I Was Wrong

Before this season I didn't think a plattoon of Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner would be able to handle centerfield effectively. I anticipated a hole in the lineup and wanted a trade for Mike Cameron as a one year fix to hold down the fort for Austin Jackson. However, Gardner and Melky have been pleasant surprises while Cameron has struggled for the Brewers. Obviously, theirs plenty of time left in the season but Gardner and Melky have really held down the fort while Austin Jackson learns how to not to strikeout.

Is Jesus Montero the second coming?

Great article on fangraphs.com about Jesus Montero. The comments on his defense are dissapointing but nothing we didn't know already. The hype has been building big time over the past couple days for the Yankees man-child.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/jesus-montero-saves

Jesus Montero

I wanted to give you guys an update on Jesus Montero because he's been so good its just blowing me away. First of all, lets remember the kid is twenty years old. Just being in AA at 20 is an accomplishment in and of itself. In Tampa he curshed pitchers to the tune of .356/.406/.583. That earned him an early promotion to Trenton. That's were he is now and although he got off to a slow start, he's picked it up since then. After hitting two home runs last night he's hitting .367 over his last 30 at bats with all three of his home runs in Trenton hit over that span.

Let's slow down for a minute with all the Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera comparisons but its clear he has a chance to be the first star position player the Yankees have developed since the late '90's.

Jeremy Bleich's AA Debut

Bleich's Trenton debut wasn't exactly what we were hoping for. The first four innings were fine, he shut down Erie, giving up no runs. After the fifth, when he gave up a run, his line still looked fine. He really ran into trouble though in the sixth inning though when Erire exploded for four runs, Bleich reposnisble for all of them. He only got one out that innings before being replaced.

The final result was him giving up five runs, on seven hits and three walks, in only 5.1 innings, and only four K's. Not good but its just one start.

More Minor News

Just read on MLBTR that the Yankees are one of four teams that are in on Dominican pitcher Christopher Cabera. I know nothing about him.

Jorge Arangure actually made the twitter post.

Bleich is Promoted to AA

Mike Ashmore has the news on his blog. He has a long quote from Tommy Phelps, Trenton's pitching coach, on Bleich. I happy to see him get the call. Early on I wasn't sure we'd made the right decision for our prospect watch but he's shown a great deal of potential since then. He definitely deserves the promotion and it'll be exciting to see him tested against higher competition. His first start for Trenton will be Thursday.

I also want to apologize for the missing recaps the past three days. I promise that win or lose I'll have one up tomorrow.

Not Everybody Makes It

It pains me to write this but I just read on Pete Abraham's blog that J.B. Cox will be retiring. I remember when Cox, Hughes, and Tyler Clippard were the crown jewels of theYankees farm system. Hughes as the ace, Clippard as a solid #2, and Cox as the next great Yankees closer. Clippard and Cox are tough reminders that most prospects, no matter how well touted, end up as busts.

Venditte Promoted

The 24 year old reliever finally got the promotion to Tampa. What shocking is that it took so long with his numbers as ridiculous as they are. It'll be interesting to see if he can continue his success against tougher competition.

Bleich Dominates Again

Just another great job by Bleich. Through 6.1 innings he he gave up only two runs, one of them earned. He was cruising for the first six innings, striking out six and walking only one. St. Lucie managed to get one run off of him in the top of the fourth but that was largely a result of two errors made behind him in the field. He really ran into trouble in the seventh. He lost his control and gave up two doubles and a wild pitch that inning for the only earned run that St. Lucie would get off of him.

His line for the game:

6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 WP, 11-2 GB/FB

His season numbers are looking great right now and Trenton is going to need a starter soon. Look for Bleich to get a promotion any day. It'll be interesting to see him tested against AA hitters.

Miguel Sano

The period were teams can sign international free agents begins on July second. The Yankees have already come to an agreement with their favorite available player, Gary Sanchez, but some consider shortstop Miguel Ano Sano to be the bigger prize. The Yankees aren't considered to be the frontrunner for him with the Pirate and possibly the Twins willing to offer over four million dollars to the young Dominican. However, he did workout for the Yanks and they have been known for flexing their financial muscles in this area for premier players (re: Montero, Jesus). The Yankees have to be worried about the post Derek Jeter era and I wouldn't be shocked if they swooped in and stole him, anybody who's drawn comparisons to Hanley Ramirez has to be intriguing.

BTW happy father's day.

Gary Sanchez to the Yankees

George King is reporting that Gary Sanchez will be signing with the Yankees when the international free agent signing period begins July 2nd. For those of you who are unaware, as was I before today, Gary Sanchez is one of those mysterious international free agents that us normal fans know nothing about, other than the hype that scouts and agents surround them with. What we do know is that he's a big sixteen year old catcher from the Dominican Republic who, unlike Jesus Montero, is as likely as anybody to stick behind the plate. Scouts love his power and what he's done behind the plate. The deal is worth 2.5 million dollars according to King. The article has some good quotes on him that are worth reading, so check it out.

The Yankees have been after him hard for a while now so I'm sure they're happy about this.

Solid Job By Bleich

Not great but he did shutout the other team through five innings with a 3:1 K:BB. He gave up five hits though and that's not good. A good start though after some really awful ones.

