YEEP 7/31/11. Please, pleeaase don't sweep me.

Evil Em VP of the day. It was slim pickens today, but it goes to Rey Nunez and his 3 doubles at Staten Island.

In other news, Banuelos has been called up to AAA. Exciting, although I'm not sure he's ready. I guess it doesn't matter now because we aren't worried about trading him.Also, according to Josh Norris on twitter, Vidal Nuno has been promoted and will start tomorrow for Charleston.


AAA SWB: L 3-6 vs Rochester. L: DJ Mitchell
Russo: 2/4, R, 2B (.289)
JoVa: 1/4, 2 RBI, 2 K (.248)
Laird: 1/4, 2 K (.274). An uncharacteristic 6 game minor league hit streak dating back to before the call-up. I hope this motivation doesn't wear off.
Krum: 0/3, BB.
DJ Mitchell: 5 IP, 10 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 HR. It's just one bad outing.
JC Romero: 1 IP, Zeros across the board.
Wordekemper: 1 IP, H, 0 ER.

AA Trenton: L 0-5 to Richmond. L: Mr. Garrison (back to his old tricks, I guess he left Mr. Hat in the bronx after his demotion.
Kruml: 0/4, K (.291)
CoJo: 0/4 (.275)
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/4 (.288)
R-Ly Lyerly: 0/3, 3 K. No good.
Melkman Mesa: 0/3, K.
Dee Mack: 1/3, 2 K (.246)
Craig Heyer: 5 IP in relief, 5 H, ER, BB, 2 K (3.94 ERA)
Pope: 1 IP, H, ER, BB (.96 ERA at this level)

High A Tampa: L 0-7 to Charlotte. L: Marshall
Honest Abe Almonte: 2/4, 2 2B. I know I'll regret this tomorrow when I jinx his solid performance and he throws another 0/4 at us, but he's been damn good lately.
Castrol GTX Castro: 0/4, K.
K-Roll Roller: 1/3, 2B, BB (.242)
Luke Murton: 1/3 (.281)
Alcantara: 0/3, 2 K. Give it time, there's a huge difference between GCL and Tampa.
Marshall: 5.2 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Managed to keep his ERA just under 4 after a horrific outing, but he's been much better than that lately, hiccup.

Low A Charleston: L 3-5 to Greenville. L: Ramirez
Eddy Sosa: 1/5, 2 K (.264)
Ray-Flo Flores: 0/4 (.269).  His season has been pretty good for a 19 year old.
Shane Brown: 2/3, R, K (.300).
Sanchize: 04, R, K (.236)
J-Ram Ramirez: 6 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (4.24 ERA). Had an error also.

Short Season Staten Island: W 11-5. W: Rodriguez. Way to save the system from the sweep.
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, R, RBI, BB, SB (14), (.335). Seems like he's always doing something productive.
Cheeto Culver: 2/5, RBI (.291)
Ben Gamel the Camel: 1/4, R, 2B, BB, K (.275). Nice to see him at a point where a 1/4 day decreases his average.
Grice: 1/4, R, 3B, RBI, BB (.282). same.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 2/4, 2 R, RBI (.273)
Rey Nunez: 4/5, 2 R, 3 2B, 3 RBI (.293). Nice to see this Dominican kid starting to thrive.
Wilton Rodriguez: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 K (3.93 ERA on the season). Who am I to judge, if you're young (20), and putting up good stats, I should be following you.
Caleb Cotham: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, ER, 3 K (1.26 ERA)
Paullus: 2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 4 K (2.7 ERA)

YEEP 7/30/11. GCL = Murderer's Row

Evil Em VP of the day: Dante Bichette Junior. The first repeat winner, and he's very deserving of it.

AAA SWB: L 2-6 to Rochester. L: Warren

Russo: 0/4, R, K.

Montero: ¼, RBI

JoVa: ¼, 2B, 3 K. That’s more like the JoVa we know, but have learned to temper our expectations for

Laird: 2/4, 2B (.274). Stayin hot hot hot.

Krum: 0/3, K

Warren: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, HR. Tough outing, but it doesn’t take away from his solid season so far. For now, I guess we can just be happy Nova started today instead of him, not that it mattered who started.

Randy Flores: 1.1 IP, H, 2 K.

AA Trenton: W 17-5 vs Richmond. W: Hall. Falling in line with the major league team I see. How… expected.

Kruml: 0/4, 2 R, BB, 2 K, SB (34). (.294)

Dee Mack: 0/1 in PH appearance. Dee Mack is back though.

CoJo: 3/5, 3 R, 2 2B, RBI, BB (.277). Picking it up again. Maybe he just didn’t wanna get traded.

Austin BRomine: 0/3, 2 R, BB, K (.284).

Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 4/5, 5 R, 2B, RBI, BB (.290). Breakout prospect alert.

Melkman Mesa: 2/4, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, K (.235) 8 for his last 28. Not stellar but he’s been solid lately. Maybe he’s starting to figure out AA pitching. That’d be clutch.

Shaeffer Hall: 7 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, BB, 5 K, HR. Epitomizes his season, got win #10 out of it.

High A Tampa: L 3-5 to Charlotte. L: Hinojosa

Castrol GTX Castro: 2/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K, SB (6), (.326). I am loving these stolen bases lately. That’s 3 in his last 3 games. He’s also 16 for his last 38 (.421). These types of surprises are why it’s fun to follow the minor leagues.

DAdams: 1/5, BB, K. Okay.

K-Roll Roller: ¼, BB.

Luke Murton: 2/5, 2B, RBI (.280): 14 for his last 33, 2 HR, 7 RBI. Old for his level (25), but still nice to see.

Alcantara: 0/3. Got promoted to high A, good for him. Tough start but it’s to be expected.

Jose Quintanadana: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K. Another solid outing. He’s been a big surprise this year.

Kramedog Sneed: 2.2 IP, ER, H, 2 BB, 4 K, BS. Not too bad.

Hinojosa: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, K. Another promotion, another tough beginning, expected outcome.

Dan Burawa: 1 IP, H, K (3.0 ERA at this level now). Great job kid.

Charleston: L 3-4 to Greenville. L: Greene

Ray-Flo Flores: 0/4, K (.272)

Shane Brown: 0/3, BB, K (.259).

Shane Greene: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, HR (4.08 ERA now).

Mark Monte Python Montgomery: 1 IP, K, 0 ER. Next level please.

Short Season Staten Island: 1-15 Midnight rape by Jamestown. L: Mitchell.

Mad Mase Williams: 0/3, K (.338). You’re excused.

Cheeto Culver: 0/3, K (.287). You’re also excused.

Angelo Bubba Gumbs: ¼, K, SB (9). I like the 9 SBs.

Cody Grice: 0/4, K.

Ben Gamel the Camel: 2/3, 2B. 12 for his last 35 (.343) with 3 SB in his last 10. .276 on the season. We have some good OF prospects on their way up right now. Hopefully some of them materialize. Given their youth, I’d give it a better than normal shot.

Bryan Mitchell: 4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 5 K, 2 HR. Very inconsistent this year. I think it’s safe to say he’s been disappointing.

Varce: .2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, BB. Yikes.

Phil Wetherell: 1.2 IP, 2 H, R, 0 ER 3 K. Less yikes.

Gerritse: .2 IP, ZEROS. Yes.

GCL Yankees: W 10-6 v GCL Phillies. W: Morton. These guys just will not lose.

Janitor Custodio: 1/5, R, 3 K (.309)

Dan Brewer: ¼, R, RBI. Taken out after his 4^th at bat. They’re being really careful with guys returning from injury this year.

Henry Pena: 1/1, RBI in a ph for Brewer. (.304)

Isaias The Hata Tejeda: 3/5, 3 R, 2B, K, SB (5) (.366)

Junior Bichette: ¾, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI (.350). Talk about a guy who is dominating the level. It’s so funny how quickly a season can go from seemingly horrific to hilariously awesome.

Yeicok Calderon: ¼, 2B, 2 RBI, K

Ravenous Ravel Santana: 0/2, R, 2 BB. He’s not too old to learn. Adjustment time.

Daniel Lopez: ¼ (.298)

Jose Rosario: 0/4, R, 2 K.

YEEP 7/29/11

 Evil Em VP of the day: Graham Stoneburner. Image thanks to NJ.com

AAA SWB: L 5-8 vs Buffalo. L: Wordekemper
Russo: 1/5, R, H, K (.290)
Krum: 0/4
Montero: 1/4, R, K. Not showing why we shouldn't trade him except for a couple of random homers recently.
JoVa: 2/4, R, HR (25), 2 RBI, K. He's pretty on fire right now, although it's really only the homeruns. He doesn't do much else well.
Laird: 2/3, R, 2B, RBI. He must be the type who got a taste of the pros and now he wants it real bad. He's done really well since the demotion.
Brack Attack: 3.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 9 WALKS, 2 K. NINE WALKS. Wow.
Wordekemper: .2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, BB, K.
JC Romero: .2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB
Schmidt: 3.1 IP, 3 H, BB, K, 0 ER. He's the only one who could figure out the Bisons tonight. Too bad it was too little too late.

AA Trenton: L 2-3 to Richmond, L: Chase Whitley
Kruml: 2/4, 2 R, SB (33) (.297). Back at it after his little hit streak came to a close yesterday.
CoJo: 2/4, 2B, RBI, K (.273). That's the type of game he needs, he's been slackin.
Austin BRomine: 3/4, 2B, RBI, K (.290). Dude can hit.
R-Ly Lyerly: 0/4, 3 K. He's been a little hit or miss so far, tonight was miss (.277)
Melkman Mesa: 0/2, 2 BB, K, SB (15).
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/3, BB, 3 K, SB (1st of his AA season).
Graham Cracker Stoneburner: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, ER, BB, 5 K. Great debut.
Whitley: 2 IP, 4 H, ER, HR
Josh Bromance Romanski: 1 IP, H, 0 ER.

Tampa: W 6-5 vs Charlotte. W: Landoni
DAdams: 0/5, 3 K
Mustelier Musketeer: 2/6, 2B, 2 RBI
Roller: 0/2, 2 K
Murton: 2/4
Seggy Segedin: 1/2, K
Landoni: 2/3, and he even got the win in this game. 2.0 IP, H, K. That's the definition of utility.
Castrol GTX Castro: 3/5, 3 R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K, SB (5) (.325)
Casanova: 2.1 IP, H, ER, BB, K (3.86 ERA) Promoted from one of the short season teams.
Preston Claiborne: 3 IP, 0 ER, 5 K. He's really started to come around since the beginning of the season.
Gipson: 3 IP, H, 3 BB, K, 0 ER (3.38 ERA)

Charleston: L 1-4 vs Greenville. L: Evarts
Eddy Sosa: 0/4, 2 K (.265). Going the opposite direction of Flores
Sanchize: 0/4, 2 K.
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/4, SB (10).
Kahnle: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. (4.8 ERA). Excuse my french, but his season has really went into the shitter.

