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New York Yankees hot stove: Who is Jorge Soler?

Posted by on 15 February 2012, 6:05 am

With all of New York City under complete Lin-Sanity, any Yankees news has been put on the back burner.

Who is JORGE SOLER??

As pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training this coming Sunday, technically the off-season hot stove is still in session.

And the latest player rumored to be on the Yankees radar is a 19-year old, Cuban outfielder named Jorge Soler.

Now, if you are like me you might be wondering who is this Jorge Soler?

Soler is the other highly talented Cuban player who got overshadowed this off-season by fellow countryman Yoenis Cespedes.

Cespedes is five years older than Soler, and is considered more Major League ready because of it.

Now that Cespedes has signed a four-year, $36 million deal with the Oakland Athletics; the focus has started shifting to Soler and what he can bring to a team.

Soler make-up is of a five-tool player, but whether he will actually become the next Justin Upton is a whole different story.

The one advantage Soler has is time. At 19, Soler will have ample time to work his way up in the minor leagues, which is a luxury of added experience Cespedes will not be getting. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees hot stove: Who is Jorge Soler?’ »

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New York Yankees: AJ Burnett Expects To Start And I Do Too

Posted by on 28 January 2012, 2:16 am
The hottest topic in Yankee Universe at the moment is who should win the fifth spot in the starting pitching rotation between Phil Hughes, AJ Burnett and Freddy Garcia.

So, over the last week I have read and heard many opinions on the topic from bloggers to analysts to the manager at my local Starbucks.

The most annoying trend is the immediate discounting of Burnett, as entitled Yankee fans have branded him as the pitcher’s A-rod.

Personally, I like both A-rod and Burnett because they work hard and when they are on, they are great. But getting into that discussion is for another time.

The point is that no matter what happens in Spring Training, Burnett deserves the fifth spot in the rotation. This has nothing to do with money because it is not like I am writing the paychecks.

The reason is Burnett has earned it, and here are three reasons why:

  1. Since signing with the Yankees, Burnett has been totally healthy making all 33 starts each season. This is not the case with Hughes as he has spent more time on the DL with multiple injuries than the mound; and Garcia had that kitchen knife accident last season, and was sidelined for most of August.
  2. If you look closely, four of Burnett’s 11 losses in 2011 were due to the Yankee hitters only scoring 0-2 runs because he posted an ERA of 3.00, gave up just four homers and maintained a WHIP of 1.00. Compared to 14 of 18 of Hughes wins from 2010 came on days when the Yankee bats scored 6+ runs. Hughes won ZERO games when the bats scored 0-2 runs, had just 3 wins were when the team scored 3-5 runs and one win he got coming out of the bullpen.
  3. If any player is going to step it up, especially in New York, it should be in the month of October. Burnett stepped it up BIG TIME last season to keep the Yankees in the playoffs.

Now I kept this list short by choosing three points that covered a lot of ground. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees: AJ Burnett Expects To Start And I Do Too’ »

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New York Yankees Hot Stove: Hughes Problem Gets A Raise

Posted by on 18 January 2012, 2:49 am
All I thought was, what the heck were the New York Yankees thinking when ESPN New York reported that Phil Hughesgot a one-year deal, for $3.2 million, plus another quarter million in incentives just to avoid going to salary arbitration with him?
Photograph of Phil Hughes taken on April 29, 2...

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I mean honestly, how much more money could an arbitrator really give Hughes?

In Hughes’ first three starts in 2011 he pitched a total of 10 innings, giving up 16 earned runs, four home-runs and only had three strikeouts. He became a liability to the team, so Hughes went back and forth from the DL for the rest of the season with everything from a shoulder issue to a herniated disc.

For the rest of 2011, Hughes made 11 more starts for a total of 14; he posted a 5-5 record, with a 5.79 ERA, giving up 48 earned runs, nine home-runs, while walking 27, and fanning 47 batters over 74 innings pitched. And FYI, the team scored 39 runs total in Hughes five wins.

The Yankees did not pay Hughes $2.7 million for those numbers, so why did he get such a big raise to pitch, or at least try again in 2012?

The whole thing just boggles my mind since ESPN New York reported back in November that GM Brian Cashman knew that Hughes did not train properly last off-season, and he showed up out of shape. Hughes definitely fooled me into thinking that was added extra “muscle” at the start of 2011 Spring Training, now that it was confirmed he was part of the “fat camp” crew.

No offense but I am not a Hughes believer. Everyone is always talking about his 2010 campaign, but Hughes got massive run support as in 14 of those wins the Yankee bats scored 6+ runs, which masked over his genuine lack of pitching ability. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees Hot Stove: Hughes Problem Gets A Raise’ »

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New York Yankees: Bartolo Colon’s Debut Shut Me Up

Posted by on 21 April 2011, 12:32 am
Toronto Skydome (Rogers Centre), NY Yankees vs...

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What year is it…2011?

Well, you could have fooled me as it sure felt like 2005 up at the Roger Centre in Toronto tonight, watching New York Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon throw a gem in his first start filling in for Phil Hughes who is still on the DL with a dead-arm.

After losing a heartbreaker the night before in the bottom of the 10th inning, Colon led his new Yankee teammates to a well needed win. It came as a surprise, but not a shock after the impressive numbers Colon had in Spring Training.

Colon exhibited such an aura of confidence that you would have never guessed it was his first start on a Major League mound since July 24, 2009. He allowed seven hits and two runs over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out seven batters in the tough and hard-hitting Blue Jays line-up, while walking just two. At one point he sent 12 Blue Jays down in a row.

