Sunny skies in Baltimore

Everyone see Duncan's bobble in the 4th, he was thinking about the double play. Like football make the catch before you try to run up field. Duncan is the type of player who needs ABs to perform, he won't get them in the majors, send him back.

Edwar Ramirez could end up being a great pitcher.

I'm pretty impressed with Ramirez. The Yankees are playing a team with around the same record as them. We'll see where they stand. Some one once told me that there are a lot of Yankee fans in Baltimore.

Nice!! What a statement game yesterday! I even admit fully that I turned the game off before the rally, half an inning early... as the Yanks came from behind to win and did so after being down 3 for the first time all year!

Wow! Now Bal-ti-more IS the target, literally and figuratively!

Let's try to keep this momentum going!

Go Yankees!!

"Not A Good Move" .....

Too bad Alberto Gonzalez was sent down [again] to AAA-SWB ... He has played well, and earned a spot on this team ... In my view, Gonzalez is so much more valuable to the Yankees then Wilson Betemit ... The Yankees bench just became a lot weaker with this move !!! ... Jimmy27NYY ...

http://baseballtheyankeesandlife.mlblogs.com/

Move makes no sense. Gonzalez is doing better than Ensberg, Duncan and Betemit.

Glad to see Betemit is healthy and swinging the bat well...good move to send Gonzalez to AAA and get additional rt/lt bat on our bench.

In Betemit, Ensberg and Duncan you have an awfull awfull trio. Send down two of the three and get Gonzalez plus and speedy outfielder who can pinchrun.
I would send down Duncan and Betemit or Ensberg and Betemit

Great comeback for the Yanks, Let's start a trend..
Wang had another off game, 5R, 7H, 4 BB He doesn't usually
walk many. But his biggest problem is his trouble pitching from the set. He gets syched out and gets his pitchers up.
For all the Molina bashers, he has come thru again, and his defense is very good, Yes, he doesn't hit like Posada, but he is getting the job done.
He's Back!, and Gonz is gone. Betemit was 2-4 w/HR..In the game yesterday.. The only good thing is Gonz will get more playing time and ABs which he needs.
"GO YANKEES"

The argument Girardi makes doesn't hold water. Duncan needs ABs too and unless he is taking Giambi's spot, that ain't gonna happen, send Duncan down. Send Ensberg out, bring in Piazza to pinch hit.

Molina is nice. I don't get it, he is way better than any backup catcher we have had for 10 years and yet people still complain. He is starting because Posada is hurt, he isn't gonna go 4-4 everyday.

Forget sending Duncan down, release him.

YANKEES MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD May 25, 2008

Indianapolis (Pirates) 6
Scranton/WB 4
W: B. Bullington (3-6, 5.68); L: J. Marquez (3-6, 5.98); SV: T. Beam (3)
HR: None.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_25_indaaa_swbaaa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Trenton 1
Altoona (Pirates) 0
W: A. Aceves (1-0, 0.00); L: J. Barthmaier (2-4, 4.86)
HR: None.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_25_treaax_altaax_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Tampa 3
Daytona (Cubs) 2
W: K. Whelan (1-0, 1.80); L: B. Petrick (1-2, 4.09); SV: J. Schmidt (1)
HR: None.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_25_tbyafa_dbcafa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Charleston 4
Augusta (Giants) 9
W: T. Brewer (3-3, 3.98); L: Z. McAllister (6-3, 2.45)
HR: None.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_25_crdafx_augafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb
You may also see http://www.yankeesdaily.com for details.

YANKEES MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD May 26, 2008

Scranton/WB
Pawtucket (Red Sox) 1:05p
---------------------------------
Trenton
Altoona (Pirates) 12:05p
---------------------------------
Charleston
Augusta (Giants) 7:05p
---------------------------------
You may also see http://www.yankeesdaily.com for details.

Joba is pitching again Wednesday in a Pettite start, and he is scheduled to throw 50-55 pitches, if possible.