Short Season Staten Island: W 10-7 vs Batavia. W: Pinder. S: Paullus
Mad Mase Williams: 2/5, K (.344)
Cheeto Culver: 1/5, 2 R, RBI
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 1/5, R, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 K. Also had his 6th error of the season.
Cody Grice: 3/5, 2 R, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 K (.302). Avg over .300 now, looking like a good pick.
Gamel the Camel: 2/4, 2 RBI (.260)
Stevenson: 2/5, 2 R, 2 K.
Pinder: 2 IP, 2 K, W (2-0). He's been great at this level, and apparently scouts have high praise for him.
Paullus: 1 IP, BB, K. (2.45).

GCL Yankees: W 15-4. W: Checo.
Janitor Custodio: 1/3, 4 R, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 SB (16). This is a great game if you ask me. On base 4/6 times, steal some bases, and score some runs. Perfect leadoff guy.
Brewski Brewer: 1/2, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K. Rehab, still have him playing half games I guess.
Justin James: 2/2, 2 R, 2B, RBI, BB. He was supposed to be a project and very raw but as it turns out we have signed a hit machine (.433 in 30 at bats)
Junior Bichette: 2/6, R, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 2 K. That's 2 HR. Looks like we may have made a decent draft choice. That's two years in a row our choice was questioned and 2 years in a row it appears in the early stages that we've made a good decision.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K (.264)
Matt Duran Duran: 1/5, R, 2 K.
Alcantara: 0/1
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 0/5, 2 K. Nope
Jackson Valera: 2/3, 2B, R, BB. He's a catcher out of Venenzuela. Don't know much about him but he's batting .290.
Henry Pena: 0/0, BB, R (.273)
Gabriel Encinas: 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. The starters have been disappointing so far at this level with the exception of Taylor Morton and more recently Reynaldo Polanco, who apparently throws mid 90's and has a solid curveball at 18.
Checo: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Maines: 1.2 IP, 2 K

YEEP 7/28/11: Hungry like the wolves (Matt Duran Duran)

Evil Em VP of the day: Matt Duran (3/4, HR). Image thanks to newrochelletalk.com.

7th rounders Bubba Jones and 18th rounder Hayden Sharp have been signed. This is what I had to say about Sharp when we drafted him.

"18th round: Hayden Sharp, 6-6, 200, RHP HS, He is signed to play at Central Oklahoma. Nothing on his other pitches though, or his command. As a senior he was used mostly as a reliever and had 82 strikeouts. Keith Law on Twitter: Pop-up guy for the draft this year - Hayden Sharp from Morris, OK. Hit 98 on Thursday, lot of 93-96, quarterback committed to Ctrl Oklahoma" He has gotten quite a few comps to Brett Marshall.

Yardbarker on Bubba Jones:  "6-1, 210-pounds, left handed hitting 18-year-old with power out of Edmonds-Woodway high school in Washington. He played catcher, first, and some outfield in high school, but was drafted as a first baseman by the Yankees. He has no agent representing him and a commitment to the University of Arizona."  From what I understand, he is a power bat who will start out at GCL.

AAA SWB: W 6-3 vs Buffalo: W: Carlyle. S: Flores
Russo: 0/4, RBI, K
Montero: 0/4, BB
JoVa: 1/5, R, HR, RBI, 2 K. That's his 24th HR, at least the power is coming back. He's also got 68 RBI. That's some good production.
Laird (Bash Brother): 2/5, 2 R, 2B. The bash brother nickname is in reference to the fight he and his brother got in at the bar, and also in reference to the Mighty Ducks.
A bunch of acquired pitchers pitched tonight, the most significant IMO is Randy Flores: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER. Still think he could contribute a lot in the LOOGY role.

AA Trenton: L 3-8 to Richmond. L: Betnaces
Kruml: 0/4, BB, 3 K. This breaks a long hit streak for him. Most of them were 1/4 types though.
CoJo: 0/3, 2 R, 2 BB, K.
Austin BRomine: 1/5, RBI
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/5, 2 K.
Melkman Mesa: 2/4, R, RBI, K. :)
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/3, BB
Betances: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, 3 K. This outing is not nearly as bad as it looks. He pitched 5 shutout innings and then let up 5 runs on 6 batters in the top of the 6th. He's not really used to pitching deep into games. Hopefully they're unleashing him a bit now.
Sideshow Venditte: 2 IP, H, 0 ER, 3 K. (ERA down to 2.86). He just keeps doing it at every level.
K-Flan Flannery: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 K. He was the closer at Tampa. Mostly pitched 1 inning at a time. His first inning was much better than the second, I'll give him a free pass.
Pope: .1 IP, Zeros. (0.00 at Trenton, still).

High A Tampa: W 12-2
DAdams: 3/5, 2 R, 2B, BB (.348)
Musketeer Mustelier: 1/6, 2B (.305)
K-Roll Roller: 2/5, 2 R, HR, RBI. 4th HR at Tampa, 13th of the season total.
Seggy Segedin: 1/5, R, RBI, 2 K
Luke Murton: 2/4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI. #8 for him.
Castrol GTX Castro: 3/5, R, 3 RBI, K, SB (4). Back on track after a bried slow spell.
Nothing of terrible importance with the pitching.

Low A Charleston: L 8-13 to Greenville. L: Rondon
Eddy Sosa: 1/3, R, 2 BB, 2 K
Sanchize: 2/5, 2 R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 K. I like it, except for the K's.
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/3, R, RBI, BB, K. The strong work continues.
Recchia: 1 IP, H, R, BB, 0 ER. 2.66 ERA on the season.

Short Season Staten Island: L 4-3 to Batavia. L: Tracy
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, 2 R, SB (13), BB, (.342)
Cheeto Culver: 1/3, RBI, BB (.296)
Cody Grice: 2/4, RBI, K, CS (1), (.276)
Gamel the Camel: 0/3, 2 K, SB (3)
Evan DeLuca: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 5 K. ERA is 2.56 on the season, it's just a performance fart.
Vidal Nuno: 1.1 IP, 3 K, ZEROS. (.72 ERA).
Matt Tracy: 3 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 K. Pitched pretty well actually, but we didn't score enough to win.

GCL Yankees: W 8-3 v GCL Blue Jays. What else is new with these guys? W: Cruz
Jose Rosario: 0/4 (.318)
Brewer (Brewski): 1/2, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB (2). Rehab. He'll be back in AAA soon I suppose.
Isaias Tejeda: 0/3, R, BB, K (.351 - watch out for small sample sizes).
Matt Duran: 3/4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI. Just his 2nd game, pretty decent start I guess.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/4, HR, 2 RBI, 3 K. Thats HR number 8 on the season. I just worry that this guy has Kelvin De Leon written all over him, especially when he strikes out 3 times like that. (.250)
Daniel Lopez: 0/4 (.300)
Alcantara: 0/4, 2 K (.278)
Justin James: 2/2, R, 2B (.393). Me likey.
Marquez: 2 IP, 2 BB, 2 K, 0 ER. IDK why I'm writing about him, I don't think much of him.
Kanekoa Texeira: 1 IP, K, 0 ER. He's back again.
Mad Cowsert Disease: 1 IP, 2 K.

YEEP 7/27/11: Cito Pujols... I mean Culver

Evil Em VP of the day: Cito Culver (2 HR, honorable mention to Jose Rosario 5/6, HR). Image thanks to rocketsports-ent.com

Here are some scouting reports on Mason Williams, Cito Culver, and Brandon Pinder. Enjoy http://www.pennleaguereport.net/2011/07/si-yanks-renegades-scouting-reports-7-21-11.html. Also, Laird was optioned back to AAA, not surprising with the return of Chavez. JR Murphy is on the DL now, I'm not sure why. Also, the Yankees signed 14th rounder Rookie Davis for $550,000, a pitcher who throws a fastball 89-92 mph and a good curveball. I have the full scouting report here... http://evilempireprospects.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-draft-rounds-10-50-who-should-we.html

AAA SWB: W 3-2 vs Bufallo. W: Kontos. S: Whelan
Krum: 1/4, 2B, 2 K
Montero: 0/4. He's allowed.
JoVa: 1/4, R, K
Lance Pendleton: 6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, BB, 3 K. Nice start. At some point the team should acknowledge he is a reliever and let him work on that at this level. Right now they need his innings though.
Kontos: 2 IP, H, BB, 2 K, 0 ER. Got the win. 1st time he's had two good outings in a row in a while.
Whelan: 1 IP, H, Zeros. 20th save of the season.

Trenton Thunder: W 5-1. W: Banuelos
Kruml: 1/4, K
CoJo: 1/5, RBI, 2 K. (.273)
Austin BRomine: 1/5, R, 2B, K (.285). Hang in there bro, this is when you really slipped last season
R-Ly Lyerly: 3/5, RBI. (.288) Stand by my major league comparison: Lyle Overbay (maybe it's just because they both have a Ly in their name?)
Melky Mesa: 1/5, R, K, SB (14), CS (11). (.229) A Microcosm of his season so far. He's been much better lately, but I'm skeptical of him.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/3, R, BB. (.275)
Banuelos: 6.1 IP, 5 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K, HR. If he hadn't gone out for the 7th, his line would have been 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. It was good experience for him though since he has struggled even to make it past the 5th inning recently. His ERA is 3.59 now. Not bad for a 20 year old in AA

High A Tampa: W 6-1 vs Fort Myers. W: O'Brien
DAdams: 1/5, R
Ronnier Mustelier Musketeer: 2/5, 2B, R, RBI, K. I'm interested to see if he's another JoVa, where he destroys the lower level pitching and then freaks out as soon as he has to hit a curveball/change
K-Roll Roller: 0/5, 3 K.
Seggy Segedin: 1/4, R, RBI
Murton: 1/2, 2B, 2 BB. Getting back to his early season successes.
Mikey O'Brien: 5 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 3 K. 2.57 ERA, the next David Phelps, I'm convinced.
Daniel Burawa: 3 IP, 2 H, BB, 0 ER. After a shaky start, he has been really good here.
Gipson: 1 IP, H, 0 ER. His first three at this level were rough, since then, hasn't let up a run in his last three.

Short Season Staten Island: W 10-1. W: Oliver
Mad Mase Williams: 2/5, 2 R, RBI, K (.345). Yum
Cheeto Culver: 2/4, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB. First two homers of the season. Funny how the above scouting report was surprised his pop hadn't showed up, and here it is.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, 2 BB, 3 K. Well there's the walks, I guess.
Cody Grice: 0/4, BB, K. Well there's the walk (singular), I guess.
Ben Gamel: 2/4, R, 2B, RBI, BB.(average up to .242) 11 for his last 30 (.367), 5 2B, 11 RBI, 4 BB. Pretty good. I'd like to call him Gamel the Camel because he was off to a slow start, but he holds water (crickets?).
Gotham City Cotham: 2 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 5 K. That would be his first run in 12.1 innings of work thus far at this level, good for a .73 ERA. He also has 20 K during that time period. Coming soon to a theatre near you: Gotham City gets promoted to Charleston.
Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, H, 2 K. Lookin good Phil.

