Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Strasburg Delivers for the Nats/MLB

I doubt that when MLB put together the '10 schedule that they had any expectations for a meaningful, highly attended event to occur.

I thought it was pretty cool to see 40k plus in a Nationals stadium, and you could tell on the faces of many of the players there, that they were nervous, having never played in front of so many people either. -- Playoff atmosphere in a town that hasn't seen any in a long time. Hope the momentum lasts.

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In other news:
Hughes continues to show that he will live up to his hype. And the Yanks drafted a kid out of Rochester yesterday which is also kind of cool.


17 comments:

Crash said...

I'm not ready to put Strasburg in the Hall or anything, but the kid looks like the real deal. A lot of comparisons are being made to Kerry Wood but with better control. I hope he stays healthier than Wood and Prior. If he can perform anywhere near that level on a consistent basis for a prolonged period of time and stay healthy...wow!

Hughes is going to the All Star game this year. With Girardi as the manager it's a given. I think he leads the AL in wins (or maybe tied), his ERA is sub 3, he has a bunch of K's. I hope Hughes can keep it up, I know we're not at the half way point yet...but 20 wins is a possibility for him this year. If he gets 20 with a sub 3 ERA he's wins the CY. Having said that, still a lot of baseball to play.

Oh yeah, Yankees need to release Gaudin now. He comes in with a 9 run game and 1 inning later Rivera is starting to get loose in the pen. I would cut him and call someone up from the farm. Having Aceves out really changes the bullpen dynamic.

Crash said...

Just saw this a couple of trade rumors...This one confirms what 57 was actually saying last week. The Mariners believe the Yankees will request a trade for Cliff Lee. The Mariners are interested in AAA prospect Eduardo Nunez (he's a SS, so I would guess he's expendable), and one of the Yankees prized catching prospects Montero or Romine. This makes sense only if the Yankess are preparing for next season, and don't anticipate signing Javy and Pettitte or maybe they go with a true 6 man rotation. But as it stands now, Javy is picking it up, Pettitte & Hughes are pitching like an All-Stars and CC & AJ are signed long term. The fit is quite there for this. To me this says the Yankees are not confident in one or more of there pitchers for the push to October.

Separate note, the Yankees have scouts following the Astros for a possible Lance Berkman trade with the possibility of Nick Johnson being out for the year. Also rumored trade partner the White Sox for Paul Konerko.

old professor said...

Crash, the player the Yankees took in the second round who is listed as a shortstop is also targeted for centerfield in the future. Team seemed to drafft arms in later rounds.

Regarding Lee - I would not give up Nunez. He will be major league ready by the end of August or into September. It would make sense that he could be the heir aparent to Jeter. I cannot see the Yankees giving Jeter a long term contract to continue at short. Once again there is a question regarding his range.

As for Strasburg, he pitched against the Pirates which can classify as a triple a team. His next start will be against Cleveland which could be considered worse than the Pirates. They are going to build this kids confidence. However, the real test will be when he faces a real offensive team and gets knocked around a little how he rebounds.

Crash said...

I believe Strasburg is schedule to face the Braves in 2 or 3 starts. That's a pretty good test.

Old Prof you are delusional if you think the Yankees don't sign Jeter for at least 5 years. And the day he doesn't play SS is the day he retires. And you were saying the same thing about Pena just last year as the "heir apparent to Jeter". Besides when you're talking 3-5 years down the line you still have plenty of time to draft another. And let's face it the Yankees aren't exactly shy about trading for someone or signing them via free agency.

Mid said...

On Cliff Lee -

Rumors are that the guy is pretty much a jerk and a club house problem so I hope the Yanks to sign him.

57 said...

Props to the Mets for 9 in a row at home. Once we figure out our road game, we're good to go. I hope we release John Maine as our rotation is quite fine right now, and if we get to the playoffs, Santanta, Pelfrey, Niese and Dickey or Takhashi is a pretty good rotation.

I'd trade Tejada and Martinez in AAA to get Lee. If they want Nunez, they'd be happy with Tejada equally.

old professor said...

57, if you actually believe that a pitcher like Dickey will help lead the Mets to the promised land you really need help. He is an individual who had talent but could never harness it. He would show flashes of great pitching to build up hopes of managers (please reference Texas Rangers) only to revert to form of throwing batting practice to opposing teams.

Crash said...

Old Prof if any organization was having high hopes for that type of pitcher to lead them to the promise land, then that's the organizations problem by setting unrealistic goals. Knuckleballers will not save an organization, good ones will be serviceable and provide inning eating duties and post double digit wins and are usually around .500 winning pct for their career.