I'm thinking we need to send him down and give him some minor league starts. Sure, losing him would suck, but with that pitch count now the other side of 50, he really should be coming in at the start. And we can't have a starter up here that we will need to yank after 3 innings, our pen is overworked as is.

Send him down after Wednesday, give him 2 or 3 starts, and we can have Joba in the rotation by the end of June.

Duncan is worthless. A happy good fella, but the only thing he does is making errors and outs. You put him in against lefties and you get zero in return

This Olson dude is getting the job done. Really getting the Yankees to swing at bad pitches, though they have had their chances. So far, Olson hs been getting the first and second pitch strikes, taking adavntage of the patient Yankee lineup, it would be nice if we could break through for a run here to spport Rasner though, jeeze.

Heck of a game for Nick Markakis, eh? Steal a run and drive one in. The Yankees look stifled by Garrett Olson and this would be one tough-luck loss for Darrell Rasner.

Exactly. I mean come on guys, wake up. Has Damon getting thrown out at home depressed everyone? Let's get some runs across.

Man I missed this. Indignation that no runs have scored coupled with belief that runs will score. Not to long ago, I would simply be feeling utterly hopeless at this point.

On another note, Rasner has sure been impressive. There is no way we can demote him right now. But this leaves Kennedy's spot as possibly up for grabs for either Joba or Hughes down the road. The big 3, battling it out for one rotation spot? This is a problem, but one every team would want to have.

It's a lot easier being a glass half full Yankee fan these days.

Damn pen. If Rasner keeps this up Kennedy's going to get traded. Think next year Wang, Joba, Hughes, Raz + free agent doesn't leave a lot of room for him..

A wasted performance by Rasner. Why is it EVERY national league pitcher the Yankees sign is a bust? And for God's sake stop signing ex-Cubs as pitchers. If the Cubs didn't want them why would the Yankees. Hawkins did NOT do the job today and on top of the Veras homer the performance by Rasner is wasted. This team still has big PROBLEMS in middle relief and until that gets solved you wonder if Joba is destined to stay there.

When I say free agent I include Pettitte & Moose that is.

Candy until Hughes starts proving it and stops being injured I am not buying him a spot in the rotation.

Betapuke coming back is the worst news the Yanks could get other than losing a game or suffering a key injury. Betapuke sucks!!!!! He's a waste of roster space, and a no talent. IF anyone should get cut it should be Betapuke at least Duncan can hit. In short Betapuke is garbage!!!!

Ramirez is nothing more than a releif pitcher who will go no more than 1 or 2 innings per appearance, and doesn't have what it takes to be a starter.
Once again we see why Hawkins sucks!!!!

Matt couldn't agree with you more. Hawkins had one good year in Colorado. He has been mostly a NL pitcher and again the Yankee GM gets taken. Again the main reason I want Crashman out is the way he has put this team together from pitching to the bench. He hasn't got a clue.

COME ON YANKS, DROP A SEVEN SPOT ON THIS TRASH! IT AIN'T OVER TIL ITS OVER!

UH.....

FIRE CASHMAN!

Our bullpen could use some improvements though. It's nearing the end of May, and some guys still have bloated ERAs, most notably Hawkins who is over 6. Maybe these ERAs will come down by the end of the season, but it is not actually inspiring confidence the way it did before we started moving Joba. Our guys need to step up or we may need to promote guys like Cox and Patterson.

I guess we won't see any major moves in the immediate future, but some of the guys in the minors are making a good case for promotion. Maybe even as early as the All Star break. I'd love to hear some other thoughts on this.

JHT, I agree with you on the Hughes horizon. He is my favorite pitcher on this squad, but I'm afraid this guy may turn into another Harden. He needs to learn to stay healthy daggit! When you look at it correctly, none of his injuries are tell-tale signs of arm deterioration. In 07 it was his hastring and ankle as well as this " rib ". Since when does a rib injury keep you out three months? I think they Parmalee'd this guy. Call me crazy. When he returns to the rotation and is finally healthy and injury free for A LONG time, I feel this guy will return to the form he had in Texas. He has the stuff to baffle anybody, but his mental makeup is what I think separates him from the pack. So far he hasn't had the physical part of the game on his side though. We'll see.

