Kennedy (and Hughes) being far from finished products.

Hughes was drafted in 2004 out of HS - of the other players taken in that first round only three (Justin Verlander, Stephen Drew, Jared Weaver) have become established major leaguers. Others, like Glen Perkins, Billy Butler, Homer Bailey, Josh Fields and Blake DeWitt have come up and had inconsistent results.

I still think a good comparison for Hughes is Mike Pelfry who had a HORRIBLE first full season with the Mets, took his lumps and has been very good this year.

Kennedy was drafted in 06 - and thus far the studs from that first round are Tim Lincecum and Evan Longoria (and later Joba) but other than that, not many of the players taken there are in the majors - Brendan Morrow is doing a good job in the Seattle pen, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer have been in and out of the majors...but that's really it.

Voice of sanity comes from Dan Graziano - Star Ledger. Read his article, he is 100% correct. Yanks are still in the playoff hunt. Joba out of the rotation would affect the post season rotation more than now, so here's hoping it is only a mild strain and Joba will miss only 2-3 starts max.

Gotta win a game, Yanks! Make it happen tonight, Andy.

Lets Go Royals and Indians!

why is kennedy not being called up?

a guy who had a spot in the rotation out of ST, not promoted despite crisis to the rotation?
simple:

the yanks want to preserve whatever trade value he still has by dominating AAA rather than exposing him at the bigs.

my prediction:
kennedy + melky/gardner + 2 pitchers (betances, coke, kontos...)
for
matt holliday.

i would make that trade in a heartbeat.

question to this blog's minor leagues buffs:

what do we about the catcher position, as it becomes obvious posada is not the answer for the rest of his contract.

how far away is montero? what about his defense? can he be a cathcer? maybe romine?

do we need to shop for a catcher?

Gil -

1. That's a lot to give up for a rental - with Boras as his agent that's all Holliday is. I think the Manny thing shows that Boras will do anything to get his players to free agency

2. Where do you play him? RF next year is Nady, LF is Damon.

I think you're right that Kennedy gets traded, I just have a different target in mind:

Melky + Kennedy for David DeJesus. A good CF both offensively and defensively who can be moved to LF in 2010 when Austin Jackson is ready to come up and Damon leaves.

As for catcher - Montero is a few years away and probably won't be a catcher by the time he hits the bigs. Romaine also is at least a good 3 years away. The closest prospect is Cervelli but he's not a guy who is going to provide much offense. Most likely if the Yankees are concerned about Jorge heading into free agency they'll try to ink Pudge for 1 year.

chip,

my suggestion depends on the yanks being granted a 72 hours window to negotiate an extension with holliday.
it's a stretch, but it can happen.

Gil -

Hey, you don't have to sell me on getting Holliday. But I don't think, with Boras as his agent, this can go any way other than him hitting the open market.

That's especially true when you factor in that the newly acquired Jason Bay will be a FA for Boston that same winter (also a Boras client) and Xavier Nady as well (ditto on the representation)

So, word is that Joba is headed to meet with Dr. Andrews. WAIT, DO NOT JUMP OFF THE BRIDGE - PUT DOWN THE GUN AND THE PILLS!

He's going there to have the MRI read, not because someone saw something on it and say "Oh poop."

Holliday? We're dreaming if we think we can get Holliday via trade---our only hope are the dollars Mr. Steinbrenner stuffs his mattress with from merchandising revenues. What would we need to get from another team to trade A-Rod? Well, the price wouldn't be much less for Holliday given his age and future prospects. Holliday could probably be had for Chamberlain, Hughes, Gardner, Cano and cash.

Mr Holliday, we Yankees fans always bad mouthed you in the past, as a choke artist player with no spine, and I agree. The letter to Rockies.com asking them to view this message shows how much we hate you here in the Big Apple. We will build our own team, and dont need to "Buy" any more losers.