Good News, Bad News

Sadly, it looks like the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees won't have a chance to challenge the modern-day record for most wins to start a season, as they lost to the Buffalo Bisons 7-3 tonight.

On the bright side, I'll be making my first trip to the new Yankee Stadium in just under 12 hours. I'll be in Section 315, Row 4 if any of you are there and want to say hello.

What's Wang with Wrong

Pitching mechanics can be terribly complex things, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised when two intelligent people can look at Chien-Ming Wang and come up with two seemingly contradictory conclusions.

First, there's Dan Plesac who provides some great insights into the differences between Wang's 2008 and 2009 deliveries. His conclusion is much along the same lines of what the Yankee coaching staff is saying, which is that Wang isn't standing tall on the mound this season, and that's depriving him of the essential downward plane.

While Plesac's analysis is compelling, it provides a conundrum when you look at Mike Axisa's
excellent examination of Pitchf/x data culled from Wang's starts. With that data, Axisa shows that Wang has actually lost more horizontal movement than vertical, and that he's actually using a higher release point now than he did in 2008.

So, who's right? Should Wang's release point be higher or lower? The answer, I think, is both, and the reason lies with Wang's left foot. It's a bit difficult to see in the video, but it seems to me that Wang's stride is a bit shorter now than it was last season, meaning that he's planting his left foot a little closer to his right. This would have the dual effects of making him taller on the mound when he releases the ball, as Axisa noticed, and robbing him of some of the power generated by his right leg.

This, however, doesn't negate Plesac's observation that Wang's upper body is hunched over, keeping him from getting on top of the ball. In fact, if you look again at Axisa's charts, you can see the effect this has on the horizontal position of Wang's release point, which is now well to the right of where it was in 2008. Thus, while his release point is higher relative to the ground, it's actually lower relative to his body, keeping him from getting on top of the ball the way he needs to.

So, in my admittedly inexpert opinion, what Wang needs to do is follow Plesac's advice to straighten his back, increase his leg kick and tighten his hands, plus lengthen his stride. It seems, perhaps, like a tall order, but certainly within Wang's abilities.

Minor League Monday 4/20/09

Before I get into the individual performances, I want to call your attention to what's been happening with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. In case you haven't heard, the defending International League champions have started their season by winning their first 11 games. That is not only a club record, but according to Chad Jennings at the Times Tribune , it's also the best start for an International League team for at least 30 years. Even more impressive is how they've won those games. The team leads the league in nearly every offensive category, including an 86 run mark that's a full 30 runs better than the next best team, Toledo. The team is hitting .320/.394/.510. That's right, I didn't say that the team's best hitter has a .320 batting average, I said the entirety of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, a team which is playing baseball on an actual baseball field against real, professional baseball players, and not on an Xbox, is hitting .320. It's a little insane and a lot of fun, so I encourage you to watch them if you can.

Hitter of the Week - Jesus Montero, C/DH, Tampa Yankees (High A):

It probably seems a little strange for me to be naming a Tampa Yankee the hitter of the week after gushing about the mighty offense of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, but Montero deserves the honor. As badly as Austin Jackson, Juan Miranda and Shelley Duncan have been pummeling the poor pitchers of the International League, Montero has been doing worse to their Floridian counterparts. His triple slash line of .395/.452/.658 is impressive enough on its own, but it becomes even more impressive when you realize that he's one of the youngest players in the league and is playing in a pitcher's park.

Pitcher of the Week - Mark Melancon, RHP, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees

Of course, there had to be at least one Scranton player picking up an award this week. That player was almost Ian Kennedy, who has had two dominant starts so far, striking out 16 batters against 9 hits, 2 walks and 2 runs in 12 innings. As good as he was, though, Melancon was simply ridiculous. Pitching 9 inning in relief over five games, Melancon has faced a total of 30 batters. Of those 30 batters, he has struck out 15. That's correct, he's struck out half the batters that he's faced. Of the other 15, only two have gotten hits, and another three managed to get a walk. No one has managed to make it past second base, let alone score a run. That, my friends, is why he's the most likely candidate to step into the large shoes of Mariano Rivera.

