B.A. thinking away

No Chien-Ming Wang until September. This sucks.

Oh well, even if the Yankees don’t make the playoffs, this isn’t the end of the world. In a way, it could be good. The Yankees of course wanted to go somewhere this year, and they still very well can, but more importantly the Yankees want to get the young rotation’s feet wet.

Unfortunately, Horne is not MLB-ready yet, as Cashman would like them to spend a little bit more time down in AAA. Dan Giese will be the temporary fill-in for Wang. He's not bad. Throws 3 pitches, 87 mph fastballs and 76 mph curveballs and sliders. Also, he doesn’t walk people. If the Yankees can get 6 IP, 3-4 ER starts out of him for each start he fills in, that’s perfectly acceptable. His first outing was awesome, but we can’t expect that kind of command to last. Hopefully they’ll just use him to fill in for a few starts, as Kennedy makes his way back soon. If Kennedy continues to be ineffective (which I can’t believe he will, he’s better than he’s pitched), then I’d love to see Horne come up and make a few starts.

Alan Horne (minor leagues, currently 24)
2006 (A+)
123 IP
122 K
61 BB
4.83 ERA (but 3.91 FIP, so it looks as though he caught a few rough breaks)
2007 (AA)
153.1 IP
165 K
57 BB
3.11 ERA (3.23 FIP, more indicative of how he pitched)
2008 (AAA)
24.1 IP
22 K
10 BB
3.70 ERA

If Kennedy is ineffective filling in for Wang, then send Kennedy back down and try Horne. In that time, Horne can probably get 3 more starts, which would be great because Cashman wants Horne to get more work in before being brought up.

One thing that would be interesting to see is what the Yankees rotation will look like next year and in 2010. There are numerous combinations. The fates of Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte are unknown for next year. Do the Yankees resign one or both? Does Pettitte retire? These are important questions because Horne and McCutchen are both almost ready. Kennedy and Hughes will be healthy again, and likely better. Joba will be a full-fledged starter. Chien-Ming Wang’s still in the front of the rotation. And if Rasner continues his recent ways he makes a strong case for himself. That’s 7 starters without counting Pettitte and Mussina. It’s too early right now to speculate, but the decisions regarding Pettitte and Mussina are going to be key decisions in terms of the direction in which the franchise will go. I bet one of them comes back, and then you might be able to use Horne/Kennedy and/or McCutchen in a trade for possibly Bedard. Seattle’s awful, and they might want to get rid of his contract. I bet a trade of Kennedy/Horne, McCutchen, and Tabata could be enough for Seattle to send Bedard to the Bronx. If things play out with Wang, Pettitte/Mussina, Hughes, and Chamberlain, with Rasner as a backup/longman, the Yankees won’t need another 2 young starters with potential, whereas they could use a proven lefty like Bedard. They also don’t need the talented but moody, to say the least, Tabata. Besides, the Yankees have Austin Jackson and Brett Gardner coming up soon, so Tabata’s expendable. Imagine a rotation like this: Wang, Bedard, Pettitte/Mussina, Hughes, Chamberlain with Kennedy/Horne and Rasner as possible fill-ins should anything go wrong.

Bullpen-wise, I can’t wait to see David Robertson come up. He’s NASTY.

David Robertson (minor leagues, currently 23)
2007 (A)
47 IP
67 K
15 BB
0.77 ERA
(A+)
33.1 IP
37 K
15 BB
1.08 ERA
(AA)
4 IP
9 K
2 BB
2.25 ERA

2008 (AA)
18.2 IP
26 K
6 BB
0.96 ERA
(AAA)
29.2 IP
43 K
16 BB
1.82 ERA

He has a little bit of a control problem. But between AA last year and then AA this year, he brought his walks down. With a little more time in AAA he’ll bring his walks down again. But damn, 132.2 IP in the minors and 182 K. And 0 HR allowed. That’s domination. I want to see this guy up, soon. He can improve the bullpen and give them a rest later on in the year. Next year, he can fill the paramount role of “8th inning guy” that Joba gave up to fill a much less important starting rotation slot. Of course, unlike Joba, you get the most out of Robertson providing 3-6 outs late in the game than you would having him try to get through the first 21 outs.

And oh yeah, Girardi, can you maybe, once, just once, use Chris Britton? He’s not bad…

JB Cox unfortunately has been shut down for a little while due to his elbow, but he’ll be a good bullpen arm. It really is great to see that the Yankees have some talent in the minors to play with, either to fill roles on the team or to use in trades.

Wang’s injury sucks, but honestly, I’m not that upset about it. I want to see what else the Yankees have to offer.