Jesus Montero demoted to Triple A

The Seattle Mariners demoted Catcher Jesus Montero to Triple A today as he had only hit .208/.264/.327 with Three home runs on the year after a disappointing, but not awful, season last year in Seattle. More with that the Mariners are not calling up top catching prospect Mike Zunino, who is currently in AAA, so it looks like they will be moving Jesus from catcher to another position, most likely DH. Montero is only 23 so its not as if the Mariners or anyone else should give up on his bat, but his glove was always poor and this season he has only 8 walks in 110 Plate appearances. What obviously makes this story intriging for us Yankees fans is that Montero was the top Yankee prospect who, along with pitcher Hector Noesi,  was traded to Seattle for the 23 year old Fire baller Michael Pineda, who promptly got hurt and has not actually pitched for the Yankees yet this season and pitching prospect Jose Campos who also was injured during the year. The Mariners had been declared the winner of the trade last year but this latest turn throws everything into the air as none of the pieces in the trade have been very good for either side and so we are still likely years away from learning just who has won this trade. We still have to see exactly what Pineda will do as he has reportedly been throwing around 95 in his rehab work.

Yankees Catching dilemma

In Spring Training Russel Martin was going to be the starter and we were all wondering if Austin Romine would be able to get the backup job from Francisco Cervelli, but Romine injured his back almost immediately and it seemed certain that Cervelli would be the backup. Of course then the Yankees traded George Kontos for  Chris Stewart and Stewart became the backup Catcher because he was out of minor league options and Cervelli was sent to AAA. Stewart has had some timely hits but he was brought in for his defense and five passed balls is not the way to stick if Defense is your reason to be in the majors. Remember Montero was supposed to take over behind the plate but the Yankees did not trust him behind the plate last season and then traded him to Seattle because he did not fit in well unless he was a catcher. I think we would all prefer Cervelli to be with the big league club but until Austin Romine comes back then the Yankees are going to stick with Stewart and it looks like Romine will be out until July. If Romine had been able to have a full year in Triple A they could have potentially platooned Romine and Cervelli but now his injury means he is not guaranteed to start next year with the Yankees as they may want him to have a full year in Triple A. The Yankees are full of good catching prospects but right now with Romine injured the Yankees are lacking at high level catching depth. This is also an extremly odd time for us as Yankee fans as Jorge Posada has been a staple behind the plate for over a decade and replacing a player like Posada is nearly impossible. The other big downside with the loss of Romine for the first half of the season is that the Yankees are going to need to resign Russel Martin because they have nobody who could start next year behind the plate except for Martin. I also really do not want to risk letting Martin go either because Gary Sanchez is a long way away from the Majors and Romine has a grand total of 35 PA above Double A.

Cashman saved it all for Friday the 13th: trades Montero for Pineada and Signs Kuroda.

Rember when you woke up on Friday the 13th thinking that the Yankees were essentially done this off season and wouldn't make any major moves after passing on Gio, CJ Wilson and not really expressing any interest in Edwin Jackson. Sure the Yankees might sign Kuroda or Oswalt, but no major changes.Yup Brian Cashman lulled us all into a state of belief that he would do essentially nothing this off season and then he changes everything.  Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi were sent to Seattle for Michael Pineada and prospect Jose Campos. Then an hour later the Yankees signed Hiroki Kuroda for $10 million. All of the sudden the Yankees went from a rotation of CC,Nova, Garcia, Hughes,Burnett with Noesi as the first call up, to having no space in the rotation for Hughes or Burnett. Now the talk is going to turn to the Yankees looking to trade Burnett or Hughes and them looking for a DH. Montero was a great prospect, but the Yankees obviously didn't view him as a catcher long term and with the Yankees getting older there really wasn't any ideal long term spot for him. The trade makes sense but the fan base definitely feels conflicted about this trade. The fact is that there really isn't any winner or loser of this trade and its hard to gauge because the players swapped were all making the minimum salary, except for Campos who is still in the low minors.
I really liked Montero and I was looking forward to seeing him play a full year, but this is a good old fashioned baseball trade were two teams adressed their long term needs. The Yankees have pitching depth, but they needed a high end starter and the Mariners needed a power bat and they made the deal. Then not to be outdone the Yankees went and signed Hiroki Kuroda to a 1-year $10 million deal to really set up their rotation. You can see my earlier post about Kuroda here and I did predict that Kuroda would sign with the Yankees in my post about the remaining free agents that I put up yesterday. The last thing that I will point out is that before this trade the Yankees had a top three offense with a questionable rotation and now they may be questionable as a top three but have a much improved rotation and are going to be the clear favorites for the AL East.

