What's Happening In Scranton

Freddy Garcia was sent to Triple-A last weekend due to the 6 man rotation issue as well as the cut to his pitching finger.  He pitched this past Monday in Scranton for 4 innings, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits.  It wasn’t Freddy’s best game as he didn’t strike out a batter but he was able to throw about a dozen splitters which indicate his finger has healed.  Garcia will pitch Saturday (assuming there is a game in the midst of this hurricane) against Baltimore as part of the doubleheader.

Dellin Betances is coming off a rough start this past week lasting only 3 innings but allowing 2 earned runs.  The runs were the result of issuing 9 walks within 3 innings, as he only allowed 1 hit.  It was somewhat of a bizarre outing for the young righty as he still managed to strike out 4 even though he only threw 41 of 84 pitches for strikes.  He now has a 5.00 ERA in two starts for the Triple-A Yankees but has a strikeout ratio of 12K/9IP.  He’s certainly not ready for the big leagues just yet, but if he can work on his high walk rate of 9BB/9IP we could see him pitching as early as next season.

Manny Banuelos got his first Triple-A win of the year this week.  He allowed only 3 runs over 5 innings allowing 6 hits while striking out 3.  It wasn’t his best game but he kept the Scranton Yankees in the game for the win.  So far with Triple-A, Banuelos is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA over 5 games (25IP).  His strikeout ratio has continued to be a strong point at 8.4K/9IP, but similar to Betances he needs to work on his control as his walk ratio is too high at 4.2BB/9IP.  I still don’t know whether the Yankees will make him a September call up with the expanded rosters starting next week.  I would assume they would like to continue stretching him out into as many starts as possible in Triple-A as he didn’t pitch as many innings as expected this season but the Scranton Yankees aren’t going to make the playoffs and their season will end somewhat soon.  I would give him a 50-50 chance of getting called up by the Yankees and used in the bullpen.  Either way, he needs to pitch as many innings as possible this season before they run into a situation next season where they need to limit his innings.

Andrew Brackman had some serious early season struggles and was assigned to the bullpen.  In July he retooled his delivery similar to his college years and it has been successful.  Since July 29 Brackman has pitched 11.2 innings out of the pen, allowing only 5 hits and 3 earned runs.  More importantly for a reliever, he has struck out 12 and only walked 2. 

Since we are talking about the pitchers in Triple-A, I can’t go and ignore Scott Proctor who just pitched another inning of relief this week allowing no hits and striking out 2.  I still can’t believe they signed him… maybe they just feel bad that Torre destroyed his arm. Proctor pitched against last night for a scoreless inning.

Jesus Montero is ready to join the big leagues at this point especially after last nights performance with 2 home runs and 4 RBI’s.  Over his last four games he is 7 - 18 with 4 homers and 11 RBI’s. He is hitting .285 on the season with a .345 on base percentage and a .449 slugging percentage.  This guy is a power hitter as he has 20 doubles, 17 home runs and an OPS of .794.  I think he will get called up next week by the Yankees during the roster expansion and I have a funny feeling they will use him against lefties either as DH or even catcher since his power numbers against lefties are strong with an OPS of .982.

Arod's Rehab & Getting to Know Warren

Arod started for the Triple-A Scranton Yankees last night as part of his rehabbing.  He went 1 for 3 on the night with a hard hit single and a second hard hit fly-out, as well as a pop out.  Arod played third base the entire night but only had one defensive play which consisted of one ground ball and him stepping on 3^rd base for the out.  Not exactly an action packed night for the star.  He will play one more game with Scranton before joining the Yankees in Minnesota on Thursday for the Twins weekend series.

Arod may have been the story of the night for Scranton, but the bigger story in my opinion was the Starting Pitcher, Adam Warren.  Warren pitched 5 innings last night allowing only 3 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 8.  This is more or less what Warren has been doing the full season with the Scranton Yanks, yet he seems to have flown under the radar for most of the season.  The only time I even heard his name mentioned by the Yankees was about a month ago when they were trying to figure out who was going to pitch the doubleheader against the Orioles, while Nova was on the DL.  Warren probably hasn’t gotten much attention because the Yankees have 6 starting pitchers and he isn’t part of the ‘Killer B’s’

Warren was the Yankees 4^th round draft pick in the 2009 draft after he graduated from UNC.  He played ball at UNC, and in his first two years played with Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard, both Red Sox rising stars.  After being drafted he played for the Staten Island Yankees and dominated the league with a 1.43 ERA. The talent probably wasn’t as strong as he was used to in college, but nonetheless he managed to impress.