As for our rotation and howit may look in 09

1. Wang
2. Sabathia
3. Hughes
4. Rasner
5. Joba

Super.

This year, it'll look like this ( post all star break, no order )

1.Wang
2. Hughes
3. Joba
4. Pettitte
5. Moose

I think Kennedy is gone this year, by trade or option.

I wasn't thrilled with the Yanks getting Hawkins, and now we see why, the guy makes me nervous!!

I don't think Kennedy is going anywhere in the forseeable future, especially if he turns things around, and starts pitching well. If he does that then, he wins back his spot in the rotation,and when Hughes comes back then Rasner goes back to the pen. The Yanks thought far too much of Kennedy in the offseason not to trade him with Hughes for Santana. IF Hughes comes back and pitches well, don't be surprised to see Rasner in the pen. Hughes and Kennedy are seen as a big part of this team's future, hence they will be given more slack than other pitchers , and given more opportunities to succeed. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rasner as trade bait after this season. Wouldn't be surprised if next season's rotation would include Wang, Sabathia (Sheets?), Hughes Kennedy, Chamberlain.

BD South,

In regards to your last posting on the other blog I would say forget about the foreign imports like Darvish, and buy American!!!!

Are you a loyal American or what?????? HA! HA!

One other thing. For those of you who think not trading for Santana is a mistake, think again. The Mets are 23-25, and Randolph's job is in seriousjeopardy. IF Santana wasn't a difference maker for the Mets what makes you think he would be one for the Yanks?

I wouldn't mind some changes being made to the pen. Farnsworth, and Hawkins are liable to blow up at any time as we have seen. Who needs relievers like that? All they will do is take this team down, they are nothing more than middle relievers so they are a dime a dozen. Ohlendorf has been up and down as well making him untrustworthy as well, but I'm more inclined to cut him more slack since he is a younger pitcher, and does have great stuff. I would like to see guys like White, and Cox up soon.

Giambi not in the lineup was huge, Duncan is no where close.
I think Kennadia will be dealt no matter how he performs, no way they have Hughes, Kennadia and Chamberlain in the rotation. Rasner has been good but he will likely go back to the pen eventually.

Mets kept Randolph but if they do fire him, we need to jump on him, yes he's a threat Girardi and he needs to be.

There is no way the Santana trade could have been worth it. I'll put it this way, does anyone think Santana has been worth 20mil more to the Mets this season than Melky has to us? And that is without Kennedy and Hughes, who admittedly have not been superstars this season.

But even in the short term, the value of that trade would have been questionable at best. The long term impact, well, that would be fairly obvious.

No way they deal Kennedy, not when they had a chance to deal him during the offseason. They definitely won't deal him for an older player, this team is sick of going down a failed path.
Randolph isn't a threat to anyone, he has a long way to go as a manager as he has already shown. Like Pena, the only direction he will lead this team is down the toilet. He was very lucky to end the day with a job.

Shopping Kennedy would be a bad idea. Teams are going to come at us with offers for him because of his potential, and because they think they can get him for cheap because they figure we are getting impatient with him.

Maybe we will deal him, but we better be getting someone special in return. Losing him as the main piece in a Teixiera would be justifiable if that is an option, though personally I would like to see him develop in a Yankee uniform.

Come on. What does Girardi have to do to make his job safe? He sets us on a 5 game winning streak, adds some much needed fire to our clubhouse, then he loses a game and we talk about replacing him with a coach who would had to first be fired by the Mets? If you aren't good enough for the Mets you are not good enough for the Yankees.

I meant would have had. I know he hasn't been fired yet and may very well not be, I was just saying for him to be available midseason he must first be fired by the Mets.