Where will Montero fit in?

So the Yankees beat King Felix on Monday and Austin Romine made his first full game debut a day after an interesting catching weekend with both Martin and Cervelli getting hurt, Posada catching part of a game and Montero making his catching debut. Montero wasn't exactly gold glove caliber, but neither was Posada. Romine caught Hughes and it doesn't look like the Yankees are totally confident on having Montero catch, but if they aren't then where will he fit in to the Yankees in 2012 and the future. Sure Montero could DH in 2012 and 2013 but A-Rod and Teixeira are locked up until 2017 and 2016 and Jeter will be playing the next few years. Montero would lose significant playing time to these guys if he is nothing but a DH so the Yankees need to put him somewhere. Obviously Montero is a catcher but his defense is only passable and it seems every other team views him as a first baseman and nobody thinks that he will stick at catcher in the long term due to a lack of defensive skill and his size. Brian Cashman said at the beginning of the year that Montero would be the starting catcher, but then they signed Russel Martin and Montero didn't even win the backup spot. With Martin and Cervelli hurt it seemed like an ideal time to give Montero more time behind the plate but instead they had him catch Garcia and then they replaced him with Austin Romine in the 7th and it looks like Romine will be the primary backup as Cervelli's return this season is not guaranteed. If the Yankees don't plan on having Montero be the primary backup now will they be confident next April? Could the Yankees possibly decide to carry Martin, Cervelli/Romine and Montero in 2012 and have Montero be the primary DH? Ideally they would have Montero be the backup/primary DH and have Martin be the starting catcher but I don't know if they trust him as the backup. If the Yankees don't see him as a catcher even now then where are they going to put him? He can't move to first because Mark Teixeira is under contract until 2016 and is a gold glove first baseman. Some might suggest that they move him to RF because Nick Swisher has a team option for 2012 but if they were going to do that they should have moved Montero to the outfield awhile ago because Montero would be a huge defensive liability having never played any position but Catcher in the minors. The Yankees are getting older and they have some great young players and Montero has the potential to have the best bat of all of them and he is only 21. The Yankees are going to need to figure out what they are doing with Montero or they are going to have to trade him and I really doubt that they want to do that now that Jesus is Loose. In my opinion they should put him as the backup Catcher/ Primary DH for 2012 and see if he sinks or swims.

Jesus is Loose

The Yankees like this September so far

I know its only been 5 days but what a September the Yankees have had so far especially compared to  September 2010 when the Yankees went 12-15 and scored 5 fewer runs than they allowed. Lets hope we continue the winning because last year we won the first 4 games and so we really went 8-15 after September 4th. The Yankees looked like they were trying to lose this game with Garcia giving up a season high 7 runs in just 2.2 innings as Garcia himself said "I got my ass whooped". The Yankees would have been really screwed if the Orioles pitching wasn't equally terrible with Matusz giving up five before Buck yanked him but then Jakubauskas came in and gave up Cano's grand slam Eyre, Johnson and Patton pitched the rest of the game with Johnson giving up two Home runs to Montero and nobody gave up anything else but the Yankees needed all 11 runs. After Garcia Scott Procter came in and pitched 2 innings giving up a game tying home run in the 5th to Robert Andino and Laffey actually did a decent job and got the two lefties out but walked hardy before Ayala came in and despite giving up a walk and a hbp he pitched 1.2 scoreless innings. Logan i guess retired the two lefties when he got Hudson to ground out and the Yankees got Nick Markakis out trying to advance to third on Dickerson's error. Rivera came in and had a very interesting 9th with two singles a HBP and 3 I don't give a fuck despite it being a one run game Stolen bases before striking out JJ Hardy. Mo is only 3 saves away from 600 and there is a decent possibility that he breaks the all time saves record this year.