For the start of 2010, Warren pitched in High-A Tampa for 15 starts before being promoted up to Double-A Trenton where he finished the season.  During his time with Trenton, he set a franchise record of 15 strikeouts in one game.  He finished the season with the Thunder boasting a 3.15 ERA and 1.19 WHIP over 10 starts with a 9.8K/9IP strikeout ratio.  This was enough to get a promotion to Triple-A this season.

Warren hasn’t been nearly as dominant this season as he was with the GCL Yankees, Tampa Yankees or Trenton Thunder, but he still has been a solid starter for the season which isn’t too shabby for a 23 year old.  Since being promoted this season, his strikeout ratio has dropped from 22.3% in 2010 to 15.5% in Scranton. Warren is also hurt by his walk rate climbing from 5.8% in 2010 to 6.8% in 2011.  It seems like the league has caught up with him this year which is somewhat typical when you get promoted quickly through the system.

Although his numbers have declined from Double-A, they are still pretty good for the young righty and he earned a spot on the Triple-A, All Star Team.  Warren has started 24 games and has a record of 6-6, with a 3.33 ERA and WHIP of 1.30.  Throughout this season he has held opposing batters to a .252 batting average which could be lower if he improved against lefties.  Lefties are hitting .277 against him compared to righties at .230.  To offset the lefties success against him, Warren boasts a strong Left On Base percentage up at 75%, which is above average.  The key would be to not allowing men on base in the first place.

What I like about Warren the most is his repertoire.  Even before he started pitched for the GCL, Warren had 6 pitches in his arsenal.  He throws a 4 seam fastball and a sinking fastball, both of which sit between 91-93, but can get as high as 96 mph. Those two fastballs both have some late movement on them as the 4 seamer moves side-to-side while the sinker –sinks.  Used together with his cutter, they keep the batter off the fastball by changing the eye level. Warren also throws a slider which is somewhere around 83-85mph and a curveball mixed in as well. He also throws a changeup which seems to be an issue for him this season as it hasn’t been effective against lefties, which could be why lefties have a .277 average against him. 

If Warren can work on his changeup even just a bit, I think we will see him with the Yankees next season.  Although I haven’t given up hope on him being called up this season, there are just too many starters for the Yankees rotation for him to be considered now.  I do find it surprising that other teams haven’t tried to make a move for Warren.  He may not be an Ace, but he certainly would fit with most teams as a #3 or #4 starter.  If I was another teams GM, I would certainly be keeping an eye on him!

SIDE NOTE: On another tangent from yesterday’s Triple-A game, ‘Killer B’ Andrew Brackman pitched one inning in relief allowing 0 hits and 1 strikeout. He only needed 9 pitches for the inning and 7 were strikes.

Update On the Killer B's

Dellin Betances

The big news coming out of Double-A Trenton yesterday was Dellin Betances has been called up to Triple-A.  This was an expected call-up, especially after Bentances’ most recent game this past weekend.  In Betances most recent start he pitched 7 full innings, allowing only 5 hits and 1 run.  By all accounts, this was his best game yet as he struck out 6 and allowed no walks.  Betances threw 97 pitches over 7 innings and 60 were strikes.  It was also great to see that Betances held 2010’s #1 Draft Pick, Bryce Harper hitless in his 3 at bats including a strikeout to the slugger.  Ultimately, Harper did win the game with a walk off home run in the 9^th.

Betances has now started in 21 games for the Double-A Trenton Thunder, yet has only pitched 105 innings.  His ERA is 3.42 and his WHIP is 1.33.  In those 105 innings, Betances has now struck out 115 which brings his strikeout ratio up to 9.8K/9IP.

BETANCES UPDATE 8/19: Betances had his first Triple-A start on Thursday night and impressed. He threw 6 full innings allowing 3 runs on 7 hits.  I was surprised to see him pulled after only 91 pitches when he was still throwing heat in the 6th inning (94 mph), but I guess they wanted him to finish on a high note.  He finished on a high note indeed, as he had 8 strikeouts in his Triple-A Debut.
 