Yah... Bpark, you can't be serious man. Randolph has proved nothing as a manger, besides being weak enough to let his team flop in September and miss the playoffs. I don't know what's the problem with Girardi... I was very glad to see him argue he really showed some strong emotions which seemed to fire up the club. One loss in 6 games with no offensive production isn't any reason to fire Girardi. Even without the 5 game win-streak Girardi has been and will be the best choice as manager of the Yankees.

YANKEES MINOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD May 26, 2008

Scranton/WB 5
Pawtucket (Red Sox) 11
W: C. Zink (6-2, 2.59); L: J. Karstens (0-2, 9.35)
HR: PAW: J. Bailey 2 (14), G. Kottaras (9), J. Van Every (8), K. Ginter (3), G. Velazquez (1).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_26_swbaaa_pawaaa_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Trenton 7
Altoona (Pirates) 2
W: P. Coke (4-1, 3.38); L: Y. Herrera (3-5, 3.83); SV: A. Claggett (2)
HR: None.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_26_treaax_altaax_1&t=g_box&did=milb
Charleston 8
Augusta (Giants) 9
W: C. Clark (4-0, 4.27); L: D. Betances (4-3, 4.09); SV: D. Otero (13)
HR: AUG: G. Baker (5), N. Noonan (2).
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2008_05_26_crdafx_augafx_1&t=g_box&did=milb
You may also see http://www.yankeesdaily.com for details.

Matt, there's no race in baseball, this sport is fun, even Australians are getting into it ( Red Sox signed a 16 yr old from Aussy land the other day! ) You should be proud other nations are growing into this sport! As far as Yu Darvish, I don't care if he from Iranian-Japanese decent, he's good boy! I like him alot for the Yankees in 2010! Imagine a rotation of Wang, Sabathia, Darvish, Hughes, Chamberlain! That's five aces in a row. : P~, I drool at just the thought of it. We'd have the whole league, ESPN and the whole sports world on its knees. The Red Sox can keep Beckett and Matsuza--who?

As for Kennedy, believe me, if Cashman inquires for Teixeira and they ask for Kennedy and a good package of our minor-league pitchers, they'll be long gone ( although I'd like to keep McCutcheon and Melancon ). Don't forget we have Brackman and Humberto Sanchez coming off injuries this season, those guys could very well replace any number of prospects we lose ina trade. Come to look at it, it'd be kind of stupid to keep all that talent... just rotting there in the minors. We only have so much space on this roster.

As for Hawkins and For-wat-he's-worth, they will both be replaced by our young guns in the minors. Hawkins is gone this season, McCutcheon could take his spot, Farnsworth the next season, Humberto Sanches could fill that spot. So before you guys think of any outsider replacements... think of the force within...

Girardi replaced by Mr. They're picking on cuz I'm black?

Gimme a break.

Shoping Kennedy would be a good idea only for Teixeira, nobody else.

BD South,

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Darvish will cost this team a small fortune just to talk to him and sign him. We really still don't know how good he can be. Like I said, Japanese ball players are way overrated, there's a reason why Asian players have had a spotty record in the majors when it comes to success in the majors. There have only been three Asian pitchers who have had any real success in the majors, and that's Nomo, Wang, and to a much smaller extent Dice-K. There's absolutely no guarantee that Darvish will even make the majors coming from Japan. I would rather see a rotation that would include names like Betances, McCutcheon, White, Hughes, Kennedy, and Wang before Darvish. The Yanks have a surplus of arms who are just as good if not better than Darvish. Brackman isn't slated to start his career until next year just FYI, not before then, and McCutcheon could start as well as relieve so there is no reason to waste millions on what might be an overrated player.

As for Teixeira, it will take more than a package of minor league pitchers to get him. The Braves will probably want a starting position player who has been established in the majors for a few years to go along with minor league pitchers as well, which this team doesn't have or is willing to part with. Like I said, this could be the Santana episode all over again. But, again I don't see the Yanks getting him at all.

It's not like the Yanks don't have other options if they don't get Teixeira, albeit they won't be nearly as good as Teixeira himself. The Yanks could always trade a couple of pitching prospects for lesser options like Nick Johnson, or trade for other 1B prospects, or draft a 1B with the Amateur draft coming up. I wouldn't be surprised if the Yanks drafted a 1B in the first couple of rounds of the draft anyway, since this organization is in need of position players.