GCL Yankees: W 12-5 vs GCL Blue Jays. This team means business. I know it doesn't matter at this level but these guys really don't like to lose (22-11 and in first place).
Jose Rosario: 5/6, 2 R, 2B, HR (4), 3 RBI. (.330) Have a day Jose!
Daniel Lopez: 1/6, R, 2B, 2 K, SB (14). Daniel-son has speed to burn.
Dante Bichette: 2/5, 2 R, BB, 2 K. All the things I said yesterday +1 (7 of last 8 multi-hit games, 13 game hit streak (.336)
Duran: 0/4, 2 K. Rough first game
Henry Pena: 3/3, 2 R, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, BB. Jeez, if someone is struggling on this team, just put them in the OF for a bit. There is so much talent in this OF it's ridiculous.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/5, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K. That's his 5th HR. I thought he had more.
Reynaldo Polanco: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, HR. 2.45 ERA in his last 5 outings (4.5 ERA total). He has 21 K in that time period, and just 3 BB. He's only 18 years old out of the DR, so this is actually pretty impressive.
Daniel D-Mart Martinez: 1 IP, 1 K, 0 ER. 20 year old out of Venezuela. 1.5 ERA so far in the GCL.

YEEP 7/26/11: Bichette Happens

Evil Em VP of the day: Dante Bichette Junior, not so much his 4/4 day today, but his domination as of recently. This image is in no way Dante Bichette Junior, it's his dad, Dante Bichette the first, but I love it so much. Thank you for the image "An a-Blog for A-Rod."

AAA SWB: W 11-2 v Buffalo. W Mitchell.
Kevin Russo: 1/4, BB, K.
Montero: 3/4, R, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, K. Welcome to the second half of the season... promotion despues de deadline por favor
JoVa: 1/5, R, HR, 2 RBI, 4 K. Danny Tartabull cerca 1993. Strikeout or homerun. Thats 23 in case anyone was counting
Austin Krum: 1/3, RBI, 2 BB, K, CS. Dear Austin, you'll never be anything unless you steal 40 bases in the minors.
DJ Mitchell: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 3 K, HR. The walks are uncharacteristic, so I'll accept this as a quality start
Wordekemper: 1 IP, H, K, 0 ER
Kevin Whelan: 1 IP, BB, K, 0 ER. Mark my words, he will be a major league reliever... somewhere.

AA Trenton: W 4-3 v Akron. W: Heyer. S: Whitley (lovin it)
Kruml: 1/4, RBI, BB, K.
CoJo (Corban Joseph): 1/5, 2 RBI, K.
Austin BRomine: 0/4, BB, 2 K. Nope
R-Ly Lyerly: 0/4, BB, 3 K. Nope
Melky Mesa: 1/5, R, K. Maybe?
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/5, 2B.
Pirela: 3/5, R, 2B, RBI, K. Normally wouldn't mention heim, but he is the only hitter who had a good game.
Craig Heyer: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. That's more like it Lance Pendleton... I mean Heyer.
Josh Bromance Romanski: .1 IP, 2 H, R, 0 ER. MEH! Did get the hold thanks to the next guy
Chase Whitley: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 3 K (S). Hopefully this is his statement game saying he belongs here.

High A Tampa Yankees: W 2-1 v Fort Myers. W: Claiborne. S: Marte
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 2/4, BB
Ronnier "Musketeer" Mustelier: 2/5, R, 3B, K. I ain't mad atcha (.313). The only question is how quickly will they move him
K-Roll Roller: 1/5, RBI, K.
Rob Seggy Segedin: 1/5, K
Brett Marshall: 5 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 6 K. Brought the ERA down to 3.69. It took him a while, but I'm happy to say he's back.
KrameDog Sneed: 2 IP, H, K (4.74 ERA). Still disagree with this promotion, but still rooting for this dude.
Preston Claiborne: 3 IP, H, 4 K (3.32 ERA). Nice

Charleston: L 4-6 to West Virginia. L: Barreda
Eddy Sosa: 1/5, R, 3 K. Cold as ice.
Shane Brown: 0/4, K. Hopefully he adjusts quickly. He's too old to make slow adjustments.
Gary Sanchize: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI, BB. That's his 10th HR. Still only batting .240 though.
Ray-Flo Flores: 2/4, 2 K. Avg up to .275, but the power seems to have disappeared.
Dott: 1.1 IP, 1 IP, 1K, 0 ER. Apparently he was acquired from the Rays. He's 23.
Mark Monte Python Montgomery: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER. No strikeouts this time, but he's still dominating.

GCL Yankees: W 12-9 v GCL Braves. They scored 9 runs in the bottom of the 8th to bring the score from 9-3 to 12-9. W: Casanova. S: Hinojosa
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, R, RBI, 3 K, SB (14), 2 E. Salvaged his day with a hit and a SB in the 8th.
Jose Rosario: 2/5, 2 R, 2B, 3 RBI
Isaias Tejeda: 0/4, R, BB, K. Inevitable disappointment day after the 2 HR performance yesterday.
Junior Bichette: 4/4, R, 2B, RBI. He is en fuego. He is literally ripping this league apart. He's 22 for his last 39 (.564). 6 of his last  games have been multi-hit games. He's had 3+ hits in 4 of his last 5 games. He has a 12 game hit streak going as well. (.333 average now)
Yeicok Calderon: 1/3, R, 3B, 3 RBI, K.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 0/3, R, BB, K, CS (.254)
Daniel Lopez: Pinch ran and had a SB (13) in the 8th, scored a run.
Alcantara: 1/3, R, RBI, BB, SB (4). He's been steadily hitting .300 all season.
Zachary Varce: 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, K.
Rutzkrieg Rutckyj: 3 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. Raised his ERA to 7.59 on the season. He's a project.
Casanova: 2 IP, H, BB, 2 K. 0.00 ERA on the season still, got the Double-U
Hinojosa: 1 IP, H, K. Got the Save (5), 5/5.

YEEP 7/25/11. Tejeda the hata.

Evil Em VP of the day: Isaias Tejeda of the GCL Yanks. Read on and you'll see why.  Image courtesy of BeGreen90 on Flickr.

Side note: We signed our 4th round pick Matt Duran. Congrats Duran, I think it's a great signing.

AAA SWB: W 15-1 v Syracuse. W: Soriano
Kevin Russo: 4/6, 2 R, 2 RBI. He's been on fire since returning, but he's done this before. He is probably going to be a solid backup who intermittently spends time in the minor leagues for the rest of his career.
Montero: 2/4, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB, 2 K. That's his 9th HR of the season. Now is when he usually turns his season around. If he doesn't get traded at the deadline I would actually expect a call-up soon after. It will no longer matter if he loses his value at the major league level.
JoVa: 2/4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI, BB. What, no strikeouts? Wow.
Adam Warren: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 0 ER, 2 K. Not sure why he only went 4, but I do know he could pitch Saturday if Nova isn't ready, so it might have something to do with that.
Rafael Soriano: 1 IP, K, 0 ER
Kontos: 1 IP, 2 H, K.
JC Romero: 1 IP, 1 K. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that he is definitely better than Boone Logan. I do believe it's only a matter of time.

AA Trenton: W: 9-8. W: Venditte. S: Pope
Kruml: 1/5, R, RBI, SB (32).
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 0/2, R, 3 BB. Gotta like those walks.
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K.
Melky Mesa: 1/4, R, BB, 2 K.
Sideshow Venditte: 3 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 4 K (2.94 ERA on the season). Just keep wondering what level he they will start to catch up with him at.
K-Flan Flannery: .2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 K. Has had trouble adjusting, have to give him time though.
Pope: 1.1 IP, H, 2 K, S (2). Great job quite literally saving this game for the Thunder. Still no earned runs since returning to AA.

High A Tampa: W 6-1 v Fort Myers. W: Quintana
Honest Abe Almonte: 0/5, R, RBI, 2 K. He's ice cold again. I can't follow someone who's never had sustained success.
DAdams: 1/5, 2B, 2 RBI (.308) Good to see him in High A.
Mustelier Musketeer: 0/4, BB, K. First bad game in a while (.302)
K-Roll Roller: 2/4, HR (3) (.250)
Luke Murton: 3/5, R, K. Stopped following him for a while, but he was really hot to start off the year and now he seems to be picking it up again. He's 12 for his last 36 with 4 BB, 1 HR and 2 doubles in his last 10 games. He's now batting .273.
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 2/3, 2B, RBI, BB, K (.308). Still kickin on this solid season.
Jose Quintanadana: 5.2 IP, 7 IP, ER, BB, 4 K. He hasn't had a single bad start yet. I think we might have found ourselves another solid prospect. Small sample sizes obviously but he could fill the void that Jose Ramirez has left with his horrible season.

Low A Charleston: L 0-1 to West Virginia. L: Ramirez
Eddy Sosa: 0/3, K. He's come back down to Earth after a hot start (.270 now).
Ray-Flo Flores: 3/4, SB (9). (.272).
Jose Ramirez: 6 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, ER, 3 K. Wayyyyyy too many walks. He's been better lately but I have to believe it's luck.

Short Season SI Yankees: W 2-1 v Tri City. W: Paullus. S: Pinder (9)
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, CS (6), K. .343 this season, but all the CS are getting a bit concerning.
Cheeto Culver: 1/4, RBI, K (.290)
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, 2 K (.280)
Cody Grice: 1/3, R, SB (7). Last time I wrote about how I might have been wrong about him, and since then he has proven that I was right from the beginning, he was a good signing (.280 after a very slow start).
Gamel: 0/3, 2 K.
Gerritse: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, K, BS. His first bad outing at this level. (.61 ERA on the season). Also his first BS.
Ben Paullus: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER.
Pinder: 1 IP, H, 2 K, 0 ER (.69 ERA). Their relief corps at this level is extremely impressive, hopefully the success translates to the higher levels.

GCL Yankees: W 7-1 v GCL Braves. W: Morton
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, RBI, K (.321).
Jose Rosario: 0/5, K, (.293)
Isaias "the hata" Tejeda: 3/5, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI. Batting .386 on the season, and he has 5 HR. Coming from a catcher, these are phenominal. I'm curious as to why he hasn't been talked about more because he's only 19 and the 5 HR are over just 19 games.
Junior Bichette: 1/3, R, BB. (.306)This kid has really started to come around. For an 18 year old in the GCL, it is now safe to say that he is raking. he's 20 for his last 40, with 5 doubles, 2 triples, and a HR. He also has 6 BB over that time. Seems like he's a really mature hitter. Had a good teacher.
Yeicok Calderon: 2/5, R, 2B, K. (.266)He's 11 for his last 20, with a HR, a triple, and 5 doubles.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 3/5, 3 R, 3B, RBI, SB (4), CS (1). 7 for his last 17 (.411). This is a hot team right now.
Daniel Lopez: 1/4, RBI, SB (12). (.325). He definitely has the speed, and he rounds out what is likely the best OF in the GCL, and it's not all that close. (Calderon, J James, Ravel Santana, Lopez)
Marquez: 2 IP, H, 3 K. Rehab.
Taylor Morton: 4 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 3 K. Love love love this kid.
Agramonte: 1.2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 ER. 20 year old out of the DR. Performed really well in the DSL, and now he's here.