A Close Call

Well, that was close. It's one thing to give up 14 runs in one inning and lose a game by a margin of 18, but I can imagine no defeat quite so ignominious as losing to Carl Pavano. That's the fate the Yankees found themselves facing as they finally got to see the pitcher they thought they were signing four years ago. Captain Bruised Buttocks stymied the Yanks for six innings, retiring the first ten batters in order before Derek Jeter finally managed a hit in the fourth inning. Thankfully, the Indians bullpen wasn't quite as unhittable, and the Yankees were able to score six after Pavano left the game and win 7-3.

Of course, the part of the game everyone's talking about now isn't Pavano's terrifyingly good performance, but Jorge Posada's disputed home run that scored the go ahead run in the 7th inning. I can certainly understand why Cleveland might be upset by the decision to let the home run stand, but I think the umpires made the right call. It's not, mind you, that I'm entirely certain that the home run was valid. It's that I'm certain that no one can tell one way or the other from the instant replay, and lacking any better evidence the umps had to go with the ruling on the field. Of bigger concern to the Yankees is the fact that that home run probably wouldn't have made it out in the old stadium, but that's a post for another time.

Changing Priorities

There was a lot to hate about last night's game. Like so many games this season, the Yankees managed to not just lose, but lose ugly, with mental mistakes and failures in big spots. With this loss, the Yankees fall back to a six game deficit in the wild-card race, and I'm about ready to declare their playoff hopes dead. In order to make the playoffs now, the Yankees would have to win their next two games, sweep Boston next month in Fenway, play one game better than the Red Sox in the other 26 games left, and erase the 3.5 game lead that the Twins have. It's a ridiculously tall order made even more ludicrous when you look at the teams' remaining schedules and see that the Yankees play only 15 of their final 31 games at home while the Red Sox play 21.

This is why I think it's time for the Yankees to shift their priorities from a futile attempt to make the playoffs this year to gearing up for next season. The Yankees are going to have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, and they can help themselves in making those decisions by using the next month to evaluate what they can expect from their prospects and young players. For example, this winter the team will need to decide whether to re-sign Bobby Abreu and continue to use an outfield of Nady-Damon-Abreu, or find a replacement. They can make this decision much easier by playing Brett Gardner regularly over the rest of the season, and letting themselves see if he's good enough to be the center fielder next year. If he is, then an outfield of Damon-Gardner-Nady becomes a very attractive option.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but the sooner the Yankees can accept their defeat in this season, the sooner they can start to work towards victory in the next.

Minor League Monday 8/25/08

I didn't have time to put together awards this week, but there are a few stories from the farm that I wanted to share.

• The Yankees' highest and third-highest paid draft picks had auspicious debuts in the Gulf Coast league. Brett Marshall, the sixth round pick who signed for $850,000, pitched three dominant innings in relief, allowing only one hit and one walk while striking out four batters. Even better, though, was 27th round pick Garrison Lassiter, who began his professional career with two multi-hit games and went 5 for 11 on the week with a stolen base to boot.
• I may not have any performance awards this week, but I can give Alfredo Aceves a nod for the best quote of the week. In Scranton last night, Aceves faced a Buffalo Bisons lineup which included three rehabbing major leaguers in Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner and Josh Barfield, two of whom have among the best hitters in the American League over the past few seasons. Aceves acquitted himself well, though, striking out Martinez twice and Hafner once as he pitched six scoreless innings for the win. How did he avoid any anxieties over facing experienced major leaguers? Apparently through ignorance. Aceves, who spent the last six years in Mexico, didn't even recognize any of the players, saying about Hafner "I've seen him before but I don't know where." You can check out the full story over at Chad Jennings' blog.
• In less amusing news, Austin Jackson, who is arguably the Yankees' top prospect, left Friday night's game in Trenton with back stiffness and has been placed on the DL. The move, however, is said to be purely precautionary and Jackson should be back in plenty of time for the first game of the Eastern League playoffs next week.
• On the subject of playoffs, congratulations are in order for the Trenton Thunder and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, who both clinched playoff berths last week. Additionally, Trenton clinched it's third straight divisional title. Considering the amount of shuffling the Yankees have had to do to their minor league rosters, the success of these teams is truly an impressive achievement for the coaches and staff.
• Finally, on last congratulation for pitcher Phil Coke, who was named to the 2008 Eastern League All-Star team. The 25 year-old lefty went 9-4 for the Thunder with a 2.51 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 118.1 innings before being called up to Triple-A earlier this month.
  

