2007 Random Yankees Ramblings

[browntown653]

Wil Nieves and Todd Pratt are vying to become Jorge Posada's backup this season, one of the few open competitions for a job in camp. "Nieves has had high marks from being in our system," Torre said. "Pitchers on our staff who have pitched to him have always felt good about him. But you look at the other side of it and you see what Todd Pratt brings to the table is the experience, and the ability to occasionally hit the ball out of the ballpark."

All I have to say about this is...Todd Pratt!!!!

[browntown653]

Thursday Feb. 22 - ST Notes per newsday.com

One characteristic the Yankees have learned about Kei Igawa so far is that he likes to work quickly.

Too quickly, they think.

The Yankees allotted 10 minutes for each of their starting pitchers to throw batting practice yesterday, and they wanted the pitchers to throw anywhere between 30 and 40 pitches.

But Igawa worked so quickly that he reached the 40-pitch limit at the eight-minute mark, leading pitching coach Ron Guidry to come out and stop the lefthander from throwing any more.

Igawa's control may have suffered from catching and throwing without blinking. "At first I had good control, but the second half I had too much power, which caused my control problems," Igawa said through interpreter Yumi Watanabe.

Guidry said, "He reminds me a lot of myself. Get the ball and you throw it. But you throw so many more pitches. But I just want him to catch it, turn around, set back up and take his time."

Manager Joe Torre was surprised at the velocity of the 6-1, 212-pound Igawa. "He's a little sneaky," Torre said. "The ball gets up on you a little quicker than you expect it to."

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As Carl Pavano walked to the mound for batting practice, the theme music from the movie "Rocky" was playing at Legends Field. "I got a little chuckle out of that," Pavano said.

The next song that played over the Legends Field loudspeaker was "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin, which features the fitting lyric, "It's been a long time since I rocked and rolled."

As for his pitching, Pavano did not report a problem, and Torre seemed pleased with his stuff, as was Guidry.

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Torre said his brother, Frank, will know next week whether either of Frank's two kids can be used as a kidney donor ... Andy Pettitte received easily the largest ovation from the fans as he walked from the bullpen to the mound. "When he walks out you can't help but think about the time and what happened during the time he was here and what a huge part of it he was," Torre said.

[browntown653]

Per Rotoworld

General manager Brian Cashman said Thursday that the Yankees have no plans to hand Philip Hughes a roster spot coming out of spring training.
After seeing Hughes workout Thursday, Jason Giambi compared him to Roger Clemens, while Todd Pratt compared him to Curt Schilling.

Any takers on how long it will be before Hughes hits the majors? I will be very surprised if he isn't here before Memorial Day.

[browntown653]

Per Rotoworld

Carl Pavano threw batting practice for the first time on Thursday.
He threw 35 pitches, including one that hit prospect Alberto Gonzalez in the back. "Carl was good," manager Joe Torre said. "Gonzalez probably didn't think so. He got nailed. He's throwing the ball good. He's got a lot of movement on it. I think he's comfortable with the way he feels right now."

[Hammer]

that igawa article 3 or so up is like the first good thing ive heard about him... always liked a pitcher who works quick. of course if he has zero stuff... ive said my peace on igawa before, no need to do so again.

if hughes doesnt have a spot out of spring training ill be greatly disappointed... posada is on the bandwagon to boot, if he won over the catcher, lets go.

[browntown653]

I don't think he will have a spot unless somebody gets hurt...which means it's about a 50-50 chance because the human DL Pavano is hanging around. But 1-3 is guaranteed, and Igawa and Pavano are being paid too much money to start the season in the pen so Hughes will be the AAA ace. I doubt everybody in the rotation stays healthy though and I expect to certainly see him in there eventually.

[Jim Colyer]

Good to see Joe Torre return for one more year. I suspect Don Mattingly will be the Yankee manager in 2008.

[browntown653]

Per ESPN

TAMPA, Fla. -- New York Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon is expected to miss at least a few days of spring training for personal reasons.

"I think it's going to be some time," manager Joe Torre said Saturday. "A few days or something. He has some personal things he has to attend to, and we just gave him that ability."

Damon was given permission to leave camp after talking with Torre and general manager Brian Cashman following Friday's workout.

"He spoke to Joe and me about it, so obviously he's not in camp with permission," Cashman said. "When he returns, he'll be able to talk about it to whatever degree he wants to."

Damon, slowed by a sore shoulder and a broken bone in his foot last season, hit .285 with 24 homers and 80 RBIs in 149 games.

Good luck with whatever it is.

[browntown653]

Nice read by Mark Hermann of Newsday about Wang:

TAMPA, Fla. -- The absolute last thing you ever will hear in the Yankees' clubhouse is someone yelling at Chien-Ming Wang, saying, "Hey, keep it down!"