.

YEEP 7/21/11

AAA SWB: W 6-5. W: Pendleton. S: Carlyle
Kevin Russo: 3/5 R, 3 2B, 2 RBI, K. He's really came on as of late, especially since returning from injury. He's 12/33 (.364) since returning, with 2 HR, 3 2B, 7 BB in 8 games.
JoVa: 0/4, K.
Krum: 3/3, 2 R, 2B, RBI. He's definitely starting to get the hang of AAA. He's got to flash that speed though.
Lance Pendleton: 6 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, K. Got the win.
Wordekemper: .1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB, K.
Flores: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER. We have 2 lefties who might see some time in the majors soon at this level, he and Romero. Yesterday I mistakenly stated that Kensing is a lefty, sorry about that!

GCL Yankees: W 18-2. W: Varce
Janitor Custodio: 1/2, 3 R, BB
Jorge Alcantara: 1/2, R, K.
Jose Rosario: 3/6, 3 R, 2B, RBI, K. Continues his torrid play. He's young, and he has more power than Culver. If he continues to play like this, his stock will rise very quickly.
Isaias "the hata" Tejeda: 1/2, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB. (.383)
Junior Bichette: 3/4, 2 R, 4 RBI. I knew some of those line drives would start falling for hits (.250 now).
Daniel Lopez: 1/5, 2 RBI, K, SB (11). Just looked at his milb.com profile, and he's only 19. He plays CF. Overshadowed at this level by guys like James, Bichette, and Santana, but he's got speed and it appears he can hit (he hit well in the DSL last year and starting this year too).
Justin James: 2/6, 3 R, 2B, RBI, 2 K. A nice start for this new draftee. He's 20.
Varce: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 5 K. Nice start.
Reinier Casanova: 1 IP, H, K, 0 ER. New signee from Cuba. He's 24, so maybe he'll move really quickly much like Mustelier has.

YEEP 7/20/11: Tampa is the new Charleston

Evil Em VP of the day: DJ Mitchell. 7 IP, 9 K, ER. Image: River Ave Blues

AAA SWB. W 6-1 vs Columbus. W: DJ Mitchell
Russo: 3/4, R, BB, SB (8). He's been great since his beginning of the season funk. Honestly it was probably just him feeling down because he knows he'll never be more than a backup 2B for the Yanks. Glad to see him playing better again. I really hope he sticks somewhere eventually, because he might be good enough without Cano to block him.
Montero: 1/4, R, 3 RBI. Apprently all three guys scored on a single. Impressive.
JoVa: 1/3, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 K. Hit, homerun, or strikeout. It's almost ridiculous at this point.
DJ Mitchell: 7 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 9 K. He has put together a fine season. Good for him.
JC Romero: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K. 1.5 ERA this season in the minors. He might be better than Logan now.
Kensing: 1 IP, BB, 2 K. He might be better than Logan now.

AA Trenton W 13-12 vs. Erie. W: Whitley
1/5, R, 2 K.
CoJo: 2/5, 2 R, RBI. Started off 0-3, then had 2 hits in the comeback. Maybe I never gave this kid enough credit.
Austin BRomine: 3/4, 4 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB. Great game from him, brought his average up to .282, that's his 5th HR of the season, really quite impressive from a catcher.
R-Ly Lyerly: 2/4, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, BB, K, E. That's his 6th HR of the season, and he continues to prove he can hit for average. He's got to do better in the field though.
Melky Mesa: 2/4, 2 R, RBI, BB, K, E. He's 14 for his last 37, with 4 BB and 3 SB. the power numbers aren't there yet, but I suspect if this hot streak continues they will soon follow. Melkman delivering.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 3/4, 2 RBI. His average is .333 in Trenton so far, picking up right where he left off in Tampa after a 3 game adjustment. He really might have put himself on the radar this season.
K-Flan Flannery: 1.1 IP, 2 H, BB, K. I've been pushing for his promotion for a while now, and I'm glad the front office finally came around, well deserved.
Chase Whitley: 2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, K. He's had a tough time since the promotion, I'm hoping he figures it out soon.

High A Tampa: W 10-3 vs Jupiter. W: Quintana
Honest Abe Almonte: 0/5, R, BB, K. After a brief hot streak, back to his old self. 2 for his last 22.
Eric Chavez: 4/5, 2 R. It won't be long now, especially with our needs at 3B.
Mustelier Musketeer: 2/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI. He has done nothing but rock the ball since his arrival here. I don't know where they found this guy but it sounds like he might be able to help the major league team soon they way he has dominated the pitching he has seen so far.
Rob Seggy Segedin: 2/4, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB.
Castrol GTX Castro: 1/2, RBI, BB, K.
Jose Quintanadana: 6 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 6 K. He's 7-0, and he has been flat out dominant as a starter. I wonder how this kid slipped under our radar for 2 years before we finally realized he should be a starter.
Preston Claiborne: 2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 HR. Yucky.

Charleston. W 6-5 vs Lexington. W: Ramirez. S: Montgomery
Eddy Sosa: 1/4, R, 2 K
Ray-Flo Flores: 2/4, R, 3B, 3 RBI, K. He has stopped walking almost altogether (1 in his last 10 games). A hit in each of his last 3 games though. I still think that for now being more aggressive will help him.
Sanchize: 0/4, 2 K. I'm just gonna keep telling myself... he's young, he's young, he's young, he's young.
Higgy Higashioka: 0/3, BB, K. Cooldown mode.
Jose Ramirez: 6 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K. I think this was a good start. If instead of the 4 E his team had, there was 4 outs, his start would be 7.1 IP, 10 H, 2 ER, BB, 7 K.
Kahnle: 2 IP, H, BB, 4 K, 0 ER. Gonna need more like this to salvage his season (4.91 ERA)
Monte Montgomery: 1 IP, 2 H, K, 0 ER. He has Mark Melancon written all over him. This time around I say we give him an extended shot. (2.25 ERA in Charleston, 6 saves already).

Short Season Staten Island. L 4-5. L: Recchia
Mad Mase Williams: 1/4, R, BB, K
Cheeto Culver: 3/5, 2 R. Don't sleep on this kid.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 2/5, RBI, CS (6)
Ben Gamel: 1/4, 2B, K.
Cody Grice: 3/4, RBI. That's what I'm looking for from him. More please.
Gotham City Cotham: 1 IP, zeros. 8.1 scoreless in SI.
Paullus: 1 IP, 2 K.

GCL Yankees: 12-3 Raping by the GCL Tigers. L: Rutckyj
Janitor Custodio: 0/3, BB, K
Jose Rosario: 0/2
Jorge Alcantara: 0/3, 3 K. A lot of these DSL guys are cooling down in a major way now.
DAdams: 0/3, R, BB. They must have faced a pretty good pitcher today, although I don't see anything special about this Duffey kid. 28th rounder.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/1. Left the game for an unknown reason.
Justin James: 3/3 in "relief" of Calderon. He has been excellent so far, sporting a .353 average.
Isaias "the hata" Tejada: 1/2, 2B, R. (.379 avg by a very young catcher)
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/4, HR. That's his 6th. He has to get that average up though. I'd like to see him go on a tear soon.
Rutzkried Rutckyj: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, K, HR, 2 E. As good as he was to start the season is as awful as he's been since then. His last three starts have lasted a total of  6.1 innings, and he's let up 14 earned runs in that time, raising his ERA to 6.87.
Nothing else worth talking about in the pitching department. Horrible game for everyone involved on the GCL Yankees.

YEEP 7/19/11: Soriano and Chavez rehab starts, Morton impresses

Evil Em VP of the day: Taylor Morton: 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 6 K. Image thanks to ebay.com, thanks ebay.

Hey guys, sorry for the absence. I took my boards yesterday, slept a lot last night, and so I'm back in action today.  It was a 9 hour exam so I was completely beat afterwards, although I did go out and party last night to celebrate. Hope you didn't miss me too much.Yankees lost a tough one today, and it wasn't the best day on the farm.
AAA SWB: L 1-6 vs. Columbus. L: Nova.
Kevin Russo: 1/4, BB.
Austin Krum. 1/3, R. He's been much much better lately, but I see his ceiling as a Colin Curtis type player.
Jorge Vazquez (JoVa): 1/4, 3 K.
Nova: 1.1 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 3 K, HR. Left the game in the second inning. He hurt himself trying to field a ball. Apparently it was a leg injury but he walked off on his own power. That sucks.
Kontos: 2.2 IP, 2 H, BB, 4 K. Nice relief work.
Kevin Whelan: 2 IP, H, ER, BB, 3 K, HR. Hasn't been the same since he got back from that injury. C'mon Kev-Bo.

AA Trenton: W 9-2 v Erie. W: Hall.
Kruml: 1/5, R. Still batting .300
CoJo: 2/4, 2 R, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, K. Nice game from him. Looks like he's finding his feel for hitting again.
Austin BRomine: 1/4, R, K.
R-Ly Lyerly: 3/5, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI. He's a hitter, and his average is only gonna continue going up at this level. He had 4 errors the other day though, so the fielding has got to improve.
Melky Mesa: 3/5, R, RBI. 11 for his last 37 (.297). Let's hope he continues this little streak he's on. I'm thirsty, and the only way to quench that thirst is with a new melkman.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 3/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI. He was mentioned in an interview with Ashmore and Cashman recently. Just like that he has a respectable average in AA. Hopefully this helps him with the nerves at this level.
Shaeffer Hall: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. A Much needed good start for him.
Sideshow Venditte: 1 IP, 2 K. Nice.


High A Tampa: L 0-11 to Jupiter. L: Soriano.
Abe Almonte: 1/4, 3B, 3 K.
Eric Chavez: 0/3, BB, K. 1st game back, he'll be back with the major league team soon.
Mustelier: 0/4. First bad game in a while, he's been awesome since he was signed.
Rob Seggy Segedin: 0/3.
K-Roll Roller: 1/3.
JR Murph: 1/3.
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 0/3, K.
Rafael Soriano: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, K, HR. Just a rehab start.
Graham Cracker Stoneburner: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, BB, 5 K, 2 HR. At least he struck some guys out. Not very good though.
I don't have much to say about this game because they got WALLOPED.

Short Season Staten Island.  Double Header. Game 1: W 3-2. W: Nuno.
Mad Mase Williams: 0/3, 2 K.
Cheeto Culver: 1/2, BB. His performance so far kind of reminds me of Heathcott's when he was at this level. Holding his head over water. Hopefully in a year or so he breaks out like Slade did.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 0/3, 2 K.
Ty Austin: 2/3, R, 2B. Nice job Ty. He'll be all over the pitching in this league. I give it a few more games before he really catches fire.
Shane Brown: 0/2, R, BB. Finally has a not so good game. Even here there are positives.
Ben Gamel: 2/3, 2 RBI. There's a good game which I've been waiting for for quite a while.
Bryan Mitchell: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. That's better, but he's still not there. I'm thinking more and more short season was a good destination for this kid this season.
Vidal Nuno: 2.1 IP, H, 5 K. He's 5-0, that's hard to believe. He's been really good, but he's mighty old for his level (24 in like 7 days).

