A True Yankee Podcast 7/31

Our Newest installment of A True Yankee Podcast. We discuss the Yankees and the league after the trade deadline.

The Yankees after the Trade deadline

Well the trade deadline passed and several players have changed teams. The Dodgers were busy as they picked up Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins, Brandon League from the Mariners and Shane Victorino from the Phillies, all mostly for Salary relief. In response the Giants traded for Hunter Pence, this is the Kind of arms race we used to see in the AL East and its great because the Dodgers/Giants rivalry is probably the best in baseball right now.
The Yankees made their biggest moves before the deadline acquiring Ichiro Suzuki for DJ Mitchell after Gardner was ruled out for the year, It was a great pickup and I talked about it earlier. When ARod went down with a broken hand the Yankees were said to be looking for a third baseman to platoon with Eric Chavez and they did that at the deadline when they traded Chad Qualls to the Pirates for Casey McGehee. The Pirates had been platooning McGehee with Garret Jones at first and after they traded for Gaby Sanchez they did not need him anymore. Its a good pickup and I wonder if Nix or Pena will go down as they do not need Nix to play third anymore and his defense at shortstop isn't very good. Granted the Yankees could also decide to call up Eduardo Nunez to be the backup middle infielder, but we will have to wait and see. The Yankees were also connected to Ryan Dempster for Angelo Gumbs or Dante Bichette Jr, but he ended up going to the Rangers who needed him a lot more.

CCSU loves Evan Scribner

Scribner with the CCSU Blue Devils

Evan Scribner with the Oakland A's

Evan Scribner is a relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics and more importantly is a Central Connecticut State University Alumni and a Connecticut native. He is the first CCSU alumni to pitch in the majors since Ricky Bottalico ended his career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005. Scribner was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks following his senior season with the Blue Devils in 2007, in which he led them to the College World Series. Scribner made 74 appearances, including 33 starts, during his four-year career with CCSU. He compiled a 23-16 record and collected a Blue Devil-record 14 saves, I know that does not sound like a lot but remember this is college ball they do not play as many games and he switched between the bullpen and rotation a lot. Additionally, Scribner, who is among the all-time wins leaders in school history, recorded 20 complete games, five shutouts and a combined shutout. He totaled 288.0 innings on the mound, striking out 224 while walking just 57 and having a college 3.34 earned run average.

In his senior season in 2007, Scribner went 6-6 with a team-low 2.78 ERA. He made 21 appearances, starting nine games. He had seven complete games and one shutout while also notching seven saves. In 2004, Scribner won Northeast Conference Tournament Most Valuable Player honors for his efforts in helping lead the Blue Devils to a NCAA Tournament appearance as a freshman. He was also a 2006 All-NEC selection. Scribner has only pitched 12 innings so far with the A's but has already worked his way into some high leverage innings.

Scribner made his MLB Debut with the San Diego Padres  in April 2011 but was DFA in the offseason and picked up off waivers by the A's. Scribner achieved his first MLB save this season against his former club the San Diego Padres. Scribner sports a fastball at 90-94 mph, followed by a 12-6 curveball that is known to have a 20 mph difference. He has a changeup but he seldom uses it and is primarily a two pitch pitcher. Scribner has great control as he has a 18/6 Strike out to walk ratio.He is only the third CCSU alum to make it to the major leagues. Ricky Bottalico, and Skip Jutze are the only other two Blue Devils to make it that far.

I hope that Scribner can one day find his way to the Yankees, but until then I wish him the best of luck in Oakland from one CCSU Alumni to another. You can also follow Evan on Twitter @Evanscribner

The myth of the Yankees inability to develop pitching

Shhh, Nova doesnt know the Yankees can't develop Starting pitching

The Yankees cannot develop pitchers....thats the narrative, their organization is incapable of developing a single good pitcher which is why they need to buy pitchers. The problem of course is that its a total myth, the Yankees have been developing pitchers consistently the last few years but people have been looking at the failure of Joba Chamberlain as a starting pitcher and saying that the Yankee organization is incapable of developing pitchers. Yes the Yankees messed up Joba in 2009 with their stupid Joba rules,  he had that amazing run in 2008 but he needed more development time after pitching only half a season in the minors. He had great stuff and the Yankees rushed him and they got burned, it happens to everybody, for all the praise the Rays get for player development they have a ton of draft busts or players that underwhelmed or burned out. Part of the problem is that New York is different, somebody can pitch through a bad year if you play in Minnesota or San Diego, but in New York you do badly and your out the door. I talked about this in the first A True Yankee podcast, but people seem to have this idea that teams should develop these ace pitchers, but the only team who seems to develop pitchers out of nothing is the Rays; its a crap shoot, some pitching prospects succeed some don't. The Giants trio of Lincium, Cain and Bumbgardner being good isnt a sign of how good they are at developing pitchers, these guys were all 1st round draft picks that were expected to be good. The Yankees had their big three in Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy and despite the idea that the big three was a bust they are all successful Major league pitcher, I know the Killer B's have been a bust but not all prospects work out.