Jesus is Loose

 The Yankees called up Noesi and George Kontos who has been very good out of the bullpen this year, Ramiro Pena and Greg Golson also got called up today. Brackman, Garrison and Whelan also have a possibility of getting the call but garrison or Whelan will likely get DFA for Kontos and apparently Cashman wants to get Betances up.
The Yankees started off the month with not a lot of hope, we were facing the Red Sox and John Lester and were sending out A.J Burnett who had not inspired confidence with an ERA over 11 in August and was looking like he would be the odd man out in the rotation. Russel Martin hit a double to put the Yankees ahead in the 7th and Mariano Rivera struck out Adrian Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the to save the game. Come from behind wins would be a theme of this first week as only CC Sabathia's  Sunday start wasn't  a come from behind victory. Ivan Nova started the Series against the Jays with giving up two runs in the first and was only limited to two thanks to two big defensive plays from Brett Gardner. Gardner also tied the game with one of his rare home runs and Robinson Cano hitting a go ahead single in the 5th. On Saturday the Yankees knocked around the very good Rickey Romero behind a shaky Colon and Robbie Cano put the Yankees ahead in the 7th with a clutch double, but we got another clutch home run from Francisco Cervelli. Cervelli doesn't get cheated on his home runs as all three of his this year have been absolute bombs. On Sunday Carston Charles Sabathia went 7.1 and gave up just two to earn his 19th win of the season. Soriano tried to make it interesting in the 8th by giving up a home run to Bautisa but the Yankees scored 4 in the 8th with a 2 runs Swisher bomb and a captain 2 run single.
The Yankees have three more games against the Orioles with the Friday game being at Camden to make up the rain out from Hurricane Irene and then they head off to a west coast trip against the Angels and Mariners. The pitching rotation for this week will be Phil Hughes, A.J Burnett, Ivan Nova facing the Orioles and then Colon, Sabathia and Garcia. Hopefully the only bad start of this week was Garcias because the offense, especially Robinson Cano, have been great and we will need that when we play the Angels this weekend.

I think he knew

Remember how awesome the Red sox rotation was going to be? Well Josh Beckett sprained his ankle in his start against the Jays today and so now their next time through the rotation will be Lester, Wakefield, Miller, Lackey and somebody for Beckett. The Yankees need to pad the lead right now and with a great week they could get several games up. The Yankees need to keep their foot on the gas because they could pick the Red Sox in the rear view this week.

The Yankees likely September Callups

MLB Rosters expand on September 1st and the Yankees will likely call up a group of players on that day and then another group when the AAA season ends on September 5th because the Scranton Yankees will not make the post season and neither will the AA Trenton Thunder.  On Septemeber 1st you will see the following guys get called up.
OF Greg Golson
OF Chris Dickerson
RHP Lance Pendelton
LHP Aaron Laffey
C/DH Jesus Montero
These are guys that we are all familiar with. Golson and Dickerson both are extra outfielders who can pinch run and will come in to games as defensive replacements. Golson is a little better runner and a great defensive player. Dickerson is more experienced, a better hitter and is a left handed bat so he's going to get the most playing time of the two. Pants Lendelton had a a fabulous debut on Jackie Robinson day but is nothing more than an innings eater in unimportant innings. He hasn't been walking guys like crazy in the minors like he was with the Yankees but the Yankees may not even have him keep his 40 man spot this off-season. There have been some conflicting reports on if Laffey was sent down or DFA but he is still showing up on the Yankees 40 man so I assume he will come up as soon as rosters expand and the Yankees will have another lefty in the pen. The only reason Golson could not get a call up is if he has not spent enough time with the Yankees this year to burn a minor league option and then they will probably save that option for next year. Montero should come up when rosters expand but he needs to be added to the 40 man first and Gustavo Molina was recently DFA so a spot is available. If Jeter and A-Rod are out of the lineup on September 1st then Montero could get the DH start against the Red Sox and make his home debut the next day against the Blue Jays. If I had to guess I think he will make his catching debut with Bartolo Colon because its just Fastball every time.