Game 2: W 8-6 vs. Hudson Valley. W: Lewis
Cody Grice: 0/4, 3 R, K. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe we shouldn't have signed him. It's too early to say though.
Cheeto Culver: 2/3, 2B, 3B, R, 2 BB. 2/4 on the day, not bad, avg up to .277.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 1/5, 2 RBI, 2 K.
Ty Austin: 0/4, 2 K
Shane Brown: 2/4. I guess he can have a bad game, but not a bad day.
Ben Gamel: 0/0, PH RBI
Matt Tracy: 2 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, BB, 2 K, HR. Yikes.
Gerritse: 3 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K. Nice relief work, still 0 earned runs in 13.2 IP at this level. He has 14 K. Time for a promotion?
Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, H, R, 0 ER, BB.

GCL Yankees: W 8-5 vs. GCL Phillies. W: Maines. S: Hinojosa
Janitor Custodio: 2/4, 2 R, 2B, BB, SB. He needed a game like this, as he's been slumping a bit. That 0/8 game killed his average but he's back up to .327. That's 12 SB on the season.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/5, R, RBI, K, SB (3). I'm seeing more and more Kelvin De Leon similarities, hopefully I'm wrong.
DAdams: 2/4, 2 R, 2B, RBI, BB. Played the full game. A promotion is looming. Can't wait.
Junior Bichette: 2/5, 2B, 2 RBI, E. He's really picking it up now. 12 for his last 34 with a HR, 3 BB and a 7 game hit sreak going. (.353 AVG). So this is why we picked him.
Yeicok Calderon: 2/5, R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI. Ata boy Yeicok. Now over .200 for the season. Needs to take some lessons from Bichette.
Taylor Morton (T-Mo): 4.2 IP, 3 H, 6 K. I've said it before but I really like this kid. He's got a 1.82 ERA so far, with 19 K in 24.2 IP as a 19 year old.
Cowsert: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 everything else. Got the Hold as well (3.09 ERA).
Hinojosa: 1 IP, 0 everything else. Got the save. (0.00 ERA so far, 4/4 in saves).

Study Days

Hey guys,

I will be taking these next few days off as I have to take my USMLE Step 2 Medical Board exams on Monday. I just need to amp up the studying for the last couple of days, so I'll start my updates again on either Monday or Tuesday. The exam is 8 hours on Monday, so I'm not sure if I'll really feel up to doing the updates that night.

Have a good weekend all!

YEEP 7/15/11: Who's the new guy?

Evil Em VP of the day: Jose Quintana. 7 IP, 9 K, 0 ER. That'll get you the MVP. Image thanks to... you guessed it, fourseamimages.com

AAA SWB: W 7-3 vs. Toledo. W: Flores
Russo: 2/4, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB. Busy night for him.
Montero: 1/5, RBI, 3 K
JoVa: 2/4, 2 RBI, K
Laird: 0/2, K. He was ejected. Played LF today.
DJ Mitchell: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K. I bet no one is up in arms about him not eclipsing 5 IP today.
Whelan: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, BS. He's back.
Wordekemper: 1 IP, K, 0 ER.
Kensing: 1 IP, K, 0 ER. I mention him because I read somewhere he was clocked at 93-94 recently.

AA Trenton W 3-1 vs. Reading. W: Garrison, S: Schmidt.
Ray Kruml: 0/4, R, K
CoJo: 1/3, BB, CS
Austin BRomine: 0/2, R, 2 BB.
R-Ly Lyerly: 1/4, K, RBI.
Boilin Zoilo: 0/4, 2 K. Newly promoted, obligatory adjustment period.
Melky Mesa: 2/4, 3B, 2 RBI. Nice game for him.
Nothing to speak of pitching wise. Steve Garrison had a good start, but he doesn't excite me.

High A Tampa: W 1-0 vs Palm Beach. W: Quintana, S: Burawa
Mustelier: 1/4, R, 2B. Promoted from GCL. I guess he's on the fast track. They did this instead of my suggestion to promote Shane Brown. I'm okay with it (not that Cashman cares that I'm okay with it) because both need to move quickly to be useful.
Walt Ibarra: 2/2, BB, picked off. He's 15 for his last 30.
Seggy Segedin: 2/4, K, E. He's starting to heat up at Tampa after a short adjustment period.
K-Roll Roller: 0/3, 2 K
Castrol GTX Castro: 0/3, K, E.
Jose Quintana (Jose Quintanadana): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 9 K. Look what I can do. You thought I was a RP non-prospect, but I'm 22 years old and I can pitch mofo. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'm lefty... :-/ hehe.
Daniel Burawa: 2 IP, 3 K 0 ER. That's it!

Low A Charleston: L 8-4 to Greensboro. L: Evarts
Eddy Sosa: 0/5, K
Ramon Flores: 0/5, K
Sanchize: 2/4, R, 2B, K, HBP. He's got a little pattern going of 2 hit games followed by no hit games. Overall, he's actually been pretty good lately though.
Nothing worth talking about in the pitching performances here.

Short Season Staten Island: L 2-1 to State College. L: W. Rodriguez
Cody Grice: 0/3, RBI
Cheetoh Culver: 0/4. In the midst of a mini-slump. At least he's not striking out though.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 1/4, K, SB (7). He's done a nice job on the basepaths. Still trying to decide who I like better between he and Culver.
Shane Brown: 2/3. He just won't stop hitting. Gotta love the resilience (.475 avg, that's right, AVERAGE, in 61 at bats).
Gerritse: 2 IP, K, 0 ER.
Tracy: 2 IP, 2 K, 0 ER.

GCL Yankees W 12-6 v Blue Jays. W: Polanco.
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, 2 R, 2 B, RBI. 15 for his last 44, 6 2B, 5 BB, 9 SB, 0 CS. (.420 OBP).
Jose Rosario: 3/4, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI, BB, K. Never realized that this kid is still only 19. They must see some serious potential with him to have put him in the GCL last season despite poor numbers. Looks like he might be fulfilling some of that potential now. He's 15 for his last 36 (.416), with 3 BB, 2 HR and a 9 game hit streak in his last 9 games.
DAdams: 2/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI. Played a full game... at DH. They are just being reaaaaally cautious.
Junior Bichette: 1/4, R, BB, K. 4 games in a row with at least 1 hit.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/3, R, 2B, RBI,BB, K, SB (5). Getting tired of RAB misspelling his name.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/3, R, 3B, 2 RBI.
Edwin Rodriguez: 2 IP, H, ER, BB, K
Checo: 1 IP, 3 K.

Minor League Moves

River Avenue Blues is reporting that Alan Horne has been released. Kevin Russo and Whelan are back at AAA. Shane Green and DeAngelo Mack have been placed on the DL. We signed Francisco Cruceta and Jamie Mallard, who is 6'0, 265 lbs. Huge. Most importantly, Zoilo Almonte has been promoted to Trenton in place of Cody Johnson. I argued against doing this in a previous post to give him some momentum headed into next season. Hopefully he shines. Maybe they want to show Colorado we have an OF bat that isn't so far from the majors?

I'm hoping Shane Brown takes Zoilo's place in high A. We've got nothing to lose by sending him there, and I honestly don't feel any of the OF in Low A are ready to move up. His age makes it such that he has to move quickly or will likely never provide value for us.

YEEP July 14, 2011: The return of Stoneburner

Evil Em VP of the day: Casey Stevenson. 3/4 with a HR. Image from www.allthingsbubba.com

AAA Scranton: L 2-4 to Toledo. L: Nova
Russo: 1/4, RBI, 2 K
JoVa Vazquez: 1/4, 2 K. Typical line for him. If AAA pitchers figured him out in 1/2 a season, I'd imagine it would take about a month for major league pitchers to figure him out. But hell, I'd take that in a second if they were to bring him up now. A-Rod's return is conveniently close to a month away.
Laird: 1/4, R. 12 for his last 37 (.324), 3 HR, 3 2B, 12 RBI over 10 games. Has a hit in all but one of his last 10 games. No walks though.
Nova: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K, HR. Aside from the 1st inning homerun he pitched well. With the way Colon has pitched his last two starts, he could be back in that 5th starter role pretty soon.
JC Romero: 1 IP, H, R, ER, 2 K. He's not a prospect, but it's news.

AA Trenton: W 9-5 against Reading. W: Hall
Kruml: 3/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI, K, SB (30). He figured something out about 2 months ago and he hasn't looked back ever since. It's almost time to see how many bases he can steal in AAA.
CoJo: 1/5, R, 3B, RBI (.282).
Austin BRomine: 0/4, BB, K. He's excused because he played so well in the futures and all-star games.
Melky Mesa: 1/3, R, K, SB (11).
R-Ly Lyerly: 0/4, K. Really quieting down now.
Shaeffer Hall: 5 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, HR. Pitched well enough to get the win...
Josh Bromance Romanski: 1 IP, H. My Bromance is havin a year.
Whitley: 2 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 K, HR. Still adjusting to the level, not playing horribly considering that fact.
Pope: 1 IP, 2 H, K. Almost time to give him another shot in AAA. Is there such a thing as a AA 1/2 player?

High A Tampa: L 5-3 to Palm Beach. L: Gipson
Honest Abe Almonte: 0/4, BB
Walt Ibarra: 3/5, R. He's hitting so well, but he has to start stealing more bases if he wants to have a real shot at the bigs.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/3, 2 BB, R, K, SB (14). No homeruns in a while (> 10 g). Zoilo had been spoiling me. Spoiling Zoilo?
Roller: 0/4, 4 K. Golden Sombrero. Been waiting to use that one.
JR Murph: 1/4, RBI, 2 K. 12 for his last 37, .324 AVG. His OBP is lower than his average in that span though (.316, 0 BB). Still OPSing at .856 in that time frame though.
Seggy Segedin: 2/3, RBI, BB, SB. Finally a good night for him!
Kelvin Castro:  0/4, 3 K.
Graham Cracker Stoneburner: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, BB, 6 K, HR. Nice outing in his return to High A. At this rate he'll be in AA in no time.
Gipson: .2 IP 4 H, 3 ER, BB. Tough outing. Hasn't had a great appearance since returning. It's only his 3rd though.

Low A Charleston: W 3-2. W: Ramirez. S: Montgomery (5)
Eddy Sosa: 0/5, K
Ray-Flo Flores: 0/3, BB, K.
Sanchize: 0/4, R. Man, he just can't string together a few good games in a row.
Higgy Higashioka: 0/4, K.
The run support in this game was provided by Mahoney (2 R) and Mojica (2 RBI)
Jose Ramirez: 5 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K. Yay.
Dott: 3 IP, 3 H, 4 K.
Monte Python Montgomery: 1 IP, ER, BB, K. 5/5 saves.

