Monday, July 18, 2011

Hughes and Gardner Taking Steps Forward

The Good

80 pitches was enough for Hughes to get through 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs and recording his first win of the season. Gardner went 3-4 with a walk leading off, and stole two bases while he was at it. Gardner's been on a tear of late. He has a 5-game hit streak where he's gone 11 for 19.

Also good is Cory Wade who continues to get outs, and Dave Robertson who should really be our setup guy. Even Boone Logan struck out 3 in the 9th inning to end the game yesterday. All around impressive performance from the bullpen.

The Bad

The Ubaldo Jiminez rumors are flying around, and one piece of information is that the Rockies would want our 4 top prospects. That would be the killer-B's (minus Brackman), Jesus Montero, and probably Ivan Nova. An intelligent being would reject this trade, but an emotional being, the kind that would pay $30 million to a setup guy with a history of injury, may not.

The Ugly

Ramiro Pena's batting average is .080. Just saying, that's pretty ugly.

The Bronx Singles Hitting Yankees!

No homeruns yesterday or the day before. The Yankees are carving out runs with clean singles, which is good for the team, but not good for charity. Particulary the Children's Health Fund's homerun club.

Mark Teixeira 25hr = $50
Curtis Granderson 25hr = $50
Russell Martin 10hr = $20
Alex Rodriguez 13hr = $26
Jorge Posada 9hr = $18
Robinson Cano 15hr = $30
Andruw Jones 5hr = $10
Brett Gardner 4hr = $8
Nick Swisher 10hr = $20
Derek Jeter 3hr = $6
Francisco Cervelli 1hr = $2
Eduardo Nunez 3hr = $6
Ramiro Pena 1hr = $2
Total = $248

5 comments:

Rich Mahogany said...

I suppose that's an opening offer for the Rockies, but I can easily see the Yankees jumping if the Rockies scale it back a bit. I think the Yankees would take the deal if the could keep Montero. They would see it like the Granderson trade: give up something to get something. I think they would see Nova is totally expendable, and the B's as the kind of quality prospects you need to surrender to get proven starting pitching.

Considering that the Yankees' rotation is constantly on the verge of disaster, and Jimenez would be more than a rental, I would support such a deal with one caveat: the Yankees have to be damn sure that Jimenez is 100% healthy.

Fernando Alejandro said...

Jimenez has some great stuff but I wonder about his 4.08 ERA in the NL West. How will that look in the offense heavy AL East?

Rich Mahogany said...

That 4.08 ERA is a composite of the following home/road split (at about 55 IP each):

Home: 5.89 ERA
Road: 2.28 ERA

Coors is an unforgiving place and Jimenez had to deal with a loss in fastball velocity at the start of the season - velocity that seems to be coming back.

Again, I see it as a question for the scouts. If Jimenez looks like he's pitching like 2010 Jimenez again, snap him up.

Rich Mahogany said...

Good news guys, Cashman read your concerns about the team's intelligence and has addressed them.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/07/cashman-yankees-can-make-playoffs-wont-be-stupid.html

Fernando Alejandro said...

If Jimenez can keep that fastball going there's no doubt big league hitters are going to have problems with him. The home splits make a whole lot of sense.

And though I'm glad Cashman's on board, its not him I'm worried about. Soriano was a front office "must have". Cashman was the voice of reason!