Jeff Karstens is another name that should be included when talking about cutting garbage from this team. Karstens is nothing more than a mediocre pitcher who has no place on this roster. Once again he is proving that in the minors. I never thought he would make it out of ST injury or not. This guys is just terrible.

The commonly kicked-around posting fee for Darvish is $75MM. Remember, everyone thought Dice-K would require $25-30MM and the fee ended up being $51.1MM. If Darvish received Dice-K's six-year, $52MM deal and required an $80MM posting fee, he'd cost $22MM a year.
Darvish's team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, didn't allow Caple to ask about the MLB possibility. But the team's GM has said that he'd probably post a player who requested it.
Does Darvish want to come to MLB? Opinions run the gamut on that question. A posting this winter is possible but far from certain.
Darvish's father seems to want him to play in New York or Boston, if he comes to MLB.

Matty, Matty. You probably have not seen Darvish pitch. Maybe when you see him in the Olympics ina few months you'll at least see why I think highly of him. His stuff would get him by in this league easily. He's got pinpoint control to go along with it ( 2.88 bb per nine ). I dunno, but I like him.

Hey, you forgot about about Joba in that rotation. Here are is the list of great prospects that we have:

1. Horne
2. J.B. Cox
3. Brackman
4. Sanchez
5. Melancon
5. White
6. Betances
6. McCutcheon
7. Kontos
8. Giese

That's alot of pitchers.

Personally, I'd like to see McCutcheon, Horne, White, Sanchez and Melancon pitch. They seem like the pitchers that ay make the ML realistically, than all the toher guys.

Sorry for creating a Darvish storm here. Just speculating

I like Darvish in some ways. Maybe he is overrated but important things to note are how young he is and any posting fee won't count against the luxury tax. We should think about it at least. As BD South pointed out, we can stick him in the minors for a year.

Then again, arguments can be made against as well. He has thrown a lot of innings at a young age, Igawa, the Japanese league is sort of a AAAA league so success there does not mean success here, Igawa, it would cost us a fortune, oh and did I mention Igawa?

All in all, I am very much on the fence. We should still make a bid.If we win, we wouldn't have to sign him and we can keep the Sox away from him. Then again, he may not even be made available for posting.

My guess is that the front office will be MUCH more cautious about posting for Japanese players. They simply can't afford another Igawa. And let's not forget that we didn't just pull Igawa's name out of a hat. He was nearly as highly sought as Special-K.

Don't bet on the SUCHS making a post for him either. Teams can only afford to shell out cabbage like that once in a while.

One thing is sure, Randolph's performance with a patched together rotation NLCS his first year makes him a much better manager than Mattress Susuki and Randolph got them over the hump winning in the division. Minaya takes alot of credit and blame for the state of the Mets.

at least Duncan can hit.
By matt_saiki@yahoo.com on May 26, 2008 4:11 PM

I whole 170, I am sure teams are scared to death.

Well, I don't post on weekends, so leave it to the Yankees to blow yet another great performance by Rasner on Monday. Now I have to post about a loss instead of the beatdown that we dealt those losers in Seattle. I guess you can't win them all, but EVERY other East division team got a W yesterday. Toronto won, Baltimore kicked our butt, Boston won, and Tampa Bay won. I really love looking up from the basement. Rest assured, this division is so deep right now, that we could have a winning record and STILL be in dead last at the end of the season.I don't know what the rest of you are thinking, but Chamberlain should be replacing Kennedy in the rotation, and NOT Rasner. We need to keep Rasner in the mix if he is going to keep marching out there and toughing out great one great performance after another. We should spot start Kennedy occasionally, and use him as a long reliever. Ohlendorff has certainly NOT gotten it done so far this year in that role.Of course, we would have to have a GM with a clue to see Rasner continuing as a starter. Once Chamberlain is moved into the rotation, Rasner will most likely get sent down to AAA SWB. I mean, after all, as soon as Bet "you wish Cashman didn't think I was the second coming of Christ" amit was off the DL, Alberto was moved back to Scranton so that we could make room for Wilson's iron glove, fat body, and worthless bat. Thanks for NOTHING, Cashman. I will throw a party the second someone gets a brain and fires Cashman's worthless hide.