Manny Banuelos

Manny Banuelos pitched again in Triple-A making his third start with the Scranton Yanks since being called up.  Banuelos allowed 6 hits and 3 runs over 5.2 Innings Pitched to take the loss.  He was better than the numbers indicate though as he ran into trouble during the first inning allowing 4 of his 6 hits and 2 of the 3 runs. Following the troublesome 1^st inning, Banuelos settled down and pitched into the 6^th inning allowing only 2 more hits and 1 run while striking out 3.  55 of his 96 pitches were strikes although he did allow 4 walks.

Banuelos since joining Triple-A has started 3 games, pitching a total of 16.2 innings. His ERA is 3.24 and his WHIP is 1.62.  Although he only struck out 3 in the last game, his strikeout ratio is still, 8.6K/9IP.  Overall, the Yankees seem to be pleased with Banuelos’ progress this season.  No word on whether he will be called up by the Yankees this season.

Andrew Brackman

"Killer B" is not really an accurate description of Andrew Brackman as this season has been very disappointing.  Brackman started this season as a starter but about halfway through the season was assigned to the bullpen.  As a starter, Brackman went 2-5 with a 6.75 ERA which prompted the move to the bullpen.  The cause for the struggles seems to be in his mechanics, which is no surprise as Brackman is nearly 7 feet tall. It seems that his mechanics issues have manifested a problem with his control.  Equally as problematic is the drop in his velocity from last season. Brackmans velocity has dropped from the mid 90’s to the low 90’s.  At one point last season, Brackman was hitting 97 mph, but this year he is topping out around 92mph.

Overall he has pitched a total of 81 innings and has an ERA of 6.86 and a WHIP of 1.77.  His peripherals aren’t much better as his walk ratio is higher than his strikeout ratio – 7.7BB/9IP to 7.1K/9IP.  This was supposed to be a big year for Brackman as this would be his second full season fully recovered from Tommy John Surgery, but he has been unable to produce.  I’m not sure where this leaves Brackman as his 4 year deal expires after this season.



Friday Night Lights In the Bronx

The Blue Jays are in town as part of their 11 day road trip.  They are coming off a strong series against the Texas Rangers where they took 3 of 4 games in Arlington.  The Yankees are ready for this three game divisional series after splitting the last 4 games with the White Sox.  The Yankees offense was non-existent the first two games against the Sox due to the White Sox pitchers throwing an obscene amount of breaking balls to keep the Yankees from hitting Home Runs. (Pretty smart strategy).  The Yanks were able to grab the next two games with explosive offensive production, especially during last nights game where they scored 12 runs.

The Yankees now lead the AL East by 1.5 games & have not lost a home series yet!

TONIGHT'S STARTERS

Ricky Romero: 1-3, 3.00 ERA vs. Freddy Garcia: 1-0, .69 ERA

Romero has lost his last three starts, but pitched extremely well in his last game against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Romero struck out 10 batters, and only allowed 5 hits.  The Jays gave Romero no run support and they lost 2-0.  The 2 runs allowed by Romero was from a Ben Zobrist home run.  (Zobrist is dangerous at the plate this year!)

Romero is 2-2 against the Yankees with a 5.70 ERA over his career

• Brett Gardner is hitting .444 off Romero.  Career stat.
• Swisher is hitting .308 off Romero.  Career stat.
• Cano is 2 for 16 against Romero.  Career stat.

Garcia has only started twice for the Yankees this season, but each performance was solid. In his first start against the Rangers, he pitched 6 scoreless innings.  He followed that up with an even more impressive second start against the Orioles, pitching 6 scoreless innings, but striking out 7 along the way.  Not bad for a veteran making a mere 1.5 mil this year!

UPDATED @ 4PM:  Francisco Cervelli is off the DL and back the with New York Yankees. Gustavo Molina has been optioned down to AAA.

Todays Lineup

Jeter SS
Swisher RF
Texeira 1B
Arod 3B
Cano 2B
Jones DH
Granderson CF
Martin C
Gardner LF

YANKEES NOTES

The Yankees have won 21 of the past 35 games against the Blue Jays in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees pitching has been outstanding as of late.  Following CC Sabathia's performance last night, the Yankees starting pitchers have allowed only 1 earned run or less over the fast 5 games.  Each of those starters has pitched into the 7th inning allowing the overworked bullpen to rest a bit.  Their ERA over these past 5 games is .76.  UNBELIEVABLE!

