Sunday, April 20, 2008

Arod Hits the Trainers Room

Hard to imagine a worse weekend for the Yanks after dropping two of three from the Orioles, but the loss of Arod is going to hurt...big time. It's not like they weren't having a hard enough time scoring runs after being shut out by Brian Burres and Jim Johnson who have a combined career ERA of 5.57, now they lose their best hitter. I know Kennedy was far from average but the Yanks need to stick with him and Hughes (who I think pitch better than his line indicated).

Youth is the future for this franchise and it's not like they have anybody waiting in the wings to step in and do any better of a job. Both of these pitchers are too good to stay down long. They each have talent and just need to find the rhythm that they had last season. I'm a big fan of Hughes and Yankee fans just need to find a way top get over this inconsistent rookie stuff that he is going to go through from time to time this season. The Yankees will correct the problem of Hughes and Kennedy back to back this week when the push IPK back for one day so they can slot in Pettitte to help protect the bullpen. With that solved maybe it takes a little pressure off of the both of them.

One more thing. What is up with these injuries happening in bunches? In 2006 it was wrists, when the Yanks lost Matsui and Sheffield for most of the season with wrist injuries. In '07 everyone from Wang to Hughes went down with hamstring injuries. I guess this is the Year of the Quad with Arod and Jeter already succumbing to the injury. Hopefully the pitching picks up in the next couple of weeks, because it looks like that bats will need a long time to find some consistency.

3 comments:

Dennis said...

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the struggles of Kennedy and Hughes are going to continue, because that is what happens when rookies with very little time in the minors make the jump to the big leagues. Truth is, most big name pitching prospects never even get this far.

I remember about ten years ago there was a similar situation with the Mets, who started the season with two can't miss prospects in their starting rotation. It was a disaster. Paul Wilson I don't believe ever won ten games in a season for New York (he might have for the Reds a few years ago) and Jason Isringhausen is now a reliever for St. Louis.

And what happened to the Mets guys is history, it doesn't take into account the additional scrutiny of 10,000 Yankees Blogs (including your own) dissecting everything they do, not to mention the win now mentality of the fans and ownership.

I hope they turn it around, because by all indications they seem like good kids, but it is doubtful.

Peter said...

I think it is a bit much to write them off already as prospects that have failed to live up to the hype after less than five starts into their rookie seasons.

It took the great Johan Santana three years to become what he is and the same goes for Greg Maddux. Hell, if you want to go further back Sandy Koufax failed to produce anything great until year eight of his career.

Wilson and Isringhausen failed as starters during their rookie seasons because of injuries not because they weren’t good. The Mets pushed them and their innings way to high way to soon. Their talent didn’t fail them their health and the Mets management did.

I think the same goes for Hughes and Kennedy. Yes, their seasons will be up and down because pitchers that young have a hard time finding consistency. But they definitely have the talent to succeed and until they fail consistently over a long time frame than one month or get hurt I’m still going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they will be good players.

Dennis said...

I'm not saying they will be failures, I am just saying by the time they come good they may not be Yankees anymore. There is a huge difference between coming good in Minnesota with ten thousand fans there every night and Yankee Stadium.

I also think it is difficult to compare foreign players, who have been professionals since they were 17, oftentimes younger, with kids who came up through the American high school and college system.