I was also very pleased to see that Bartolo Colon suddenly remembered how to pitch. I love the fact that any d-bag that puts on Red Sox gear goes from zero to hero in 2.2 seconds. I HATE BOSTON!

LOL. The Tampa Bay Gays are the best team in the AL. I can't even describe how lame that is.

I remember someone telling me Tampa had 90 wins in them at the start of last season. I practically laughed in his face. Turns out he may just have been a season early.

Maybe I can convince him to become a scout for the Yanks.

I was just looking at player stats, and thinking about that Volquez for Hamilton trade. Man, talk about a trade that benefits both sides.

How crazy would it be if ML made an expansion to Japan?

Some say it is not possible. Others say it's possible, but how would the players take having to travel to Japan every ten days for three days ( Jet lag... oof ) and ave to come back to the states and keep the band rolling. A $40,000 bonus for every trip made should be good enough, not to mention that players do not take care of anything else but themselves ( someone else takes care of their bags, tickets, Visas and IDs ). I would not complain.

But, back to expansion mode.

We could fit the six teams into each of our six leagues and make a five team league minimum ( NL/ AL style )

We could make a system where we create an Asia league, and the winner of that league would get into the playoffs, wild card included. ( How cool would that be? )

Or we expand our schedule to make time to play in Asia right AFTER our 162 game season, which would make it a 180 game season. ( You know players will want moooore money for that one. )

Talks are in place for this one, though I don't think it will happen for another two, three years.

So Duncan is black?

???

No but Willie Randolph is.

BD - who are you answering? Oh.... Had my filter on. Working again!

If MLB is looking at how to make MLB MORE expensive, THIS would be a good way to do it. Now, not only are there revenue sharing issues, but the haves will have to pony up more so the have-nots can afford to travel 4000 miles across the pacific. Why stop at in Japan? How about Puerto Rico? The Dominican Republic? South America? Really, why would we want to expand to Japan when we get more quality players from the Carribean and South America? Doesnt make sense.

Hey BDSouth, you mentioned Josh Hamilton in one of your previous posts from a few days ago, and you're so right about him, he's sick nasty. I live around where the Texas Rangers play so I get to watch him all the time and he's one of my new favorite players, what I would'nt give to have Josh on the Yanks.....with that short right field porch in Yankee Stadium, oh my God!!!

I misread that BD, I thought you said Giambi being replaced by....I guess I had heard somewhere Duncan acts black.

In all the discussion on this blog entry about Joe and Willie and Tex and someone no one's ever heard of in Japan (and with the exception of Chaz's entry) Rasner threw another gem. With some of that bat we've had in the previous 5 games, he's 4-0 now. Hawkins? eh. Did anyone expect less? Veras didn't give the game away. And he is a young hurler who's done actually relatively well and still needs to learn. You know, I see Humberto Sanchez's name thrown around. Right now, he's got what we seem to have GOBS of: potential. Well, there is no ML stat for that. He's got no ML experience. He's coming off TJ surgery. I'm not betting on him showing us any more than Veras or Ramirez.

rcn, Rasner likes to fly under the radar, I'm just doing him a favor. He's pretty good at that, being he plays in New York.

IT's a good thing bpark,errrrr, keyswahili, errrrrrr bettypoop isn't the GM of this team. He would actually rank worse than Cashman as a GM. Only he would think Bet "You guys didn't think a worthless piece of crap like myself would be back yet again" apuke, or The Savior, or The Beer Guzzler would help this team, or someone like Randolph, Pena, or O'Neill or anyone over the age of 40 would help this team. Yeah right!!!! Don't give up your day job keyswahili, I mean bettypoopy.

