Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Moose Out Kennedy In

Joe Torre made the speculation official: Mike Mussina has been pulled from his scheduled start on Saturday, and Ian Kennedy will be brought up to make his MLB debut against the Devil Rays.

Expectations are high for Kennedy: At 22, he was the club's first round draft pick in '06 and is thought of in the organization as the best prospect out of all the young pitchers in their system (including Hughes and Chamberlain). Kennedy's minor league numbers for 2007: 12-2 with a 1.91 ERA.

8 comments:

Middle Relief said...

Andy Pettitte is 8-1 in his last 10 starts - that's what real Yankees do.

Anonymous said...

Don't expect "Jaba" like stuff when you see Kennedy. Al Leiter has said that Kennedy is very similar to a "young" Mussina. Low 90's fastball who relies on change of speeds and deception to get hitters out.

I wonder how they are going to work out the whole 40 man roster thing.

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing the Henn gets sent back down? Or is there no need for a roster move because they expand to 40 by then?

I really like the way Johnny Damon and Melkey are playing right now - both in the field and at the plate. Melkey has to be one of the better bunters in the league.

Does anyone know the final fate of the squirrel, did it make it down?

Mid

old professor said...

It is now apparent that Brian Cashman is pulling all of the strings as to who comes up and who goes out. Earlier this week, Torre made it clear that Kennedy would not be a September callup because he was not on the forty man roster. A few days later and another Mussina meltdown and Kennedy is up on September 1. Even though he will be a September callup, someone on the forty man roster has to be released. September callups can only come from the forty man roster and when he is added someone has to go. (They released Basak to put their #1 draft pick on the roster). Most logical move would be to release Jim Brower.

Torre has also indicated he does not anticipate using Mussina out of the pen. Does this mean that Mussina sits the rest of the year or Kennedy only gets one start and goes to the pen?

With thirty games to go, there may also have to be consideration given to getting rid of the Chamberlain rule of giving him a day off for each inning he pitches.

With his stuff and effectiveness, can the Yankees really afford not using him in critical situations?

Another move the Yankees made was to send out Sean Henn and called up Chris Britton. Move was made to add a fresh arm to the pen. Expect to see Henn back in 10 days.

Anonymous said...

How about getting some credit for this blog once again getting it right???

Anonymous said...

You run a blog, that means you're a journalist. You're SUPPOSED to get things right.

old professor said...

Mid,

In most instances if you throw enough BS at a wall some of it will eventually stick.

Let's remember this blog site also sang the praises of Jeff Karstens and Darrell Rasner. And last time I checked, Karstens was back in the minors and Rasner is continuing his career as he began it with Montreal - on the DL.

You have to take the criticism when you screw up and realize you run the risk of breaking your arm when you pat yourself on the back as much as you do. (Being humble is not something within your nature - just one more of your mother's traits!)

Anonymous said...

Old Man -

1 - it takes more than watching a few innings of a random game and 9 minutes of sports center to be plugged in.

2 - Karstens and Rassner were obviously thought highly enough by mgmt to make the MLB roster out of the gate as well.

3 - Making up things, citing things incorrectly, and exaggerating claims while accepted in your left wing hate america cirlces, is not counted as critism or counter points by the R.O.W. - so, its not just me.

Mid

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