More proof that GM Brian Cashman knows what he is doing, as when Yankees bench coach Tony Pena suggested Colon, Cashman didn’t listen, he acted immediately.

Cashman got such grief, me included before the 2011 season started and all the while he was just doing his job and well I might add.

Looking forward to watching Colon in his next start because after tonight he certainly earned another start on the bump.

Hey, it is about time the low-risk/high-reward actually worked for the Yankees.

The odds were in the ball-clubs favor, as Cashman probably learned after his first few failures of taking on older talent in hopes of a re-birth.

So, could the 37-year-old Colon be turning back into a pitching machine?

As isn’t the never-ending mystery of sports why fans love it in the first place?

Darn right it is….

My advice to Hughes is you better get to work and wake-up that arm because you spot is not guaranteed after the show Colon put on in Toronto tonight.

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New York Yankees: A New Hughes Problem?

Posted by on 4 April 2011, 9:45 pm

New York Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes has not looked like the 18-game winning player from 2010, not even for a moment.

Hughes did not have a good Spring Training, but to be fair that is what the time is allocated for, guys to get ready for the regular season.

So, is it too early to jump ship on Hughes?

Yes, but there is no doubt his first outing did not breed any comfort that better things were coming.

Hughes’ fastball lost it’s velocity to the point of being ineffective, as Tigers Miguel Cabrera proved hitting two bombs without a blink off him.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post reported that this has actually been a problem for weeks now, and Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild continues to be baffled about what the problem could be.

“This is going to be a concern until you see [velocity],” Rothschild said. “When you get going and start to see velocity, you can relax a little.”

Declining velocity is not unheard of and is all to common for pitchers, even ones as young as the 25-year-old Hughes. The reason?

Well, there are many theories from taking on a heavier workload to physical changes.

Renowned pitching coach Alan Jagar claims that continued conditioning of the arm is key to help young pitchers avoid losing their arm speed.

Jagar recently told Tim Keown of ESPN that implementing the Long Toss, Surgical Tubing Exercises, Core Work, Yoga and a pitching coach that takes video to help with sound and supportive mechanics has to be done more.

Jagar also says that when a young pitcher hits the majors being put on restrictive throwing limits is the fastest way for loss of velocity to happen.

Is it incurable?

Not at all, according to Jagar it is just a matter of re-awaken the arm because it is in there somewhere, but it will take time.

Whether this is a case with Hughes I yet to be seen, but it will be addressed sooner than later. Just remember Hughes velocity skyrocketed when he was moved to the bullpen in 2009. Maybe Hughes carried that into last season and now his arm is just overworked. That seems the logical to me.

Regardless, Hughes is talented enough to fix the problem and Rothschild is just the coach a pitcher would want to guide him.

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New York Yankees: Finally Say Adios To Sergio Mitre

Posted by on 25 March 2011, 11:50 am
Sergio Mitre

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Ex-New York Yankees Sergio Mitre is a phrase I have been waiting to hear for two years.

Well, according to a tweet from ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick, this is now fact, as the Brewers are bringing the talents of Mitre to the city of Milwaukee.

What talents did the Brew Crew just acquire?

Not quite sure, but the Brewers are currently missing their two aces Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum so presumably Mitre would be used as a filler.

The Sporting News reported that Marcum should be ready to go at the start of the season, but Greinke’s broken ribs are a few weeks away from returning.

So, Mitre will replace Greinke temporarily in April or be used as a long man, but who cares not soenthing Yankee fans need to worry about any longer. The Brewers will face the Reds, Phillies, Braves and Cubs in the month of April, which is tough bunch of NL hitting teams. Well, I guess the Brewers are hoping for a speedy recovery because if it is the Mitre Yankee fans grew to know he will get slammed by these hard hitting clubs.

This means the Yankees rotation is almost set with Sabathia, Burnett, Hughes, Nova and Colon/Garcia/Millwood. Garcia said he will take a bullpen job and he is a way better option then Mitre.

This move gets two thumbs up and a snap, as Mitre should have been let go way before this.

Hopefully skipper Joe Girardi will not be too heartbroken by the break-up, but I just hope Mitre doesn’t let the door hit him on the way out.

Six days and counting till the regular season….

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Breaking Bad News: New York Yankees Sign Kevin Millwood

Posted by on 25 March 2011, 12:12 am

What the heck is New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman thinking?

Signing Kevin Millwood to any contract is absurd, but according the Sports Illustrated Jon Heyman’s tweet this is happening:

#yankees are close to signing kevin millwood to an incentive-laden minor-league deal

Heyman followed with another tweet that confirms this even more:

millwood would need a few weeks to be ready, so #yankees will begin year with either garcia or colon as no. 5 starter

Does Cashman think that Millwood is going to be better option than Bartolo Colon or Freddie Garcia?

Scott Boras

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I do not think Millwood is the way to go, as I previously wrote New York Yankees Rumor: Please Pass On Kevin Millwood with ample amount of reasons why this would be another pointless signing.

Cashman should be pleased with how things have gone this Spring Training because I certainly was not expecting Colon to pitch so well.

Of course, instead Cashman panics again and makes the Yankees a nursing home for about to be forced into retirement players.

Remember Millwood’s agent is Scott Boras who tends to jam the Yankees with his brainwashing crap or god knows what to get them to constantly pick up his scrappy clients.

Not happy about this one, and I hope to god this is not being done in case Nova struggles a little in April. I would expect Nova to struggle in his first season and learn from the tough situations. Remember, the Yankees need to let these youngsters form in the bigs not jump ship when things get tough.

I do not feel good about this considering the season starts in seven days.

 

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