During the 5th inning in last night's game against the White Sox, the 1st 9 Yankees reached base without any outs.  This is the first time since 2002 this has happened.

Cano is on quite a hot streak.  Although he lost his hitting streak, he still has hit in 19 of the 22 games played this season.  He has also hit safely in the past 16 of 17 games. 

The last save that Soriano has received was against the Blue Jays during that two game set in Toronto last week.

Swisher is batting .458 when hitting right handed this season.

Granderson is batting .318 against lefties this season.

BLUE JAYS NOTES

The Blue Jays are 6-8 on the road this season, after taking 3 of 4 from Texas.

Jose Bautista is ON FIRE!  Bautista has reached based safely in 21 of 22 games played this season.  He is now batting .360 which leads the AL.  Bautista also leads the league with 8 home runs.

Adam Lind was hot during the Jays previous series against the Rangers going 8-17 in those four games with 3 home runs.

Juan Rivera is on a 7 game hitting streak.


SIDE NOTES:  25 Years ago Today, Roger Clemens struck out 20 batters against the Seattle Mariners, becoming the first pitcher to ever strike out 20 batters.  Unfortunately, he was on the Red Sox at the time.

Andrew Brackman will face off against Jake Peavy tonight for the AAA Scranton Yankees.

Who Is Hector Noesi ??

The Yankees reported that Luis Ayala (25^th spot on the roster) was placed on the DL with a strained lat.  The Yankees used caution and decided to place him on the DL rather than just sitting him for a week.  Ayala made the roster last minute when Feliciano went down with a shoulder injury late in spring training.  It seemed the Yankees wanted a 2^nd lefty in the pen because Logan can be a bit inconsistent….. or so Girardi could micromanage every at bat late in the game, to purposely lengthen the games so none of us can get to sleep at a decent hour.

To replace Ayala, the Yankees called up Hector Noesi.  Hector Noesi is 23 years old and ready to pitch in the majors.  A few years back he had Tommy John surgery and since 2009 has been on a tear through the minor leagues.  Last season was his most dominant and Baseball America placed him in the top ten prospects in the Yankees system.

Although Ayala was a lefty, the Yankees shied away from bringing in another lefty to fill his role.  In fact, Noesi isn’t even a relief pitcher.  The Yankees may just be preparing themselves for a situation where a starting pitcher (Hughes/Garcia??) may need to take some time off, and they can just plug in Noesi for a start or two.  Noesi also makes a lot of sense for a 5^th starter spot as he threw a lot of innings the past two seasons (160 in 2010 and 117 in 2009), and wouldn’t be burdened by a “Joba Rules” situation where the Yankees limit his innings.

Noesi relies upon two pitches, his fastball which is mid 90’s and his changeup down in the low 80’s.  He throws a slider and curve, which have been inconsistent.  The best part about Noesi is his control, as he barely allows any walks.

In 2009 he appeared 26 times, with 20 starts over 117 innings.  He only allowed 15 walks in this period and struck out 118.

2010 is the year Noesi really made progress though, starting in Class A Tampa.  He only had 8 starts in Tampa but his ERA was 2.72, striking out 53 batters over 43 innings.  Noesi then was called up to AA Trenton and pitched well over 98 innings, allowing 18 walks with 86 strikeouts.  The opposing batters in AA only hit .243 against him.

Noesi was eventually called up to AAA Scranton later this season and pitched in only three starts.  He fanned 14 batters over 18 innings, but did allow 23 hits. Batters hit .311 against him in these three starts.  Although Noesi’s numbers declined in AAA, it was only through 3 starts which makes the numbers difficult to gauge.

He has only pitched once this season so far in AAA last Saturday.  He allowed 2 Earned Runs over 5 innings and struck out 4 batters.  Since he pitched last Saturday, he is ready to start pitching today if necessary.  This could be the reason why he was called up over Andrew Brackman, who started yesterday’s game for AAA, and wouldn’t be ready to pitch again until this weekend.  On a side note, Brackman pitched 5 innings allowing 3 ER’s, 5 hits, 3 BB’s & 2 K’s.

The Yankees haven’t said whether they plan to use Noesi as a starter or a relief pitcher.  I would say start him.  Could it be any worse than Hughes right now?  Hughes will need to work on something, whether it is mechanics or just building arm strength.  Throw Hughes in the pen and allow Noesi to take his next start.  Either way, it should be something to keep an eye on.