Short Season Staten Island. W 6-4 vs. State College. W: Recchia, S: Pinder (7)
Mad Mase Williams: 1/2, R, K, SB (7). Just keeps doin it. Seems like he might be above this level. 20 for his last 45 (.444), 4 SB over 10 games.
Cheetoh Culver: 0/4, K. He's been good lately, but overall he's been rather inconsistent. (.279)
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 1/4, R, 2 K, 2 SB (6). (.263)
Shane Brown: 2/4, 2 R, 2 2B, RBI, K (.466). He has to be getting promoted soon. At his age he is wasting space/time at this level.
Casey Stevenson: 3/4, R, HR, 4 RBI, SB. That's 2 consecutive games with a HR. He's old for the level though, but earns a mention from me because of his 2 game homerun streak.
Cody Grice: 1/2, BB, K, SB (2). Has been pretty solid in limited action so far.
Bryan Mitchell: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K. Everyone raves about this guy but I just haven't been that impressed with him so far. I guess with what scouts say about him and how good his stuff really is, all he needs to do is gain some control and he will be right where he needs to be.
Recchia: 2.2 IP, H, BB, 2 K, 0 ER. (.75 ERA at this level). He was in Charleston earlier in the year, but was disappointing. He's 22 so meh.
Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, 2 K Zeros. Getting the job done. Fast mover I tell ya.
Pinder: 1 IP, 1 K, Zeros. 7 saves. Looks like we might have gotten some good young relievers in this draft class.No runs in his last 8 appearances.

GCL Yankees: W 6-5 vs GCL Braves. W: Cowsert, S: Hinojosa.
Ronnier Mustelier: 5/5, R, 2B, 2 RBI, CS. This Cuban earns a mention with this performance, but this is his first season at the ripe old age of 27. I doubt if there's anything there.
DAdams: 1/3, 2B, RBI. Still being subbed out after 2/3 of a game.
Alcantera: 0/1, K in a pinch hit at bat.
Jose Rosario: 1/4, 2 R, BB, K.
Ty Austin: 1/4, 2B, K.
Junior Bichette: 1/4, 2 K. Two days in a row with a hit. Gotta look at the positives.
Tejeda: 0/4, K.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/4, HR, K.
Rutckyj: 3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. His first rough outing of the year. As I have said before, he's a work in progress.
Joel De La Cruz: 3 IP, R, ER, BB, 3 K (2.51 ERA on the season)
Corey Maines: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER.
Cowsert: 1 IP, 2 K, 0 ER. Yay for good stories.
Hinojosa: 1 IP, H, R, BB, 0 ER, K. 3/3 in save opportunities.

YEEP 7/13/11: Trenton All-Stars Reppin the System

Evil Em VP of the day: Mason Williams. 4/5 tonight. Picture thanks to NY Daily News.


AA All-Stars:
Corban CoJo Joseph: 2/3, R, K
Austine BRomine: 1/2, RBI
ManBan: 1 IP, 3 K, ZEROS. Beast
Betances: 1 IP, K, ZEROS. Beast
Excellent showing for our farm system at the AA all-star game.

High A Tampa Yanks: W 5-3. W: Gil, S: Flannery (14).
Honest Abe Almonte: 1/4, 2B, RBI, K
Walt Ibarra: 2/4, R, 2B, CS
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 2/4, K.
K-Roll Roller: 1/3, RBI, BB. Adjusting well to high A (.281).
JR Murph: 1/4, R, K
Segedin: 1/4
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 1/3
Gil: 3 IP, H, 3 K. Nice work.
Preston Claiborne: 1.1 IP, 2 H, BB. He's performing really well at this level. After a slow start, his ERA is in the mid threes.
K-Flan Flannery: .2 IP, BB, K, S.

Charleston, L 11-6 to Greensboro. L: Allen (big surprise).
Eddy Sosa: 4/5, K
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/5, HR, 2 RBI. That's number 9 on the season. Seems like the power is there.
Kahnle: .1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, K. This is when I stop following him for a while. He's been awful and it's become frustrating to write about him. He'll be back if he starts pitching better.

Short Season Staten Island: W 9-2. W: Nuno
Mad Mase Williams: 4/5, 3 R, 3B. .360 avg on the season.
Cheetoh Culver: 1/4, 2 K, E.
Angelo Bubba Gumbs: 2/5, R, 2 RBI, K. Pretty good.
Shane Brown: 2/4, R, K (.463)
Casey Stevenson: 3/4, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI. I'll mention him today because he had a big game, but he's old for the level and meh
Vidal Nuno: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, BB, 4 K. Basically a spot start.
Paullus: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K.
Hobbs: 1 IP, 1 K.

GCL Yankees W 10-2. W: Morton
Janitor Custodio: 2/6, 2B, 2 K. Maquina de batear.
Ty Austin: 3/4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI. Hitting machine.
Alcantera: 0/1 as a PH.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 0/3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K. Come on Ravy! (.237).
Mark Prior: 2 IP, H, R, 0 ER, K. Rehab start
Taylor Morton (T-Mo): 5 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 5 K. Nice outing, got the win. I'm a big fan of this kid.

Our Minor Leagues Catching Situation and the Trade Market

 Jesus Montero: Image courtesy of NY Daily News

If there is one thing that is a clear positive in the Yankees farm system it is the surplus of catchers. In short summary, we have our star prospect in AAA, Jesus Montero, and we have one catcher at every level below that who has the potential of being a future starting catcher in the league. Many feel that Jesus Montero lacks the defensive capabilities to ever be a long-term catcher in the majors, but that remains to be seen, and until proven otherwise, he is a catching prospect.

In AA, we have Romine. His power potential still isn't showing, but he is hitting for a great average and he's proving that he can handle the stress of a full season. He is a solid defensive catcher, so providing solid offense is more than you could ask for from a guy like him, even if the power numbers aren't there.

In high A Tampa, we now have JR Murphy. He just hit his first homerun in high A, and he seems to be getting a grasp on the pitching at this level already. More importantly, after being switched to a fielding prospect, he showed much improved defense at the catcher position this season and has reinstated himself as yet another future catching prospect in the Yankees system, contributing even more to the logjam we have going at this position. No one doubts his bat, but if he can continue to call a solid game and field his position, we could be talking about another top 100 prospect.

Down in Low A Charleston we have one guy who is a potential major league backup with his defensive skills and one guy who is a potential future star who has not met expectations yet this season, but is only 18 years old. The first guy I speak of is Kyle Higashioka. Interestingly, he started off the season in high A Tampa. His defense was great, but then he was sent down to Charleston in favor of JR Murphy, who admittedly deserved the promotion. The weirdest part though, is that he got demoted just as he hit a hot streak with the bat in Tampa. He has continued that streak, and now for the first time in his career, is consistently hitting the ball well. He had probably the best game of his career a few days ago where he homered and had a few hits to go along with it. He might be a guy who resurfaces as a prospect by the end of the season. The other catcher in Charleston, who probably should have been mentioned first since Higashioka is really the "other catcher" at this level, is Gary Sanchez. He has had numerous struggles this season as an 18 year old in Charleston, which is really not the end of the world. He has had discipline problems, defensive issues, and hasn't been nearly as effective with the bat as he was expected to be so far this season. Recently he has shown some promise as to improvement, and the power is still there. He is going to have to have a strong second half to instill a sense of confidence in Yankees fans as well as pro scouts in order to save his top 50 prospect status by the end of the season. Regardless of any of these struggles, he's 18. He's already in full season baseball, and he has the potential to be a solid defensive backstop with special power.

Below Charleston, there isn't much in the way of backstops, at least nothing that has developed yet. There are a few guys performing well in the GCL and in Staten Island, but none of them are considered high ceiling prospects. In all honesty this might actually be a good thing, because there is simply no space for them on any of the full season rosters right now.

The question of the day, however, is where does this leave us. By next year, something has to give. The way I see it, one of three things can happen. Jesus Montero can be brought up as Russel Martin's backup next season. and finally get some on-the-job training. He will likely get a September call-up this season, and this will be good practice for him. This would open up AAA for Romine, which would open up AA for JR Murphy, which would open up High A for Sanchez or Higgashioka.

In the second scenario, we make a trade for a starting pitcher that includes Jesus Montero in it. The most likely candidate I see out there right now is Ubaldo Jimenez. Then, the same positions open up, and we still have a catcher with decent potential at every level. just without our star.

Finally, the third scenario involves what in my opinion amounts to a non-option. It involves moving Romine to AAA and having he and Montero share the catching duties next season. The likelihood of this happening, I would say, is almost zero. The front office is smarter than that. If Jesus Montero is bored now, he would probably be ready to stab himself in the eyes with a pencil in a situation like that.

Ideally, Montero will be up with the big league team for good by September. At this point, however, it wouldn't be smart of any Yankees fan to say that Montero is more valuable to this team than Ubaldo Jimenez could be. With the catching depth we have in our system, there is no reason why Montero can't be traded. I think the kid is great, and I do think he will eventually be heavy hitting player in the league. There are, however, several question marks which may not allow him to succeed as a Yankee. If he can't catch, he is not use to us. The other options for him would be 1B or DH. 1B is locked up by Teixera for years, and DH will likely be needed for A-Rod and Jeter in the coming years. He's got to stick at catcher. I'd love to see that happen, but in the end, our best option now might be to... and I hate to say this as much as anyone does... trade... Montero.

YEEP 7/12/11: Just 2 games today

Evil Em VP of the day: Claudio Custodio. He sure is a little guy, but he hits like a grown ass man. Image courtesy of Flickr.


Charleston RiverDogs: L 9-3 to Greensboro Grasshoppers. L: Greene
Eddy Sosa: 1/4, 2 R, BB, 2 K
Sanchize: 2/4, 2 RBI, BB, K. This is the type of line he's gonna need to keep putting up to get where he needs to be by the end of the season so he can end up in Tampa next year.
Ray-Flo Flores: 1/4, RBI, 2 K.
Kyle Higgy Higashioka: 1/4, 2B. I hope they are still allowing him to Catch. He's mostly been DHing.
Greene: 4 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR. This is his first truly bad start in his last 10 appearances. Even after tonight, his ERA is 3.29 in his last 10 games.


GCL Yankees: L 10-9 vs GCL Pirates. L: Cowsert
Janitor Custodio: 2/4, 2 R, BB, K, SB (11)
Jose Rosario: 2/5, 2 R, 3B, K. Good game from him. He's been playing extremely well lately.
Ty Austin: 2/5, R, RBI, K. Beast
Junior Bichette: 2/5, R, RBI, K, CS. Atta boy, now lets follow this one with more multi-hit games, not hitless ones.
Yeicok Calderon: 1/5, R, 3 K. Yikes
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/2, R, HR, 2 RBI. HR #4 on the season. Still only batting .247 though. Left the game for an unknown reason.
Encinas: 3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Varce (BS): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Cowsert: 1 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 K
Maines: 1 IP, 2 K. At least 1 pitcher pitched well today.

YEEP 7/11/11: Bombs Away

 Evil Em Vee P of the day: Raymond Kruml. This was a tough one, because so many people had great games today, but based on recent performance, I gave it to Kruml. Image Courtesy of Bare Bones (johnalbone.wordpress.com).