These guys should come up when the minor league season is over.
3rd/1st Brandon Laird
RHP Kevin Whelan
RHP Andrew Brackman
LHP Steve Garrison
LHP Raul Valdez
Some may be surprised that Brackman is getting the call up but since he reverted his mechanics he has been significantly better and the Yankees will try and get as much out of him as possible considering his major league contract. We got a look at all the other guys here which is why they will finish out the season in the minors. Whelan and Garrison will be extra arms in the bullpen with Garrison getting blowout duty. Whelan has been very good as the Scranton Yankees closer and is hoping to make a better impression than his .2 innings with 4 walks debut against Cleveland. Valdez was claimed off waivers from the cardinals and could be used as a LOOGY, but he is currently in Trenton and could be used to help the Scranton Yankees finish out the year before coming up on the 5th. Laird could get called up on September 1st with A-Rod soar, but its not necessary and I seriously doubt he would help the club at all in the 4 days between September 1st and the end of the Scranton season. Laird will likely see some time at 3rd and possibly LF late in September.
Some of You may be wondering why Hector Noesi will not be called up on September 1st but because he was sent down today 8/29 he will need to wait 10 days before coming back. Other notable exceptions are Ryan Pope, Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances. Betances and Banuelos will likely travel with the team but I doubt that either will make their debut this September, as for Ryan Pope he is unlikely to keep his 40 man spot this off season as he was very poor at Scranton this year and overall the 2007 3rd round pick has been disappointing.
Most Important about the September call ups is that we will see Jesus Montero make his Yankee debut and we will finally see if he can handle catching in the majors. Honestly I think that his bat is so good that his defense wont matter but he can fake it for the next few years until he can move to 1st base or DH.

The Yankees minor league assets

The Yankees stayed put at the trade deadline and overall the only real trade they made this year was when they traded Sergio Mitre for Chris Dickerson, only to reacquire Mitre in June and then put him on the 60-day DL after four appearances. Every other transaction the Yankees have made has been signing guys to minor league deals or claiming players off waivers.
With the injury to Pedro Feliciano in the spring most people thought that the Yankees would try and acquire a lefty reliever to supplement Boone Logan and they did sign J.C Romero and Randy Flores but neither has been particularly great in Scranton. Flores has been better against right handers than lefties, today he faced two lefties and gave up a hit and a home run and then retired the next three right handed batters. Romero had been better but he did just give up 3 runs in .2 innings on the 29th. If Romero doesn't get called up this week to face the Red Sox then I don't think he will play with the Yankees this year and definitely not  if Marte can pitch in September. There is also the chance that Manny Banuelos could contribute in September when Cashman didn't rule out the possibility.
(Update 10:01pm Randy Flores will be released)
Cashman also mentioned that he has confidence in Adam Warren and David Phelps to start if they have to. Banuelos and Betances are not likely options to start in the MLB this year because of that confidence and Betances isnt even officially in AAA yet.. We did not get a good look at Kevin Whelan when he was called up but we will probably get another look in September as well as Lance Pendelton both of whom have pitched well in Scranton this year. There is also a chance we could get to see University of Connecticut alumni Tim Norton who despite good numbers has been held back by injury, but we will likely not see Mark Prior pitch in pinstripes because he is nowhere near where he needs to be to be MLB ready again.
As I have said in previous posts the Yankees have a lot of depth in the outfield not just in AAA Scranton, but in Trenton Melky Mesa could probably be thrown into the MLB now because his defense is that good, but that would only be in case of an extreme emergency. Weve seen Golson and Dickerson this year, even with injuries to Colin Curtis and Justin Maxwell the Yankees still have another option in Jordan Parraz who is hitting very well and since Golson and Dickerson will both be out of options he will likely be added to the 40 man next year and make his debut in 2012. The Yankees also have Brandon Laird and Kevin Russo both of whom can play the outfield but are primarily infielders.
Speaking of infield the Yankees have good depth there with the aforementioned Russo and Laird with Ramiro Pena currently injured. The Scranton Yankees also have Mike Lamb and Jorge Vazquez both of whom can play 1st or 3rd, and aren't prospects. In Trenton the thunder have Robert Lyerly and  Corban Joseph, but they are still a ways away and Joseph is likely trade bait due to Robinson Cano. In terms of catching the Yankees have Jesus Montero who will likely make his MLB debut this week as well as Austin Romine who will likely be promoted to AAA with a Montero promotion. They also have J.R Murphey who has shown the Yankee brass that he can stay at catcher and they like his bat and of course Gary Sanchez, but those guys are a ways away from the MLB.
The Yankees have depth that other teams pray for right now and the Yankees know it which is why they felt that they didn't need to make a move this trade deadline. That depth also means that they can make a move for a starting pitcher this off season if a top of the rotation starter becomes available.