Looks like I'm going to have to find a way to get that filter installed. Thanks bettypoopy.

Rasner has proven that he has a game plan when he pitches...needs to remain in the rotation...Phil Hughes and Kennedy both need more time to hone their skills/build their confidence in AAA or long relief bullpen duty..Chamberlain should be taking Kennedy spot in the rotation. Duncan cannot hit the breaking pitch and major league pitchers will continue to exploit his proclivity to try and pull every pitch. Ensberg is what the Astros knew he was...average field, no hit...Wilson Betemit has power in his bat, is only 26 and will develope into a key player off the bench as the season progresses...The second run off of Hawkins was a bloop/texas leaguer just over short stop...the same type that Mariono Rivera gave up in our loss to the Diamondbacks in the world series...Hawkins for the most part has pitched well and his ERA doesnot accurately reflect this. He and Farnsworth will be able to effectively handle the 7th & 8th innings.

BDSouth,

I wouldn't even think of having Giese in the Top 20 of best prospect on that list despite the stats he has put up this season. It's a fluke. I also wouldn't include Brackman in that list either, he has yet to throw a pitch and isn't going to until next season, but everyone else looks good. Some of them could be included in a trade package down the road. I don't think the Yanks will get Teixeira for a package made up of unknowns which is all that prospects are, they are going to want more than that.

As for Darvish, I'm still not comfortable at the thought of this organization spending millions on an unknown, possibly overrated, player especially when this team already has pitchers possibly as good if not better than him, not to mention there are many talented pitchers in this year's draft to add to a surplus of talented pitchers. Maybe the Yanks could actually get a left hander in the draft since that is what they are lacking in their system. This team also needs to concentrate more on building up its base of position players as well something this organization is a bit short on, especially at 1B if the Yanks can't get Teixeira.

One thing is sure, Randolph's performance with a patched together rotation NLCS his first year makes him a much better manager than Mattress Susuki and Randolph got them over the hump winning in the division. Minaya takes alot of credit and blame for the state of the Mets.
By bpark23@hotmail.com on May 27, 2008 8:44 AM

What the heck are you talking about bettypoopy? The Mets have used the same rotation since day 1, they planned on going with those starters, except for maybe 3 starts by Claudio Vargas, and Nelson Figueroa who had to take Pedro's place in the rotation because he is a broken down wreck who is near the end of his career.

Phil Hughes and Kennedy both need more time to hone their skills/build their confidence in AAA or long relief bullpen duty..Chamberlain should be taking Kennedy spot in the rotation. Duncan cannot hit the breaking pitch and major league pitchers will continue to exploit his proclivity to try and pull every pitch. Ensberg is what the Astros knew he was...average field, no hit...Wilson Betemit has power in his bat, is only 26 and will develope into a key player off the bench as the season progresses
By keyswahili@yahoo.com on May 27, 2008 1:54 PM

LOL!!!! Nice try bettypoopy!!

Mets kept Randolph but if they do fire him, we need to jump on him, yes he's a threat Girardi and he needs to be.
By bpark23@hotmail.com on May 26, 2008 5:55 PM

Randolph is a threat alright, to lead this team down the toilet!!!

Not much reason to go back and read comments posted by others before this. I'm certain the Bad Mouth Brigade aka Trash Talking Contingent has made reference to the demotion of Alberto Gonzalez. I like the kid too, but he badly needs at bats somewhere. He will return this season, maybe as early as July.

Mr. Mediocrity (a.k.a Mr know Nothing) chimes in to say absolutely nothing. Congrats in wasting space on this blog!!

Hawkins for the most part has pitched well and his ERA doesnot accurately reflect this. He and Farnsworth will be able to effectively handle the 7th & 8th innings.
By keyswahili@yahoo.com on May 27, 2008 1:54 PM

LOL!!! Do you know anything about baseball keyswahili?

OMG!!!!!! BPARK ISN"T JUST KEYSWAHILI, HE IS SENTINEL TOO!!!!!!!