Parnell and BABIP, Bill Buckner on Curb, Second Spitter, Jesus Montero and Marketing of the Future

In the Cooperstown scene, it looked like the pill was Viagra. That woman should not have been able to keep Larry out.

The Yanks have a very tough balancing act with young players. On the one hand, they are always in win-now mode and fans demand that. On the other, young players (esp pitchers) often need to take their lumps before figuring it out. Look at what Ian Kennedy is doing in AZ. He looks like a completely different pitcher in how aggressive he is in attacking the strike zone. He’s even added a few ticks to his FB, which topped out at 92 here and is up to 94 there.

It’s not all just the NL West, either. He’s performed well against the better offensive clubs in the NL. I don’t hear anyone dismissing what Kershaw, Lincecum or Cain are doing, and they all pitch in the same division.

I assume this is well intentioned, but it’s a very weird way of looking at young players. A couple of points in turn:

1. The issue with Joba has always been and continues to be that you’re simply wrong in labeling him a disappointment. Once you take a more realistic view of the 24 carefully managed innings he threw in 2007, there’s nothing at all disappointing about him. Even looking at 2009 you see a guy who was basically a league average starter in the A.L. East in his first full season as a SP. For reasons I don’t care to speculate on here, the Yankees then decided to completely give up on him. I’m very disappointed in the organization for that, but there’s nothing to be disappointed about in Joba’s 2008-10 performance.

2. Is there really anyone outside of the ranks of people who like minor league baseball more than the majors or who have carved out a niche covering the minors who really cares more about Mason Williams than Derek Jeter?

3. The reason you wouldn’t trade Banuelos for Wandy is that THAT WOULD BE A HORRIBLE TRADE. Even putting aside the “who will pitch better in the majors?” question, if you do decide to shop Banuelos, he’s valuable enough that he ought to fetch a much better return than Wandy Rodriguez.

4. As for Montero, the real question for him is simply going to be whether or not he can be an adequate catcher until he can move to first base for the Yankees. If not, the organization will be much better off to shop him for some quality pitching, because the Yankees financial resources are such that being cheap alone won’t make him all that valuable to them as a DH.