Who is the Yankees Future at Catcher?

Jesus Montero came into the year supposedly as the Starting Catcher and then the Yankees signed Russel Martin and that idea was scrapped. After Cervelli broke his leg in Spring Training it seemed that the backup catching job was Montero's to lose which he did. Montero's offense has never been the question as even with his slow start this year he is besting every and all AAA pitching. The biggest issue is and always has been his defense. If the Yankees had not signed Mark Teixeira then I almost guarantee that Montero would have been moved to 1st base, but since he is locked up until 2016 that's not an option for at least several years. The thing about Montero is that he is only 21 and even though he is probably too tall to be a catcher for the rest of his career the Yankees need an influx of young talent and Catcher is where they are stocked with the most talent.
The Yankees Top Catching prospects are:
Jesus Montero: As I said Montero is an offensive Catcher and is the most ready, the concern is whether or not he can be a competent starting catcher in the MLB in terms of game calling and defense. He has a great arm which is why many people feel he is best served as a Right Fielder. The Yankees apparently do think that he can catch in the MLB.


Austin Romine: Romine projects to be a goof overall catcher with good defense and a decent bat but not the raw power and potential for huge offense that Montero has. I saw catch Phil Hughes at Hughes rehab game in New Britain and I was really impressed with his defense especially his blocking of balls in the dirt. Romine is a good all around catching prospect and the only thing keeping him for AAA is Montero. He is also very young at 22 and he was great today at the Futures game.

Gary Sanchez: Sanchez has been called Montero with a better glove and many have said that he is the true future at catcher. His bat is impressive but probably not as good as Montero and he has had 24 Passed balls so far this year but has caught 35% of base stealers. That being said he has had some issues at low-A Charleston and was briefly demoted due to behavior issues. He is only 18 and is years away from MLB ready.

J.R Murphey: Most people assumed that the Yankees would move Murphey to a corner spot either this year or next as they liked his bat but his defense was considered to be suspect. Then Murphey decided to drastically improve behind the plate and offensively over last year. Muphey earned himself a promotion to the Tampa Yankees and they are still mixing him between Catcher and 3rd base. Murphey is the only one of the 4 who has no real chance of being the starting Catcher but the Yankees could keep mixing him between catcher and corners spots and try to make him into a sort of super utility role. If he sticks at catcher he will be a backup at best.

Going into this season it seemed obvious that Montero was the future at catcher but at this point I don't even know if he will be traded or make his Yankees debut in 2012. The Yankees are obviously unhappy about his defense and probably unhappy about his lack of power. Cashman has said that he wants Montero to play everyday but honestly I think that is just an excuse to keep him in AAA because they were willing to bring him up at the beginning of the year as the backup and if he was doing better he would probably be platooning with Martin at Catcher. At this point I don't know what to expect because I don't see any front end starter that the Yankees can trade for but every sign seems to suggest that they want to trade him. I just feel that if they thought that Montero was the catcher of the Future then he would be with the team right now. If he is not traded by the deadline then I expect that he will start the year splitting time with Martin, but he could traded over the winter. Ideally I think the Yankees would like Montero to be the starting catcher until Sanchez develops and then they can move Montero to Right Field or 1st Base but projecting something like that is impossible.