Who is Lance Pendleton ? 

Friday's Game in Dunedin

The Yankees are on the road this afternoon in Dunedin to play the Blue Jays.  Burnett is the starting pitcher and the Yankees left the regular infielders back in Tampa.  Dunedin is one of my favorite spring training fields.  It is a minor league ballpark in the middle of a residential neighborhood and everyone who works at the field is from the town, from the elderly people ripping ticket stubs to the old men tossing brauts on the grill.  It's probably the only stadium you can get Labatt's on tap too. (The park has a canadian theme to it)  It really is the exact opposite of Steinbrenner Field which has a very corporate and city atmosphere and a great place to visit if you are in Tampa. 

Here is today's lineup:
 
Brett Gardner LF
Russell Martin C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Eric Chavez 1B
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Ronnie Belliard 3B
Ramiro Pena SS

Chavez is getting the start at First base and Nunez is starting at second.  I think Girardi has made up his mind at this point that both Chavez and Nunez will make the team as backup/utility infielders.  Both are worth keeping an eye on over the next two weeks.  Especially with Nunez trying to beat out Ramiro Pena for that last spot.

Burnett is coming off a great start against the Nationals last weekend where he threw 4 innings and only allowed 2 hits and 0 Runs.  He has improved his mechanics and is striving for consistency as well as a solid changeup.  This will be his final start before Girardi announces who is the #2 starting pitcher this season.  That announcement is set to come this weekend.

Also making an appearance today will be Sergio Mitre who has been sidelined recently due to a minor oblique injury.  He pitched a bullpen on Wednesday and Girardi says he's feeling good again.  Mitre is set to pitch 3 or 4 innings today.

Andrew Brackman who was actually cut from the Major League Roster earlier this week, will be making the trip as well.  It seems as the "Cuts" have only been made, on paper, and have no substantive effect on the spring training roster yet.  Brackman will have another opportunity to face some major league batters which should help him develop as a potential call-up later this season.  Hopefully he will have an opportunity to face Bautista on the Jay's and prove his worth!

The Killer B's

It’s March 1^st and Spring Training is in full effect.  Yankees have already played three games and another game is being played today.  The most fascinating thing about spring training is the opportunities the young players have to debut themselves to the major league players, scouts and their teammates.

This year, the Yankees have three young pitchers who are receiving major hype.  For the past year or so they have been referred to as “The Killer B’s”.  Most Yankee fans have at least heard of Andrew Brackman already since he has pitched at the major league level in a few spots for the yanks, but not everyone has heard of Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances.  These three young pitchers make up “The Killer B’s”.  All three received very high praise coming into spring training.  The Killer B’s seem to have the same hype that Joba, Hughes and Kennedy had when they were trying to make their Yankees debut.  Hopefully the Yankees will have the same result…. minus Joba’s obvious weight and drinking issues.

Unfortunately for Brackman he injured himself during the first week of spring training.  The Yankees shut him down and hopefully he will begin pitching again this week.  I believe Brackman will make a good addition to the starting rotation at some point.  He is nearly 7 feet tall, so it makes it difficult for opposing batters to see where the ball is coming from since the ball leaves his hand much farther away from him than other pitchers.  Even if the batters eventually catch up to his mechanics, he has some great stuff so he should be able to compete at the major league level.

Banuelos and Betances have both pitched an inning in back to back games.  Both have done exceptionally well.  Each had a 1-2-3 inning and both had two strikeouts in the process!  These are the guys we need to keep an eye on throughout spring training and the start of the season.  Girardi and Cashman have already said neither of these two guys would make the team, and both would start out in Double-A, but there is no reason to think they will stay there if they continue pitching like this. 

My prediction for all three is Brackman may be called up during the early part of the Yankees season, since they don’t really have a #4 or #5 starter.  He may not be used every fifth day but he will be used to fill the void when an injury arises.  Banuelos and Betances on the other hand will not be called up until mid season so long as their Double-A numbers and presumably Triple-A numbers are consistent.  Even if my predictions are not correct, these are the guys to keep an eye on over the next few years as we could likely see them in the Yankees rotation.  We could possibly be looking at the new rotation of the Yankees with these three.