Oh Captain, My Captain - This week we learned that May target return date for Derek Jeter was a tad optimistic. And the thought that he would be ready for Opening Day was outright absurd, apparently. He re-fractured the left ankle that ended his 2012 season and will not be ready until after the All-Star Break. I love how general that statement is. Will it be the first game after the ASB? Will it be early September? They're not saying, maybe because they don't know. Of our four injured hitters, (Jeter, Teixeira, Granderson, and A-Rod), his absence the most damaging in my opinion. Not only for his irreplacable leadership, but the alternatives are very weak. New York is trying to survive on a platoon diet of Jayson Nix and Eduardo Nunez, but those two have a combined OPS of .973....yeah, I said COMBINED. GM Brian Cashman said they're sticking with who they have for now, and the way they spent this Winter, I believe it.
CC Takes a Little Off - CC's line from Wednesday's victory of Arizona: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 ER, 6 K. Not bad. His season statistics aren't bad either: 3-1 record, 2.57 ERA, 7.71 K/9, 1.21 WHIP. But the talk after his start was about his reduced velocity. CC sat around 90 with his fastball this week when it's usually 92-93. That doesn't sound like a lot and maybe it's not, but every MPH counts and it's a little troublesome. Fortunately, CC has a fantastic slider that was on point against the D-Backs. If he can't regain his former velo, he's really going to need that slider to remain sharp. But the concern there is over reliance on the breaking ball for a pitcher in his age 33 season could lead to real trouble.
PRONK SMASH! - In the aforementioned game against Arizona, CC was bound for his second loss of the young season when Brett Gardner hit a 2-out, 2-RBI single to tie the game and take the ace off the hook. But it was Travis Hafner's pinch hit that we'll remember about the game. With the score tied in the 8th, manager Joe Girardi relieved DH Ben Francisco of his batting duties in favor of Pronk, who promtly clubbed a David Hernandez offering over the wall. Hafner has proven to be a valuable pick-up with his .349/.440/.767 slash line. He'll never be the guy you can put in the line-up every day with his history of injuries, but when healthy there are few guys I trust more when he's at the plate.
If Loving Chien Ming is Wang, I Don't Wanna Be Right - When New York signed former ace Chien Ming Wang to a minor league deal last month, few were more excited about the move than I was. I remember the mid-season call-up in 2005 when the team was cycling through the Darrell Mays and Tim Reddings of the world just trying to get through the *week*, let alone the season. And then along came CMW, who not only pitched well that season but the 3 seasons following until an ankle injury running the bases in Houston in 2008 ended his season and ultimately his tenure with New York. Was the Wanger the best pitcher in the league back then? No, he wasn't even an All-Star. But when they gave him the ball every 5th day you could feel good that he would go out and battle and get a ton of ground balls with that concrete-mixer sinkerball. Now he's back, fresh off a strong showing in the World Baseball Classic for Chinese Taipei and Yankee fans have to wonder what we will get, if anything, out of Wang. He started for Scranton-Wilkes Barre last night and gave them 5.1 good innings and earned the win, which may give us an indication that there is still something in the tank. The most we can reasonable expect to see out of CMW is a spot start here and there before probably being sent packingthis Winter. But just having him on this team feels pretty good. I hope to see him in the pinstripes again this summer, if only for one more start.
CLAAAAPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!! - Francisco Cervelli, the man with my new favorite nickname "The Yankee Clapper", is trying to get us to forget all about Russell Martin and is doing a bang up job. He's hitting .310/.420/.524 in 42 ABs so far. He's already hit 2 dingers this season which is pretty good considering his career high is only 4. Before the season, I had hoped Austin Romine would hit his way from AAA to the Bronx as quickly as possible but the way the Clapper is playing, Austin can take his time as far as I'm concerned.
Down on the Farm - Speaking of players in the minors, two of our four Top 100 players are off to nice starts. Mason Williams is hitting .293/.423/.414 with 6 extra-base hits in A+ Tampa. Gary Sanchez is hitting a monstrous .328/.400/.557 with 3 HR and 5 doubles, (also for Tampa). He's also playing better behind the dish, which is maybe more important than the offensive power, which we already knew he had. Meanwhile Slade Heathcott is having trouble staying on the field for AA Trenton, and when he gets there he's only hitting a paltry .205/.271/.295. Right fielder Tyler Austin is faring a little better for the Thunder hitting .262/.366/.377 but that is significantly down from his career averages of .324/.402/.546. You've got to cut these two a break as they are playing AA so they'll need some time to adjust. On the pitching side, Rafael de Paula is finding out hitters in low A are a slight bit, (sense the exagerating tone), better than the Dominican Summer League; he's given up 7 ER in only 12.1 IP but is striking out an impressive 16.78 per 9 innings. Charleston teammate Jose Campos also has an ERA in the 5's but is striking out a respectable 8 batters per 9 IP. I've stated previously that the team is woefully thin in starting pitchers in the minors for the first time in a long time. Which brings me to my final topic...
I'm Feeling a Draft - The 2013 MLB Draft is less than 50 days away and draft boards are really starting to take shape. Yesterday I posted my compilation board which ranks the top 155 names in the draft, a lot of whom are college pitchers. There are actually quite a few that are projected to be available when New York drafts at the end of the 1st round (they have picks 26, 32, and 33). It's common knowledge that teams should draft the best players available and not positions of need, but this year it seems like those two ideas are one and the same. If you go by my draft board, these players will be available when the Yankees pick at 26: Jonathan Crawford (Florida), Bobby Wahl (Ole Miss), Andrew Mitchell (TCU), Andrew Thurman (California-Irvine), Aaron Blair (Marshall), and Kevin Ziomek, (Vanderbilt). Any one of those guys could come in and be one of the top arms in the system and probably would be pitching in Tampa at or near the beginning of 2014. I'd like to see New York use one of their first three picks on a college starter in order to boost their mid-system pitching ranks. As far as who they are focusing on, according to Scouting Baseball writer Kiley McDaniel, word is starting to spread that they're interested in Fresno State OF Aaron Judge and Texas HS OF Billy McKinney, who are ranked on my board at 26 and 27, respectively. It just so happens New York is drafting at 26 so if my board holds true they'll have their pick of the two. My guess is they would go with Judge with the 26th pick and, based solely on conjecture, they could take Bobby Wahl and HS pitcher Connor Jones at 32 and 33.
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