Being real about Jorge Posada

I'd like to start off by saying that Jorge Posada is one of the greatest Yankees of all-time and every fan should appreciate his 17 years of service to the Yankees. The agreed to his 4 year $52 million deal after he had one of the best offensive years for a catcher in MLB History in 2007 to go along with a silver slugger award, an all star berth and finishing 6th in the MVP vote. Posada has been beset with injuries likely due to the physical strain of being a starting catcher in your late thirties and only in 2009 did he catch the majority of games.  As a 39 year old Catcher coming into the 2011 season a move to DH seemed warranted especially after significant time on the DL in each of his 3 previous seasons and the Yankees were confident that he would do an adequate job despite a .205 Career BA at DH. Posada was concerned about how he would do at the position as he preferred to spend the games behind the plate. I'd like to say that the Yankees brass should have listened, but I doubt that being the backup catcher would change his offensive output. Posada is currently hitting only slightly better than Nick Johnson was at this point last year and Posada currently has a sub .300 OBP and has the worst slugging percentage of his career, although that may have something to do with being slow enough that he cannot leg out doubles. Posada also has not had a single hit while batting right handed this season and he is currently in a platoon situation at DH which will help Posada some as he is hitting .211 against RHP. But still thats not much of a platoon situation when your DH for righties is barely hitting above .200 and in the Month of May he hit .219, in fact the only positives he has is that he went 1-1  with a double as a PH and when he played 1B he went 1-3 with 2BB and a double. This has gotten ridiculos, I respect Posada but as the DH your contribution is measured by your Offense and right now he is a liability. When PosadaGate occurred I was torn as I greatly respect Posada but at the same time he should be hitting 9th and the fit he threw was extremely unprofessional as was trying to pass it off as an injury issue. No Matter what nothing will be done in the short term as the Yankee Brass wants to keep Posada around at least until Jeter gets his 3,000 hit. I think the Yankees will do one of a few things, they could keep the platoon situation going with Posada/Jones and add to it when Eric Chavez comes back, this may be the option they run with for June as having another pinch hitter for Interleague can't hurt. The more painful option is that if the Yankees decide that Posada can no longer contribute to the team then they may be forced into the option of asking him to retire and if he refuses giving him his outright release, which is the last thing that the Yankees want to do. They may also try and put Posada on the DL but the phantom DL doesn't go over as well as it does in the minors, also I doubt that Posada would agree to this arraignment. The Yankees know that Jesus Montero is sitting in AAA and they would either be able to make him the  backup catcher and send Cervelli down, have him be the Full time DH or have him split time between DH and being a third catcher who splits the backup time with Cervelli. In my opinion the Yankees need to make a decision on Jorge and soon because Jeter is less than 20 hits away from 3,000 at the End of May and he will undoubtedly surpass 3,000 by the end of the month and probably by the middle of June. Unless Posada drastically improves he will not contribute to this team and will need to either sit on the bench or end his Yankee career. The only real question is what is the plan, if Posada sits on the bench then he can still make occasionally starts at DH and the Yankees can provide a 1/2 day to a regular. The Yankees even have secondary options in AAA with Jorge Vazquez also knocking the ball out of the park with ease.
I think that the Yankees need to address this problem because right now I don't see what the benefit of having a DH is, because I think that our pitchers may be able to provide a better offense than Posada's -0.6 oWAR. I think that the best option would be to call up Montero and send Cervelli down to AAA and make Montero the backup catcher/DH and have Posada serve as the emergency backup/occasional DH because I don't think that the Front Offense wants to alienate Posada because they want to bring him back in some role after he retires, possibly as a scout or a coach. The fact is that Posada is currently hurting the Yankees and the Yankees are going to have to make some decisions when Eric Chavez comes back because he and Chris Dickerson will contribute more than Posada currently is. I do want to see the Yankees let Posada catch at least once this year and if that comes during interleague it could be a sign that Posada's time is nearly done.
As a side note for all of you who want to see Jorge Vazquez come up and DH there is a chance for that in September but he has nearly a 1/3 K rate to go along with his 18 Home Runs and while he is currently mashing the ball in AAA I don't think that will translate to the MLB nearly as well.