AA Trenton: L 6-7. L: Venditte:
Kruml: 3/5, 2 R, HR, RBI. Average up to .301, 2 HR in 2 G, 5th HR of the season. He's fast too.
CoJo: 0/5, 2 K. Ice cold these past few games.
Melky Mesa: 1/4, R, K, CS
R-Ly (Lyerly): 1/5, R, 2 K.
Heyer: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, BB, 4 K. Not his best outing.
Josh Bromance Romanski: 3 IP, H, BB, 2 K. 0 ER since the call-up.
Sideshow Venditte: .1 IP, H, R, ER, HR. 2 bad games in a row.

High A Tampa: W 10-1 vs St. Lucie. W: Mikey O'Brien
Honest Abe Almonte: 2/4, R, BB, K. He's not cooling down, hopefully any time soon.
Walt Ibarra: 1/3, RBI
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 3/5, R, 2 RBI, K. Also stayin hot.
K-Roll Roller: 2/5, R, RBI, K
JR Murph: 3/4, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, K.
Rob Seggy Segedin: 1/4, R, K
Kelvin Castrol GTX Castro: 3/5, 3 R, 2 RBI. I like what you're doin GTX.
Mikey O'Brien: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 BB, 3 K, HR. I don't like the walks, but other than that, great outing. He'll be in AA by next season IMO.
Daniel Burawa: 2 IP, H, 3 K. He's got half of a season to bring his ERA back from that horrific appearance a week or so ago. I think he will because he had great stuff.
K-Flan Flannery: 2 IP, H, K. Doin what he does.

Short Season Staten Island: W 9-1 vs Vermont. W: DeLuca
Mad Mase Williams: 4/6, 2B, 3B, RBI, K, CS. Two words. Real. Deal.
Cheetoh Culver: 2/5, 2 RBI
Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, BB, K, CS.
Shane Brown: 1/2, 2 R, 3 BB. Will somebody get this guy out please? .552 OBP, 1.25 OPS. Such a shame that he's 23.
Evan DeLuca: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 6 K. He's killin it. We could use a guy like him at Charleston, wink wink hint hint!
Matt Tracy: 2 IP, BB, K. 0 ER still.
Phil Wetherell: 1 IP, BB, 2 K. I strongly feel he will be a fast mover through this system.

GCL Yankees: W 8-7 vs GCL Pirates. W: Rodriguez, S: Hinojosa
Janitor Custodio: 1/5, 2 R, 2B, K, SB. 10 SB on the season already.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 0/5, K. He's slowed down significantly since his hot start. Hope he's not just another De Leon
Tyler Austin: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, SB. He has NOT slowed down. .377 average, 3 HR, 9 SB on the season so far. Excellent production even from a 1B.
Junior Bichette: 0/4, R, BB, K. Looking forward to the 30 day rule to take effect with this kid. Time for him to make some adjustments.
Tejeda: 2/4, SB, CS. Playing very well so far.
Jose Rosario: 2/4, R, HR, 3 RBI. .325 with 1 HR, 1 3B, 1 2B, 4 SB in his last 10 games.
D Cruz: 2.1 IP, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Baaaaaaaad.
Edwin Rodriguez: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 K. 20 year old kid from the DSL. Good outing.
Jo De La Cruz: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 K.
Hinojosa: 1 IP, H, K. 2/2 in save ops.

YEEP 7/10/11: Putting on a Higa-Show

Evil Em Vee P of the day: Kyle Higashioka. Photo courtesy of realgm.com

Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees AAA: L 1-3 to Rochester. L: Pendleton
JoVa (Jorge Vazquez): 1/4, 2 K. The JoVa we have grown accustomed to.
Laird: 0/4, K. A rare bad game as of recent.
Lance Pendleton: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 3 K, 2 HR. I am a huge Pendleton fan, although not because I think he's good or has potential to be good for that matter. He's just a guy who's fun to root for since he was such an unlikely candidate to do as well as he has. I really hope he carves out a niche for our major league team at some point and becomes good at whatever that niche is.
Kontos: 2 IP, H, 2 K, 0 ER. He was so close to being called up as a reliever. My guess is that he will be sooner or later.
Brack-Attack (Andrew Brackman): 2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER. Very encouraging. The walk is still there, and he didn't strike anyone out, but still reason for cautious optimism. Now it's just a matter of becoming consistent.

AA Trenton. L 5-8 vs Reading. L: Garrison
Kruml: 3/5, 2 R, HR, RBI, CS. That's his 4th HR of the year to go along with all of those steals. It really is unfortunate that he's 25. You can't teach speed though, and he most certainly has it. He might legitimately be able to help the major league team at some point.
CoJo: 1/4, R, 2B, BB, 3 K. Seems like he's striking out a lot lately. In fact he has 14 in his last 10 games. Slumping a bit after a pretty long hot streak.
Melky Mesa: 2/4, R, 2 RBI. He was moved to 4th in the lineup. Maybe the coaches noticed a reason for his recent hot bat.
R-Ly (Lyerly): 0/3, BB, 2 K. Not so hot.
Sideshow Venditte: 2 IP, H, ER, BB, K, HR.
Pope: 1 IP, 1 K.

High A Tampa: L 5-6 to St. Lucie Mets. L: Sneed
Honest Abe Almonte: 1/4, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, K. What, no steal?
Kelvin "Castrol GTX" Castro: 1/5, R, 2B, K.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/4, RBI, BB
Murton: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI,1 BB, 2 K. (.269 on the year, his 6th HR).
JR Murphy: 0/1 in a pinch hit appearance.
K-Roll Roller: 3/5, 2B, 2K. Everything he made contact with fell for a hit.
Seggy Segedin: 0/3, R, 2 K.
Jose Quintana: 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Not bad spot start. He's been doing well all year and he's only 22 so I guess I'll start talking about him.
James "Gipper" Gipson: 2 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 K. <3 the 4 K in 2 IP

Low A Charleston: Game 1: W 2-0 vs Delmarva. W: Nuding. S: Montgomery
Eddy Sosa:1/2, R.
Sanchize: 0/3, K. Boo! Include him in a trade for Ubaldo Jimenez! Just kidding. Not really.
Ramon Ray-Flo Flores: 0/3, K
Higashioka: 1/2, BB.
Nuding: 5 IP, H, 2 BB, 5 K. Excellent outing. He needs to put together a string of these to finish the season respectably though.
Mark Monte Montgomery: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 K. Ma boy is a strikeout machine!

Game 2: W 5-4 vs Delmarva. W: Evarts. S: Dott.
Sosa: 0/4, K
Higashioka: 2/3, HR. I'm proud of this kid because he finally seems to be finding his stroke. It's a shame he got demoted right when that happened.
Ray-Flo: 1/2, R.
Dott: 2 IP, BB, 2 K.

Short Season Staten Island: L 2-8. L: Rodriguez
Mad Mase Williams: 2/5. Keep hitting Mason.
Cheetoh Culver: 0/2, 2 BB, K.
Bubba Gumbs: 0/4, BB, K
Shane Brown: 2/3, 2 R, 2B. Back at it again.
No pitching prospects to speak of today.

GCL scheduled day off.

Appreciating Derek Jeter

I know this is a prospects blog, but Derek Jeter holds a special place in all of our hearts, and technically he was at one time a Yankees prospect. Probably the best prospect in the history of the Yankees minor leagues. Anyway, this post is just to pay tribute and congratulate one of my favorite Yankees of all time. He was 5/5 with a HR, a double, a 3 singles, one of them the game winner. What a way to break a record! How appropriate for Mariano to come in and save the game as well. I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to end the game. Anyway, here's the best video of it I found on youtube.

YEEP 7/9/11: Double Header Day

AAA SWB: Game 1: W 9-0 vs Rochester W: DJ Mitchell
JoVa (Jorge Vazquez): 1/2, 2 R, BB, K
Laird: 2/3, R, 3 RBI, 2B. He's catching fire. He might be a good option for A-rod's internal replacement when he gets surgery.
DJ Mitchell: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 0 ER. Got the win. Excellent outing for Mitchell. Scouts are starting to take notice. People are now saying he will be a versatile middle reliever.

Game 2: W 6-4 vs Rochester. W: Carlyle S: Kensing
JoVa:1/2, R, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K.
Laird: 1/3, HR, 2 RBI, K. Two good games in one day. Also played RF in this one.
Nothing worthwhile in the pitching here.

Trenton: L 4-6 to Reading. L: Whitley
Kruml: 1/5, 2B, K
CoJo: 0/4, BB, 3 K. Not good.
R-Ly (Lyerly): 1/4, R, 2B, 2 K.
Melky Mesa: 3/4, 3 R, 2B, HR, RBI, K. Great game, hopefully he can build on this, because this has been a pretty bad season for him.
Shaeffer Hall: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, HR. Pretty typical for him.
Whitley: 2 IP, BS, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
Alan Horne: .2 IP, 0 ER.


Tampa:Game 1: W 3-1. W: Marshall
Honest Abe Almonte: 2/3, HR, BB. .297 in his last 10 games. That's his 3rd HR, triple last year's total.
Kelvin Castro: 1/4, 1 K.
Boilin Zoilo Almonte: 1/3, R, BB, 2 K.Still creepin up to that .300 mark (.283).
K-Roll (Roller): 0/4, 3 K. Yucky.
JR Murph: 2/4, 2 2B, 1 RBI. Picking it up slowly but surely, played 3B today, good to see the versatility.
Rob Seggy Segedin: 0/2, R, BB, K.
Brett Marshall: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 6 K, 1 HR. Exactly what he needed after his first bad start in a while. 3.02 ERA in his last 10 starts.
Burawa: 1 IP, 1 BB, 0 ER, H.
Flannery: 1 IP, 1 K, S, 0 ER. I'm tellin ya, this guy got SNUBBED for a promotion.

Tampa Game 2: L 5-6. L: Solbach
Honest Abe: 3/5, R, RBI, BB, K, SB (17).
Castro: 1/5, RBI
Boilin Zoilo: 2/6, RBI
JR Murph: 1/5
Nik Turley: 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 HR. Rough outing. Hasn't been too great since the promotion, but errors hurt him today.
Preston Claiborne: 3 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K. He's put together some nice work recently. 3.42 ERA now after a slow start.

Short Season Staten Island: W 2-1 against Vermont. W: Gerritse S: Pinder
Mason "Mad Mase" Williams: 0/4, RBI, SB (6). Still flashin the speed. Gotta love it.
Cheetoh Culver: 0/4, K
Bubba Gumbs Shrimp (Angelo Gumbs): 2/4, R, 3B, K.
Shane Brown: 1/4, K.
Bryan Mitchell: 4 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Probably his best outing so far, although it only lasted 4 innings.
Gerritse: 2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K. Got the W.
Paullus: 2 IP, 3 K, 0 ER, H.
Pinder: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K, S.