Lets also take a look at the starting pitchers that were developed in the Yankees system the last few years: Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Zach Mcallister, Ivan Nova, David Phelps, Hector Noesi, Chien-Ming Wang, Jeff Karstens, Ted Lilly. Ian Kennedy was the highest draft pick of any of these pitchers at 21st overall so the Yankees miss out on the cream of the crop in terms of pitching talent, but still if you include Jose Quintana then the Yankees account for 10 of the 150 Starting pitchers in baseball right now or two full team rotations, that seems pretty good to me.

To be fair this talk has died down a little since Nova came on the scene and Hughes turned his season around but I wonder if people will still be talking about this stuff in the next few years as the Yankees look to rely more on their homegrown players to keep costs down. If in 2013 the rotation is 3/5 homegrown pitchers is it still gonna be said the Yankees cannot develop pitchers. Lets also be clear in that the Yankees have been been better than anyone in finding Power arms late in the draft and turning them into great bullpen pieces. Part of the problem is that the Yankees have a fan base and media following that wants five aces and anything less than that is not going to be good enough. The fact that the Yankees have not only survived their starting pitcher injuries but have flourished is a testament to their pitching depth and you get depth by developing pitchers. If you wanna read a little bit more detail about this topic check out this article written by Greg Corcoran of Bronx baseball daily.

ARod out until September with Broken Hand and other Yankees news

KEVIN P. CASEY/AP

ARod joined the list of the wounded with a non-displaced hand fracture that will sideline him for the next 6-8 weeks. With the exception of the switch hitters Teixeira and Swisher, ARod was the Yankees only regular right handed power bat and now the injury prone Chavez will need to play almost everyday. The Yankees could make a move for a third baseman, but I do not know how likely that is as I expect that it is more likely they could look for a versatile bench bat or just platoon Chavez and Nunez when he is healthy. They could also look for another bounce back candidate like Scott Rolen but I do not expect they will get involved for Chase Headley. The other bats are going to need to step up with ARod out especially with the Red Sox series coming up and some tough games in August. One interesting name to consider is Marco Scutaro if the Rockies make him available as he could play both Short Stop and Thirdbase. The Yankees have recalled Ramiro Pena for the time being.

Joba Chamberlain pitched a perfect rehab inning yesterday and will rehab again today. The hope is that he can be back at the end of the month and that bullpen really needs it as the shortcomings of three match up guys in a seven man bullpen are really showing lately.

This one is not technically Yankees related but the Tampa Bay Rays DFA former Yankee Hideki Matsui who had only hit .147/.214/.221 with two home runs and one double in 103 PA. This is likely the end for Matsui as he struggled to find a job this season and looks to be done. When he played against the Yankees you could see that his power was gone as the balls off his bat just were not going out. Matsui was my favorite Yankee from when he first came to the team in 2003 and we will still have to wait to see if Matsui decides to walk away now that it seems he cannot play at the MLB level anymore.

Yankees acquire Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro in photoshopped pinstripes

Ichiro Suzuki has been traded to the Yankees for minor league pitchers DJ Mitchell and Well there is a set of words I do not think I ever thought I would write, but the Yankees have been full of these types of moves the last several years. Nobody thought Pineda would be acquired, or Javier Vazquez would be acquired or that A.J Burnett would actually be moved and that is just what Brian Cashman did. Ichiro has been declining for the last few years and the Yankees are hopeing that he can bounce back, but on top of that Ichiro provides his still solid defnse and ability to play everyday in the field which will be great since the alternative would have been a combination of Wise, Jones and Ibanez. Suzuki also provides some speed that the Yankees really needed since losing both Nunez and Gardner and Granderson suddenly unable to steal bases its a definate lift for the Yankees.
This is a definate good move for the Yankees as they gave up pitching prospects D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar both of whom are very minimal impact players. Its going to be intresting to see how Ichiro plays out the rest of the year as he is apparently done with the Mariners as he requested the trade from the Mariners ownership and this is a very intresting storyline for the Yankees and baseball.

Is Rick Ankiel a great fit?

Rick Ankiel was DFA today by the Washington Nationals and it has been immediately suggested that the Yankees should acquire Ankiel and that it would be a great fit. I however along with SB Nations Ed Valentine have suggested that this may not be as great an idea as it seems. Sure Ankiel is still a plus defender but is he really an upgrade over Dewayne Wise? Wise is currently hitting well in his limited playing time, while Ankiel was only hitting .228 in 158 PA and I do not see how Ankiel is a real upgrade over Wise. It also helps that the Yankees would seem to have to make a trade for Ankiel as I seriously doubt that he would fall to them as he would have to go through every other team in baseball first. It also seems unlikely that Ankiel would be able to turn around his season in New York as he has been declining since 2008 and replacing Wise with Ankiel also takes away about th eonly speed the Yankees really have on the base paths. In short I just do not see how this move would help the Yankees, despite what some may claim.