Jesus Promoted To Trenton

After two months of .967 OPS ball in hi-A Tampa, Jesus Montero has been promoted to AA Trenton. That makes him a 19 year-old playing in AA, which is almost unheard of. He was one of the younger players in the Florida State League, and now he is in the high minors. The move was made partly due to his hot hitting but also because the Yankees want both Jesus and Austin Romine to catch every day. Romine will stay in Tampa as Jesus works on his defense in Trenton. I would expect him to continue to have success at the plate, but he really needs to concentrate on his defense behind the plate so he can stay at catcher. This move is very exciting for Jesus and for me, becuase now I can go see him play.

Expanding Our Minor League Coverage

A little while ago I started the Jeremy Bleich Watch and Domenic has been great with his minor league updates but I still would like to add more minor league coverage to the blog. I don't want to do daily updates for each team. However, more regular updates on some of the Yankees more highly touted prospects seem to be both due and doable. For now, I'm going to begin keeping tabs on Zack McAllister, Dellin Bettances, and Andrew Brackman (in addition to Jeremy Bleich). I`m not sure where this is going to end up but for now it seems like a good next step.

Promote Pat Venditte!

By now, I am sure most of the Yankee faithful have heard about Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher out of Creighton that had a rule named after him following a back-and-forth showdown with Ralph Henriquez of the Brooklyn Cyclones. What most may not be aware of is just how dominant Venditte has been thus far in the minors:

2008 - Low-A - 32.2 IP, 13 H, 10 BB, 42 K, 0.83 ERA

2009 - High-A - 20.0 IP, 15 H, 1 BB, 31 K, 0.90 ERA

While it is highly unlikely that Venditte could be as dominant at the Major League level (at nearly 24 he is older than the bulk of his competition), it is not inconceivable that he could be a worthwhile addition to the bullpen at some point in the future. He throws 90-plus with both arms, has good control of his off-speed stuff with both arms, and garners a ton of groundballs (57% thus far). With that sort of acumen for groudballs, Venditte may actually be able to retain some of his dominance at higher levels - he is allowing a .341 BABIP this season, which may be attributed to the weaker fielders at High-A. In short, Venditte has proven himself at Single-A and, with the Yankees bullpen in shreds, the organization could benefit from seeing what Venditte has to offer against tougher competition.

Kennedy has an Aneurysm

Kennedy's injury is not a vasopasm but an aneurysm. Pete Abe broke the news yesterday. Obviously, this is really terrible news and is awful news for Kennedy. Hopefully, he can come back and make the majors when he's healthy again.

Minor League News and Notes

With the first month of the season over, I think we're overdue for one of these. I'm just going to list some of the hot/struggling prospects. If they have little to no ML potential then they're probably going to be ignored and Scranton's awesome record doesn't really matter to me. Tampa and Scranton are loaded with prospects while the other levels, not so much.

• Ian Kennedy is back to dominating AAA. Before suffering a minor injury, he had an ERA of 1.59 with a 25/7 K/BB ratio. Right now he doesn't look to have much future with the Yankees but that's going to boost his trade value. With Aceves' slow start and Hughes in the ML's he's next in line to come in for injury.
• Kei Igawa can't even get out AAA hitters anymore. Aceves also got off to a slow start but not nearly as bad as Igawa.
• Austin Jackson is crushing the ball. He has a line of .364/.434/.455. Right now, he's auditioning for a starting outfield job next year. If Melky reverts to last year's form, we might see Jackson before even September.
• Zach McAllister's aggresive promotion to AA has paid off so far. His ERA is only 2.53 but his K/BB is only 14/9. If he can get those walks down then he may see AAA action by the end of the year. George Kontos is also continuing his dominating ways with an ERA of 2.66.
• Fransisco Cervelli is off to a slow start which isn't good for him. With a big year he could win the backup catcher job for next year.
• Jesus Montero has no disapointed at all. He's murdering Florida State League Pitchers right now. Austin Romine isn't doing quite as well but is also of to a solid start.
• Brandon Laird and Damon Sublett are doing awfully.
• Knoblog favorite, Jeremy Bleich, is off to a dominating start. The Yankees have typically promoted pitching prospects aggresively so we could see him in AAA by the end of the year. If they're running away with the divison or way out of it, he may even see some ML time in September. Of course, he has to pitch well.
• Dellin Bettances desperately needs to lower his walk totals. He strikes out enough to get by but if he could get those walks down he'd be a true #1 prospect type.
• Pat Venditte has been absolutely filthy for Staten Island. Honestly, he needs a promotion right now.
• Carmen Angelini has been an awful dissapointment and had an embarassingly long error streak going for a while.

And that's it. Its still only May so like the ML Yankees, don't read that much into it but its a good arbitrary time to take their temperatures.

The Knoblog Prospect Watch

One of my favorite blogs is RAB and one of their best features is their annual prospect watch. Every year they've chosen one prospect to follow update his stats after their every game. Its a pretty cool idea so I'm going to steal it for our blog. I know its a little late to start it with the season already underway but I'd like to start it now. I'm not sure who its going to be though.

I know its got to be a pitcher since theirs no way I`m going to have the time to update it every day and I also want to make sure they're far away enough that they're not going to come up mid-season. That rules out Hughes, Melancon, Kennedy, and Aceves, two of whom may be coming up within a couple days. I'm looking for a guy with star potential as well who could be up within a year or two if all goes well. RAB is doing Brackman this year and I don't want to totally steal their idea so that rules him out as well. I was thinking one of Zack McAllister, Dellin Bettances, or Jeremy Bleich. I haven't decided yet though and give me your thoughts on this in the comments if you have any.