That takes in his pitching, because keeping it down goes without saying for the man with the devastating sinker. Mostly it refers to the fact that he is the club's Least Voluble Player.

He minds his own business, smiles easily and razzes teammates after they razz him. For the most part, though, he is seen and not heard.

As pitching coach Ron Guidry said, "You wouldn't know he was there unless you spoke to him."

You wouldn't know Wang was on the Yankees if he weren't the only one who won a postseason game for them last year, if he didn't tie for the most wins in the major leagues in 2006, if he weren't one of the best starters in baseball.

"Under the radar" doesn't describe the pitcher who won 19 games (only American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana won as many). Wang is under the sonar (which submarines use).

"I was lucky," he said of his 19-6 record and 3.63 ERA in 2006.

He sat in his chair at Legends Field, near a large white carton filled with fan mail. Wang spends about 20 minutes every day answering such mail, mostly photos, cards and baseballs to be signed. He admits he does not absorb all of the good wishes in those letters. "I can't read [English]," said the 26-year-old from Tainan, Taiwan.

Still, he patiently seals every envelope in the meticulous way he does everything. When he was a child, he used to help in his parents' utensils business by packing spoons and chopsticks into cartons.

What really is impressive about Wang is that he is Exhibit A in the argument that an unassuming person can survive New York's tumult. Heck, Wang comes to New York for the peace and quiet.

The stir that occurs when he leaves his house in Taiwan is what you'd expect here if Tiger Woods went to dinner with Tom Hanks and Britney Spears, which is why he described his offseason this way: "I didn't go out."

During baseball season, he doesn't go out of his way to get noticed. He lives outside the city. "More relaxed. No traffic," he said in English, having asked the Yankees not to replace the interpreter who couldn't quite cut it two years ago.

He isn't flamboyant on the mound, only on the statistics sheets.

"It's something I don't know if you can teach," said Yankees coach and chief needler Larry Bowa, who uses Wang as one of his favorite pincushions. "It's the way the ball comes out of his hand. People don't realize that this guy throws hard, too. It's one thing to have a sinker that's 87 or 88 , but he's 93."

Relief pitcher Mike Myers, one of Wang's closest friends on the team, said: "He has a pitch that really nobody else in the big leagues has."

These are nice compliments, but the true measure of respect in a baseball clubhouse is being verbally disrespected. So the Yankees get on him.

With Robinson Cano, who came up through the system with him, "It's my Spanish," Wang said. Does he speak Spanish? "A little," the pitcher said. "Como esta?"

There's a huge difference between "quiet" and "boring." Cano, the second baseman from the Dominican Republic, said: "He's not nice, he's very, very nice. He's a humble guy. I know it's hard for him because he's the only one from his country here, so I try to talk to him, make him feel comfortable."

Bowa asks Wang before every start how many runs he is going to need. "He always says six. I said, 'I could go out there and win with six,"' the coach said. "Well, I was getting him five or six a game. But once we only got him one and he comes up to me and says, 'Where's the six?"'

After a rocky first outing in live batting practice at this camp, Guidry deadpanned, "Whatever you did in Taiwan this winter, never do it again."

When Joe Torre asked Wang about his effort that day, the pitcher used a nine-letter word that begins with "horse."

So Wang is getting there. And he really is a true Yankee even though he doesn't have a massive ego or get into verbal hair-pulling episodes.

You know he's around by the way he pitches, and by the stacks of letters he gets now. "Last year," he said, "only a couple."

[browntown653]

Promising start by Igawa

TAMPA, Fla. -- Several times during Randy Johnson's warm-up sessions over the past two years, a photographer or two made the mistake of kneeling several feet behind the plate.

Johnson hated it. Within seconds, he'd be waving his gangly arms, shooing the cameras. Understandably, he wanted no distractions when he was on the mound about to pitch.

Maybe Kei Igawa is different.

When the Yankees lefthander took the mound for his first game action in the United States yesterday, albeit an intrasquad game, there were 18 photographers crunched together behind the plate. Igawa didn't seem to mind. He threw his warm-ups, then put together two seemingly free and easy efficient innings against a group of Yankees who are bound for the minors.

The Yankees weren't about to proclaim that the 26-year-old Igawa is on the verge of Cy Young candidacy, but they came away hopeful this outing was a sign he will be able to handle himself.

"You listen for what the hitters are saying when they walk by you, and what they were saying was, 'Ooooh, he's sneaky,'" pitching coach Ron Guidry said. "It's not that he's overpowering. He doesn't throw hard. But because of his mechanics, the ball is going to get to you a little sooner than you think. That's sneaky."

Igawa allowed only one hit, a drag bunt by speedy Brett Gardner on his first pitch of the afternoon. Igawa is athletic and moves fairly quickly around the mound, but he had absolutely no chance to cover the bag in time to beat Gardner.

Guidry watched carefully to see if that leadoff hit might rattle Igawa. But he kept his composure, getting Bronson Sardinha to ground into a double play to Derek Jeter.