Notes 5/3/11

Well Francisco Liriano threw the first no hitter of the year against the offensively struggling White Sox. He walked 6 batters and ironically faced Edwin Jackson. A full month in the most surprising thing is that's only Liriano's second win and both teams are in the basement of the AL central while the Royals and Indians lead. Before anyone even thinks about it the Yankees will not trade Montero for Liriano and honestly I do not think that there is a single pitcher available that the Yankees would be interested in trading Montero for.
My bold prediction of the year is that Liriano's no hitter will be the only one of the year and Liriano is more likely to be traded than Montero.

Phil Hughes dosen't have some rare vascular disorder and so that means that the Yankees are back to having no idea what is wrong with him. I miss Philthy Phil and I want him back soon.

The Yankees looked pretty pathetic today against Brad Penny and CC looked bad. Is it just me or does A-Jax hit CC really well? 

The Yankees need some Starting Pitching but where are they going to get it from and what will they have to give up for decent Starting pitchers?

The upcoming Toronto series 4/19-4/20/11 and Notes

The Blue Jays came into the season strong with a 4-2 record, but they now stand at 7-9 with several poor performances from their starting pitching and their offense sputtered after the series opener against the Red Sox and they only managed one run in each of the three games they lost to the Red Sox. The Pitching matchup will be featuring Kyle Drabek going against A.J Burnett. Drabek is 1-0 with an 1.93 ERA in 3 starts while Burnett has a 3-0 record with a 4.67 ERA in his 3 starts. Wednesdays game will feature the very uninspring pitching duel between a Bull frog that has found his way into Pinstripes, aka Bartolo Colon who has posted a 3.97 ERA in 3 relief appearances and Brett Cecil who has a 1-1 record with a 6.19 ERA in 3 starts. There is no official word of whether or not A-Rod will play in Tuesdays game but it has been stated that he will play in Wednesdays game. A positive for the Yankees is that if they need to exhaust the bullpen they have Thursday off before heading to Baltimore for an Easter weekend series. The Blue Jays have really struggled the last 3 games and lets hope the Yankees will spoil the Blue Jays home opener.

*If you haven't heard about the J triplets tearing up the international league.  Jesus Montero, Jordan Parraz and Jorge Vazquez have been absolutely destroying AAA pitching Jesus Montero is hitting .452   and Jorge Vazquez has a very impressive .340 with 7 HR and 17 RBI's in only 11 games. Jordan Parraz who I wrote about in a previous article is hitting .356 with 3 triples and 2 HR. Also if Justin Maxwell raises his BA to match his .435 OBP then I can start calling them the J Quintuplets.
*Curtis Granderson is hitting .333 against lefties and .194 against eighties. I never thought I would have to say this but Granderson you need to start hitting RHP as well as you are hitting lefties.
*Check out CC's Commercial

The first "I know its April but Jesus Montero" article

Well the Yankees are getting set for game two against the Twins with CC taking the mound and Russel Martin behind the plate. In his limited action as a Yankee Martin has been pretty good offensively and defensively, but again the sample size is too small to make any real assessment of him overall. The question I really want to pose is, If Russel Martin is able to return to his old 2007 form and become a real offensive force as well as a very good defensive catcher would the Yankees decide that he will be their starting catcher of the future and what would that mean for Jesus Montero?
If Martin does return to his old form then then the Yankees have several options of what they could do with him
A) They could keep him as their starting catcher. After all he is only 28 and is much better defensively than Montero or Cervelli.
B) The Yankees could trade him midway through the season for a starting pitcher.
C) They could let him go after the year and if he gets class A free agency then they would get a draft pick.