57 I did read that Takhashi was heading to the bullpen though.

You should be wishing for the outright release of Perez, at least Maine wants to pitch.

On to Yankee news, I watched Teixeira look at a couple called third strikes right down the middle of the plate..he's lost and needs to be dropped in the order if not benched right now. I'd be willing to trade for a Konerko type bat if it doesn't cost them a ton. I think as soon as Posada is healthy enough to catch you could see the Yankees make a deal like that.

Orioles called up a hot prospect from AAA to pitch tonight's game against the Yankees. Fresh/new rookie pitchers usually give the Yankees a hard time.

Crash said...

So A-Rod was pulled because of a stiff groin. He's seeing a doctor today about it...not just any doc though. It's his hip doc. Even though A-Rod hasn't been hitting like A-rod, he hasn't been terrible (that would be Tex) I hope he's not out for a long period here.

old professor said...

Hughes wins number nine and there is already some mumbling about an innings limitation on the kid. If he has approximately 14 starts left before he reaches an innings limit he could be 19-5 at that time does anyone really think that won't give the kid a chance to win 20 games in his first full season as a starter?

Don't mess with success - if they want to begin to limit his innings keep him to five or six innings. I am still a strong believer in it isn't the number of innings but the number of pitches a person throws. What is worse for a pitcher throwing 100 pitches over eight innings or 115 pitches over six?

And crash to comment on an earliler post regarding Jeter getting a five year contract - he might but he won't be playing shortstop for that time. His range is a risk. At what point do you actually admit that balls that are getting through the infield around the shortstop area could have been stopped by most shortstops? The guy is gettiing old by baseball time and he is slowing down. I would hope we don't witness another Ken Griffey moment with Jeter. I truly believe he will realize his limitation and change positions.

Really looking forward to going to the stadium in July. May also be able to take in a Rockies game while in Denver.

Crash said...

Old Prof I agree. Yankees need to let Hughes go. In the second half they can opt to skip him a couple times as the schedule always, or maybe limit the start to 5 innings. I did read some folks are speculating that if the Yankees pursued Cliff Lee in July then they would think about moving Hughes back to the pen to limit the innings. My personal opinion that would be the worst move possible they could make.

old professor said...

What seems to be forgotten in the Hughes debate is that he was a starter in the minors and logged significantly more innings than Chamberlain ever thought of putting in. The only reduction in innings came the year he was hurt and last year because they put him in the pen.

Crash said...

Old prof I agree 100%.

old professor said...

Iam beginning to believe the Yankees signed a real head case in Burnett. He bears some similarity to Brian Bruney - Great stuff (electric fastball and knee buckling curve), but once he lets it go only God knows exactly where it is going to go.

Crash said...

Burnette is exactly what his #'s say he is...his last year with the Jays was a contract year so he stayed focused and won 18 games.

Other than that he's a .500 pitcher with great stuff who's going to strike out people and walk people and have an ERA around 4. He got off to a quick start but is settling in to what he is. You figure he he stays healthy, he has about 18-20 starts left if he wins 10, he probably ends up with a record of 16-12 or something close to that.

During the last couple of Yankee broadcasts the announcers have indicated that Girardi is taking Hughes and Pettitte to the All Star game. Gardner is also a possibility, think his average is back up to about .320 and with all of his SB's he should go.

old professor said...

The unfortunate thing with Burnett is that they gave him a lot of years and a lot of money not to be a .500 pitcher. It is sad to say but it appears that Vasquez is actually pitching better than Burnett. If the Yankees eventually land Cliff Lee - they should consider unloading burnett.

As for all star consideration, Swisher needs to be given some strong thought. He has had a solid year offensively and defensively.

Crash said...

Absolutely Swisher should go...here's the bad thing though, the Yankee manager can't take all Yankee players right. Jeter and Cano are voted in. Girardi takes Mo, Pettitte, and Hughes. Then maybe Gardner and maybe Swisher...that's 7 Yankees...no way. He's going to tick someone off in his own clubhouse for sure.

I think Vazquez is pitching himself into an extension with the Yankees. He needs to beat the Mets and pitch a huge game against the Red Sox sometime this year. He does that and the fans will stand behind him.

Burnett is not tradeable. He's signed through 2013 making $16.5 annually, plus he has a limited no-trade clause (I guess he can pick 10 teams each year that he doesn't want to go to). If he gives you 16-20 W's each year then $16.5 is worth it, but if he's hanging around 12-15 W's and continues to be .500 it turns out to be a bad contract they will never be able to move unless they throw in some major cash.

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