"You'd expect [him to say] 'Now all of a sudden, I've got to make better pitches,'" Guidry said. "But he made pitches he felt he needed and got out of the damage. That's what you look for here."

Guidry eased Igawa's nerves by telling him before the outing, "Have fun." But Igawa insisted he was calm. "I was not nervous," he said through an interpreter. "I was definitely excited."

Igawa doesn't have a dominant repertoire, hitting 90 with his fastball but relying more on his changeup. He struggled a little with his control in his 19-pitch, 14-strike outing, but was pleased.

What will likely help him at least to start the season is that the hitters have to adjust to someone they have never seen before.

"Word gets out quick," first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "That's why they have 15 people checking out every game. I'm sure teams have tapes on him already, but until you are in the box facing him for the first time, it takes some time to adjust."

Along the same lines, Guidry said, "The only thing we had was films, and there's only so much you can tell from films."

Igawa threw everything except his curve, which he is still being refined in the bullpen. Scouts believe his curve is a distant third behind his changeup and his fastball.

Notes & quotes: A day after straining his right oblique muscle during batting practice, Bobby Abreu said he expects to be ready in time for Opening Day. "Oh yeah, I don't think it's going to take that long," Abreu said. "I'll be ready." Abreu has been shut down from all baseball activities for at least two to three weeks ... Carl Pavano threw off flat ground for the first time since his left foot was drilled by a liner Saturday. He is slated to throw a bullpen session tomorrow ... Two of Frank Torre's children are matches to be potential kidney donors for their father, Joe Torre said, but it may be another month before surgery is performed on the manager's older brother ... The Yogis (major-leaguers managed by Yogi Berra) beat The Reggies (minor-leaguers managed by Reggie Jackson), 5-1.

It's only minor leaguers but at least it's a promising start. Funny that they say he struggled with his control though when he threw 14 strikes and 5 balls.

[Hammer]

anybody watch the st game? nothing out of the ordinary except russ ohlendorf, who just eats people up. his sinker, or whatever it is, just makes the ball eat the dirt off the bat. i was pretty damn impressed, he even tied up the reigning mvp, though it still blooped in for a single. hughes struggled with his command a little bit, but he only gave up 1 run... and it was given up by a reliever, tj beam i believe, who came on after they took hughes out after 33 pitches, didnt want to stretch him i guess.

[browntown653]

TAMPA - Joe Torre expects Ron Villone to be a part of the Yankees' bullpen when camp breaks at the end of the month, which could be a bad sign for Brian Bruney, the pitcher most believed had locked up a spot with his performance last year.
Villone, who signed a minor-league deal at the beginning of camp, has been throwing well, impressing Torre much more than he did last year.

"From what I've seen so far, he's way ahead of last spring," Torre said.

Villone did not have a particularly strong spring in his first year with the Yankees, but he was on a guaranteed deal, so his spot in the bullpen was secure. Now, with no such certainty in his future, the 37-year-old must show the Yankees that his second half last year (8.35 ERA) was not a sign of things to come.

"In reality, I'm always fighting with myself out there and looking at the numbers game," Villone said. "It is what it is. Being on a minor-league contract doesn't give me more incentive to be a better player, because I'm going to be the same player no matter what."

Villone had trouble throwing a two-seam fastball last spring, leading to his inconsistent performance. Once he fought through that, he posted a 2.27 ERA in 36appearances before the All-Star break.

This spring, Villone's two-seamer is part of his repertoire, allowing him to attack hitters with more than a straight fastball. He is still working to get a feel for his slider, but he seems more at ease and more confident than he did a year ago.

Should Villone win a place in the bullpen, he would join Mariano Rivera, Scott Proctor, Kyle Farnsworth, Luis Vizcaino and Mike Myers. That leaves one spot open, which Torre would like to use for a long reliever, possibly Jeff Karstens.

That would leave Bruney out of the mix and at Triple-A Scranton, along with pitchers such as Chris Britton, Sean Henn, Darrell Rasner, Jose Veras and T.J. Beam.

"He certainly pitched at an important time last year," Torre said of Bruney, who had an ERA of 0.87 with 25 strikeouts in 20-2/3 innings last season. "He showed us he could do that, so you have to consider him also. That's what the spring is all about. You see who impresses you and start weighing your needs and what they bring to the table."

I loved Villone at the beginning of last year...he just fell apart at the end because of the overworking, but I feel like he could be a productive part of our bullpen.

[browntown653]

Top prospects and such according to Baseball America:

BaseballAmerica.com: Prospects: Top 10 Prospects: New York Yankees

[Dry1313]

I'm shocked a couple of guys are missing from that list. I guess it's based on projection, rather than probability, because if it was, Cox would be on there, Ohlendorf would be too.

[Hammer]

brett gardner is that good, really?