Those options are all assuming that he does return to his old form and doesn't flop in the Bronx, because if he does flop then he will be backing up Jesus Montero before you can say oh' Canada.
Jesus Montero is the Yankees top prospect and probable the must hyped prospect since Derek Jeter, but Montero's key chip is his bat because his defense behind the plate is poor despite his strong arm and most scouts do not think that he will be able to stay behind the plate. Would the Yankees trade Montero or would they move him somewhere else? Unfortunately the most likely place to move him would be 1st base or right field and both those places are currently taken by Mark Teixiera and Nick Swisher and I doubt that the Yankees would cut either loose even for a prospect like Montero. Montero has been a big trade chip that teams have asked the Yankees for and he was almost traded for Cliff Lee last season and despite loosing out on the backup spot this spring his status as the systems top prospect remains intact. If the Yankees did decide to trade Montero who would they trade him for? I can't see them trading him for anything but a starting pitcher but who? Obviously if the Mariners made Felix available the Yankees would trade Montero for him but other than that who else would they be willing to part with Montero for?

I think that these pitchers are the only ones that the Yankees would be willing to trade Montero for:

• Clayton Kershaw (23, lefty and has a sub 3 ERA and over 200 innings pitched)
• Trevor Cahil (same as Kershaw but a righty and just under 200 innings pitched)
• Josh Johnson ( had a 2.30 ERA last year in the NL east with 28 starts)

Other than Felix those are the only pitchers that I can think of that I would trade Montero for and the teams could have some possible interest in a trade with the Yankees. I'd love to trade for Matt Cain but the Giants don't need a catcher, 1st baseman or right fielder and the Phillies aren't going to do a trade and the Yankees wouldn't deal Montero to the Rays or Sox. Do you have any other pitchers that you would trade Montero for and would you do any of these trades?

Francisco Cervelli 2011

(Nam Y. Huh/AP)

Heading into spring training there has been a lot of talk about the Yankees catching situation with the newly acquired former Dodger Russel Martin and Top Prospect Jesus Montero both looking at the starting job. The Yankees have already said that Martin will be the Starting catcher but Montero hopes to win the job in spring training, however most expect that he will start the year in AAA before making his debut later in the season. One person lost in the Montero/Martin talk is current backup Francisco Cervelli, who despite being the backup last year actually started more games than Jorge Posada. Cervelli will likely start the year as the backup behind Martin, but could still catch a fair number of games if Martin doesn't feel 100%.

Francisco Cervelli endeared himself to many Yankees fans when he was called up in 2009 after both Posada and Molina were injured and he did a great job behind the plate. Starting off the 2010 season Cervelli was great at and behind the plate and some even said that the Yankees should trade Montero and Romine because Cervelli was clearly the future starting catcher for the Yankees. Unfortunately Cervelli made a lot of errors in the second half of the season and as a result his defense rating plummeted and he finished  at the bottom of the league defensive ranking, but anyone who watched the games saw that a lot of these errors were not due to Cervelli making true defensive errors but were more bone headed than anything else. Also he was has statistically been good at throwing out runners until this year when he posted his lowest caught stealing percentage ever and again he was good at the beginning of the year before falling apart around the second half. He did post a .359OBP but his batting average took a nose dive after a very hot April & May and he has never had any power , but oddly enough did hit more triples this year than he hit in his entire minor league career.

Despite the criticism of Cervelli he has was a good backup and he hits well enough to be the starting catcher on most teams and in a recent interview he talked about working with Robinson Cano on hitting and on his desire to be a Starting catcher and win a Gold Glove. Cervelli has been apart of a lot of trade talks with many clubs asking the Yankees about him and he was almost dealt to the Dodgers for Russell Martin. Unfortunately for Cervelli I doubt that he will ever be the Starting catcher for the Yankees due to their great Catching prospects, but he could be a long term back-up or he could be traded at some point in the future as he is definitely capable of starting for a number of teams. Many could project that Cervelli could be dealt some time this season when the Yankees trade for a Starting pitcher but I expect that Romine will be the most likely trade chip this season if a catcher is involved.
I expect to see Cervelli about once a week and I expect that now that he will be playing in the backup role his defensive stats will improve. Also hopefully we will see the return of his Rawlings S-100 protective helmet which earned him the nickname Gazoo.