On Pavano

We're just a few hours away from game time, and there's been no change announced for today's starter. While a few hours is more than enough time for Carl Pavano to injure himself, it's looking like a safe bet that he'll be taking the mound today. I was considering making some kind of joke here, but upon further review I realized that there was no way I could top Bronx Banter's headline "The Return of Rumpofglassskin", which is my pick for the week's best Pavano joke. Honorable mention, however, must be made for Paul M.'s headline at the Baseball Think Factory "Pavano to pitch Saturday; Apocalypse comes Sunday". If nothing else, the man has provided Yankee fans with some laughs.

Depending on the kindness of strangers

A little over a week ago I said that if the Yankees weren't able to sweep the Royals, they might be done for the season. Well, not only did they fail to sweep the Royals, but they proceeded to lose two out of three against the Blue Jays. So, does that mean that I think the Yankees have no chance of making the playoffs? Surprisingly enough, no.

Make no mistake, the Yankees are in a big hole. Six games is a huge amount of ground to make up with just 35 games remaining. Even worse is the fact that they trail not just the Red Sox, but the Twins by that margin. Thus, even the opportunity presented by playing six games against Boston won't be enough. If they're going to make the playoffs, it won't be enough for the Yankees to play excellent baseball. They're also going to need either the Twins or the White Sox (who currently lead the Twins by just a half a game in the Central Division) to stumble. Thankfully, the Yankees do have four games against Chicago which they can use to help themselves, but in the end they're going to be depending on the performance of others' as much as their own.

Minor League Monday: The 2008 Draft Haul

With the signing deadline now passed, we can close the book on the 2008 draft. At the end of this post, I've put together a complete list of the Yankees' picks along with whether or not they signed and, where possible, the size of their bonus. For those of you who don't want to go through the entire list, here are the highlights:

• As expected, the Yankees weren't able to sign first round pick Gerrit Cole. This is obviously a big disappointment, since Cole has a truly special arm, but it's hard to blame the Yankees for it. Prior to the draft, all indications were that the only obstacle to signing Cole was his high bonus demand, something the Yankees were more than prepared to deal with. However, after he was picked, it appears that Cole and his family had a change of heart, refusing to even meet with the Yankees, and deciding to go to UCLA. On the bright side, the team will now get an extra pick in the first round of next year's draft as compensation.
  
• The Yankees also didn't sign their second round pick, Scott Bittle. This, however, was the team's choice. Apparently team physicians voiced concerns after an examination of Bittle's shoulder, and the team felt that they were better off taking a compensation pick in next year's second round.
• The Yankees did sign supplemental first round pick Jeremy Bleich for $700,000. That's well under the $800,000 slot recommendation made by Major League Baseball, something you don't see the Yankees do very often.
  
• Much more typical for the Yankees was the signing of 27th round pick Garriton Lassiter. A player with top five round talent, Lassiter fell in the draft due to a strong commitment to the University of North Carolina. As they did with sixth and seventh round picks Brett Marshall and Kyle Higashioka, the Yankees were able to lure Lassiter away from college with a big signing bonus. It's a tactic the Yankees have used to great effect before with players like Austin Jackson and Dellin Betances.

Anyway, as promised, here's the full list of draftees:

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School	Status
1	28	Gerrit Cole	RHP	Orange Lutheran HS, CA	Did not sign
1s	44	Jeremy Bleich	LHP	Stanford	$700,000
2	75	Scott Bittle	RHP	Mississippi	Did not sign
3	106	David Adams	2B	Virginia	$333,000
4	140	Corban Joseph	SS	Franklin HS, TN	$207,000
5	170	Chris Smith	OF	Centennial HS, CA	$158,000
6	200	Brett Marshall	RHP	Sterling HS, TX	$850,000
7	230	Kyle Higashioka	C	Edison HS, CA	$500,000
8	260	Dan Brewer	OF	Bradley	$125,000
9	290	Mikey O'Brien	RHP	Hidden Valley HS, VA	$200,000
10	320	D.J. Mitchell	RHP	Clemson	$400,000
11	350	Ray Kruml	OF	South Alabama	Signed
12	380	Luke Greinke	RHP	Auburn	Signed
13	410	Jack Rye	OF	Florida State	Signed
14	440	David Phelps	RHP	Notre Dame	Signed
15	470	Matt Richardson	RHP	Lake Mary HS, FL	Signed
16	500	Luke Anders	1B	Texas A&M	Did not sign
17	530	Addison Maruszak	SS	South Florida	Signed
18	560	Brandon Braboy	RHP	Indianapolis	Signed
19	590	Mitch Abeita	C	Nebraska	Signed
20	620	Pat Venditte	RHP/LHP	Creighton	Signed
21	650	Mitch Delaney	1B	Western Texas JC	Signed
22	680	Cory Arbiso	RHP	Cal State Fullerton	Signed
23	710	Ryan Wilkes	SS	Kentucky	Signed
24	740	Mike Lyon	3B	Northeastern	Signed
25	770	Jeff Nutt	C	Arkansas	Signed
26	800	Blake Monar	LHP	South Spencer HS, IN	Did not sign
27	830	Garrison Lassiter	SS	West Forsyth HS, NC	$675,000
28	860	Chad Gross	OF	Cuesta JC	Signed
29	890	Mike Jones	OF	Arizona State	Signed
30	920	Ben McMahan	C	Bishop Moore HS, FL	Did not sign
31	950	Spencer Lucian	2B	Princeton	Signed
32	980	Andy Suiter	LHP	UC Davis	Did not sign
33	1010	Tommy Baldridge	OF	Coastal Carolina	Signed
34	1040	Brad Rulon	RHP	Georgia Tech	Signed
35	1070	Andrew Shive	RHP	Azusa Pacific, CA	Signed
36	1100	Chris Dwyer	LHP	Salisbury School, CT	Did not sign
37	1130	Justin Harper	RHP	Yavapai JC	Did not sign
38	1160	Clay Caulfield	RHP	College of Charleston	Did not sign
39	1190	Erik Lovett	1B	Mount Olive, NC	Signed
40	1220	Sam Mende	SS	Clearwater Central Catholic HS, FL	Did not sign
41	1250	Mykal Stokes	OF	Tustin HS, CA	Did not sign
42	1280	Clint Preisendorfer	LHP	San Diego Christian	Signed
43	1310	Matt Summers	RHP	Chaparral HS, AZ	Did not sign
44	1339	Evan Ocheltree	OF	Wake Forest	Did not sign
45	1367	Creede Simpson	SS	Auburn HS, AL	Did not sign
46	1394	Matt Veltmann	RHP	San Diego CC	Did not sign
47	1421	Ryan Flannery	RHP	Fairleigh Dickinson, NJ	Signed
48	1448	Rob Scahill	RHP	Bradley	Did not sign
49	1475	John Folino	RHP	Connecticut	Did not sign
50	1502	Nik Turley	LHP	Harvard-Westlake School, CA	Signed

Yankees' First Round Pick Heading for UCLA

We all knew that the Yankees' first round pick, Gerrit Cole, was going to be a difficult player to sign. The combination of Cole's fantastic talent and his advisor Scott Boras made it seem like the Yankees would have to pay top dollar. Now, however, the New York Times is reporting that Cole has decided to attend UCLA regardless of how much money the Yankees offer. This is surprising and disappointing, but you have to respect his decision. On the bright side, the Yankees will now receive an extra first round pick in the 2009 draft as compensation. We can only hope that they put it to good use.

Meanwhile, with the deadline just hours away, there's no news on the rest of the Yankees' unsigned picks. I fully expect the team to sign supplemental first round pick Jeremy Bleich, but health issues have clouded the status of second-round pick Scott Bittle. It's entirely possible that the Yankees will let him go and accept another compensatory pick. After those first three picks, the Yankees have signed most of the noteworthy players that they picked. Those that remain unsigned are, by and large, high schoolers who were already known to have strong college commitments, so there really aren't any surprises. I'll give a full rundown of the draft haul tomorrow, after the signing deadline has passed.