Daily Archives: August 14, 2008

Better late than never, right?

There are just a few weeks left in the minor league season, so my next Farm Report will serve as a summary of the season as a whole. That makes this my last mid-season update. Here’s my June Farm Report, which in turn links to May, etc.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

The big news in Scranton was the fact that three of the team’s starting pitchers were shipped to the Pirates in the Xavier Nady deal. With Daniel McCutchen, Ross Ohlendorf, and Jeff Karstens out of the system, the Scranton rotation now consists of a rehabbing Phil Hughes, three-time loser Ian Kennedy, the unwanted Kei Igawa, and double-A call-ups Alfredo Aceves, and lefty Chase Wright. When Kennedy was called up to start for the Yankees, Jason Jones was called up from Trenton to fill his spot. Jones has since been sent back to Trenton, but I expect he’ll be recalled when Phil Hughes is called back to the bigs.

Hughes is scheduled to make his fifth rehab appearance on Sunday. In two outings for low-A Charleston, he pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing just five baserunners (three hits and two walks). In two starts for Scranton, he’s posted a 2.70 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. In his last start, he struck out four in 5 1/3 innings while allowing just three hits and a walk. He’s likely to return to the major league rotation next weekend when the Yankees are in Baltimore.

Aceves has not pitched well in Scranton since having a groin injury delay the start of his triple-A career. In his four starts since stretching back out, Aceves has allowed four runs every time out, resulting in a 6.97 ERA over those four starts, which is paired with a 1.60 WHIP.

Wrote Chad Jennings last week, “To be honest, Aceves has more or less lived up to my expectation — he throws strikes and doesn’t miss by much when he misses — but hitters at this level seem to be having an easier time making solid, consistent contact than the hitters in Double-A and A ball. Triple-A is an adjustment, and Aceves is going through it. He allowed three hits in the second inning and four hits in the fourth, but he also sent the side down in order in both the first and the third. I don’t think he’s overmatched at this level, he’s just challenged at this level to be more than a guy who throws strikes.”

Wright, who went 8-2 with a 2.96 ERA in 16 double-A starts, has made just three starts for Scranton, the last of which was unimpressive. Jones, who went 11-5 with a 3.03 ERA in 21 starts for Trenton, pitched well in his two triple-A starts.

Out in the bullpen is where you’ll find Phil Coke, the lefty who was initially reported to be a part of the package for Nady. He’s pitched well in his new role, but could return to starting next year.

The big name in the Scranton bullpen is Mark Melancon, who has allowed just one run in 9 2/3 triple-A innings while allowing just six baserunners and striking out ten. Comming off surgery, Melancon has thrown 84 2/3 innings this season, which makes a big-league promotion unlikely (other than to let him hang out on the bench), but he seems sure to be in the picture for next year’s pen.

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"Bill Heinz is a walking contradiction of the stereotype of the phlegmatic Teuton. He is emotional and demonstrative. He can sink into depressions so deep they would give a sandhog the bends. His highs are several stories high. As cityside reporter, war correspondent, sports columnist, freelance journalist, and novelist, he was and is a dedicated craftsman and a penetrating observer who never gives half measure.

‘Bill,’ his doctor once told him, ‘if you don’t stop trying to be the greatest writer in the world, you’re going to kill yourself.’

‘I’m not trying to be the greatest writer in the world,’ Bill said, ‘I’m only trying to be the best writer I can be.’"

Red Smith, from the Introduction to Heinz’s collection, American Mirror.

W.C. Heinz, one of the finest journalists this country has ever produced, died earlier this year. A few months ago, a tribute was held in Vermont in his honor, and Adam White wrote a fine piece on the event for the Bennington Banner. In it, he quotes Bob Matteson, who was the editor-in-chief of the Middlebury College newspaper when Heinz was sports editor in 1936-37.

"He could spot make-believe – or phoniness – right away in a person," Matteson said. "And he wanted no part of it."

White continues:

Therein would seem to lie the key to Bill Heinz’s writing, his true method for distilling parable from the mundane. There is a sort of universal admission among those who were close to Heinz that he could be averse to, even dismissive of, certain people and personality types – but there is equally compelling evidence that such an attitude stemmed from his heightened sense of intuition regarding truth. Without such intuition, it is unlikely that he could have even recognized – let alone captured – the majesty and romance that pervades so much of his work.

"The secret is love," (Jeff) MacGregor said. "It’s his empathy, [though] not for individuals; I don’t know that [Heinz] even liked people. His genius was his empathy for the situation that we all share, that common cause of human enterprise. The truth that [Heinz] wrote about is the struggle that we all face, every day, when we get out of bed – and how good a fight we put up before the end of the day."

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In the New York Sun, Tim Marchman wonders if next year’s Yankees won’t look an awful lot like this year’s edition.

Is there anything more New York than the sight of kicks hanging from a wire?

In a conversation with our Banter host Alex Belth over the weekend, I said, “I haven’t seen it written anywhere, but how good does Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera for Johan Santana look right about now?”  Alex’s response (and I paraphrase): “Dude, don’t even say that. Oh, man.”

Well, I’ve seen it written somewhere, but I had to do some searching. My fellow Ithaca College alum, Andrew Marchand of 1050 ESPN Radio had a similar nugget in his Tuesday blog post. He did not tap my phone.

If the Yankees don’t make the playoffs, Kennedy could be the most to blame. He is one of the guys whom the Yankees decided to keep instead of getting Johan Santana.

If the Yankees had dealt Kennedy and Phil Hughes to Minnesota then Santana would likely be a Yankee. Instead Kennedy’s teammates are raising their eyebrows over his words and lack of success. He is 0-4 with an 8.17 ERA.

Kennedy’s lack of development, along with Phil Hughes’ incomplete for this year, is going to make CC Sabathia richer.

Kennedy’s post-game comments after Friday’s debacle in Disneyland led the Yankees to send him to Scranton on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride for the third time this year.

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The Yankees are off today. Perhaps they will rest as they prepare for the short weekend series with the Kansas City Royals. Perhaps they will reflect on a dismal 3-7 road trip that has them in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in the post-strike, Wild-Card era.

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The Yanks lost again yesterday, finally ending what Pete Abraham aptly called their 3-7 "stumble across America."  It was more of the same–no hitting, and poor, sloppy fielding.  Hard to tell where the Yankees’ heads are at.  Sure ain’t in the game. The final was 4-2.

Back up the bugle folks.  This team looks out of life.