GCL Yankees
Game 1: Continuation of yesteday's game. L 4-9 to GCL Tigers. L: Rutckyj
Janitor Custodio: 2/4, 2 R, 2B, BB, 2 K, SB. The janitor cleanin up.
Ravenous Ravel Santana: 1/5, R, 3B, 2K
DAdams: 1/2, RBI, K. Sat out for today's part of the game, probably so he can play in game 2.
Ty Austin: 2/5. 2 RBI, 1 K. Oh, I'm just raking, don't mind me.
Junior Bichette: 1/3, 2B, BB. Extremely patient approach. Hopefully it translates to success soon. I believe it will.
Yeicok Calderon: 0/4, 1 K. After a hot start, he seems to have come back to earth. This year's Eladio Moronta? Hope not.
Tejeda: 2/4
Kuo: 0/4
Rutzkrieg: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Still 2.57 ERA on the season, not hatin it for a power Lefty.
Graham "Cracker" Stoneburner: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 1 K. Not a good outing, seems like he might still be far from a AA return.

Game 2: L 3-1 to GCL Tigers. L: Polanco
Janitor Custodio: 1/3, R, K. See description of Austin 2 lines down.
Ravenous Ravel: 0/3
Ty Austin: 2/3, RBI, K. Everything his bat touches falls for a hit.
Junior Bichette: 0/2, K
Jorge Alcantara: 1/3, K
Justin James: 0/3, K
Varce: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K. 2nd game back since last season. Working him back slowly, so far so good.
Joaquin Hinojosa: 1 IP, 1 K. Don't know much about him, but he's got an interesting name and he has performed well so far. So he gets the fine privelage of being mentioned on my blog.

YEEP 7/8/11- Sanchize with the power display

Evil Em Vee P of the day, Gary Sanchez, looking too cool for school with them shades. Image courtesy of pinstripesplus.com

Scranton Wilkes-Barre: PPD

AA Trenton: L 1-6 to Reading. L: Banuelos
Kruml: 3/4, R, 2 2B. Just keeps doin it day to day.
CoJo: 2/4, 2B. Nice rebound from his 0/6 performance in yesterday's games.
BRomine: 1/4, 1 RBI, 1 K.
R-Ly (Lyerly): 1/4, 2 K.
ManBan (Banuelos): 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, 3 K. He's had better, but at least his control was there today.
Josh Bromance Romanski: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 K, 0 R. Looking good in relief, still earned run-less in AA.

Tampa: PPD

Low A Charleston: L 6-5 to Delmarva. L: Kahnle
Gary Sanchize: 2/3, 2 R, HR, RBI, 2 BB. Great game for him, 3 HR in his past 10 games, but still only has a .222 average in that stretch. The power is coming around but he's gotta start making better contact on the reg. That said, he's an 18 year old in full season baseball.
Ramon Ray-Flo Flores: 2/5, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI. Interestingly he again had no walks. I'm telling you his aggression is paying dividends. You can't walk your way to the big leagues, you eventually have to hit something.
Jose Ramirez (J-Ram): 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 K, 1 HR. It pains me to see his season turn out this bad. I guess we can still hope for a Jairo Heredia-esque comeback next season.
Tommy Kahnle: 2 IP, 1 H, ER, 4 BB, 4 K. Control.

Staten Island: PPD

GCL Yankees v. GCL Tigers: Game suspended in the top of the 3rd with 2 outs
So far The Janitor, DAdams, Ty Austin and Tejeda have hits.
Rutzkrieg (Evan Rutckj) had 2 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

That's it for today, I'm just glad I finally thought of a serviceable nickname for Rutckj. It's tough to pick an Evil Em Vee P of the day, what with all of the rainouts and poor play, but I think there's one guy who might have earned it.

Movers and Shakers: Promotions/demotions in the Yankees minors

 Sorry Ivan Nova, you've got a right to be a big annoyed with your demotion, but it'll be good for you in the long run dude... image thanks to espn.com

AAA

Shaeffer Hall was called up to AAA for 1 start. He did a nice job. Given that it was a spot start, I don't think it matters whether he deserved the temporary promotion or not, but he has in fact done a good job for AA this season.

Buddy Carlyle was outrighted to AAA SWB. This is really not news. Sorry.

Ivan Nova was optioned to AAA SWB due to the return of Phil Hughes. He did a great job in the big leagues. If I had it my way, Freddy Garcia would have gone to the bullpen, but Nova will have the chance to become more than a 2 pitch guy if he can work on his change-up while in SWB.

Kevin Whelan also optioned to AAA. He's injured anyway, but has done a great job in SWB this season. He deserved the promotion to the majors, but belongs in the minors when he returns from the injury.

Chris Dickerson also demoted to AAA.

AA

F Hernandez (NOT Felix) was released. Not surprising since he is garbage.

Ryan Pope was sent to AA Trenton from SWB. He was struggling a bit there, maybe he can reinvigorate himself at the level where he originally found himself as a relief pitcher.

Chase Whitley was promoted to AA. He's done a decent job so far. Had a rough first outing, but has done well since then (4.26 ERA, 6 K in 6.1 IP).

Josh Romanski to AA. The bromance as I call him, he has no runs and 3 K in 3.1 IP. Considering we got him for literally nothing, he is turning into a really solid relief prospect.

Rob Lyerly (R-Ly) was also promoted to AA. He really deserved it. I have been preaching all year long about this guy's ability to make contact. If he starts gaining some power, he will be a dangerous hitter. He has proven that he deserved the promotion so far. .305/.359/.783, 1 HR, 9 RBI in 15 g.

High A Tampa

Daniel Burawa was promoted to High A. In limited action he has performed poorly. 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. Honestly didn't feel he was ready for High A. In Low A Charleston, he had a 3.64 ERA and 35 K in 44.2 IP. That's good but in my opinion that's end of the season promotion good, not midseason promotion good. We'll see how he adjusts the rest of the season, it's a small sample size in High A so far.

Mike Gipson was also promoted to High A. He's been injured all season, but was listed on Low A Charleston at the beginning of the year, so this is a promotion. Don't have much to say about this except that he was good in Staten Island last season and I've been excited to see how he does all season.

Mikey O'brien also came from Charleston. He pitched great there, 68 K in 72.1 IP and a 3.2 ERA. He had a shaky first start, but since then has been great after the promotion. Definitely deserved this.

Nik Turley is another former River Dog, and this promotion has been a long time coming. He's been beastly in Low A, easily their best pitcher. He had a rough first start, but that's to be expected with a promotion.

Kramer Sneed, left handed relief pitcher. This promotion is one that I didn't understand, and so far I've been proven right. Sneed had a 4.18 ERA in Low A. He is left handed though, and stikes out more than 1/IP, so I guess the old addage, "he's left handed and he has a pulse," is accurate in this scenario.

JR Murphy, the catcher. I can't say enough about how much this kid deserved to be promoted. He was raking in Charleston, and outplaying Gary Sanchez at that level. He's young and he's got a sweet left handed swing. Yet another catcher to look out for in our system. With Gary Sanchez's fall from grace this season, he has eased that blow a little bit. He's struggled out of the gait, but seems to be easing into his role and improving every day, which is what you like to see.

Kyle Roller also deserved the promotion. They picked him for his bat, and he's done nothing but hit since he arrived here. He's got power, and should continue to move quickly through the organization at least until he starts seeing some real quality pitchers in AA. From there, anything can happen. He's played serviceably since arriving in Tampa (.250), but he'll have to continue to improve at this level.

Rob Segedin is another power hitting corner IF who deserved a promotion. I've had him and Roller paired together as similar players since the beginning of the season, and they have played very similarly. Segedin deserved his promotion, but has started off slow (.196) since his promotion. He's got some work to do.

Finally, Slade Heathcott earned a promotion to High A as well. Unfortunately, he has only played in 1 g since arriving due to injuries, however that game was an epic one for him. He was 3/5 with a HR and 2 R. There was speculation that he was bored in Charleston, but I have my doubts. I'm looking forward to his return.

Low A Charleston

Mark Montgomery made the quick move from Staten Island. So far he's shown why. So far he has made all but 2 of his outs by strikeout. He has 3 IP, and 9 K. Actually had 5 K in his first inning. I'd say he deserved a promotion, because he must be absolutely blowing batters away.

Kyle Higashioka moved in the wrong direction, going from High A to Charleston. The funny thing is, people have been talking about how good this kid is for about 3 years now, and I've never been impressed since he has proven over and over that he can't hit. Each year, however, he is promoted. Here's the funny part, he recently had really started to swing the bat well at High A Tampa, hitting a couple of HR in the week before the demotion, and hitting so well to the point that I actually feel he didn't deserve the demotion. Either way, he's in Charleston now, and has continued to hit better than he ever has before in his career (.279, 1 HR, 5 RBI). I actually feel bad for this kid, but the bottom line is that if he continues to hit, he will change minds. Just look at JR Murphy.

Now for the snubs. Who should have been promoted that wasn't? Or at least should be promoted soon. First of all, Dellin Betances should be promoted soon. He's very close. His main issue is control, but with the way that he has dominated AA batters, it hasn't mattered. There's no reason he can't work on that control in AAA. As for Austin Romine, I'm not saying he should be promoted, but he would be in AAA in any other system right now. I'm okay with it because Montero is a stud, but this kid has got to be getting bored there even though his playing quite well still. I still maintain that Raymond Kruml should have been promoted instead of Austin Krum to AAA. He's got better speed, and he's a better hitter. He has 29 SB already. If nothing else, he'd probably be great to have in the majors as a pinch runner in September. 

You might say that Zoilo Almonte should have been promoted to AA. I think we should give him time. He struggled a bit when he was promoted to High A in the middle of last season, decreasing his prospect stock. I say let him improve his stock in High A, this way he could be used as trade fodder this off-season or if nothing else build up some confidence. Increased prospect stock is never a bad thing. Jairo Heredia has been phenomenal, but only recently. He's another I'm glad they kept down because he has traditionally struggled with promotions. Let him get a true grasp on High A before giving him a new challenge. Ryan Flannery is the one snub at this level I disagree with. The guy has slowly moved up one level a year, each year dominating the level he's at. He's not getting any younger and yet there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency in promoting him. Based on his picture he looks a bit obese, but hell, if you drafted him, then you thought he had something at some point. All he's done is prove that he can get guys out since he came here, I say give him a mid-season promotion for once in his career. Finally, I am not seeing any obvious snubs in Charleston, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Overall, I think the Yankees did a good job evaluating who deserved a promotion and who didn't. I think there were a couple of mistakes as far as guys who didn't deserve a promotion, and a few where they probably should be promoted soon or should have already received that recognition. In the end, they will get their chance eventually.

Midseason Baseball America Top 50

 Manny Banuelos, image courtesy of  beatofthebronx.com

Jesus Montero goes from 3 to 8, Manny Banuelos goes from 41 to 13, Dellin Betances goes from 43 to 26, and Gary Sanchez goes from 30 to off the list.

Good for baseball america for recognizing that Betances and Banuelos have not decreased their stock with their performances this season, but have actually improved their stock by proving they can handle AA hitters. As for Jesus Montero, he's a second half player. We'll see where he stands by the end of the season.

Also, notably, Arodys Vizcaino is now at 16. Imagine, we could have 3 pitchers in the top 25 right now if we didn't decide that we needed to trade for Javier Vazquez. I hated that trade then, and I hate it even more now.