SB Nation - Andrew Brackman

New York Yankees Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review

John Sickels — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:00:25 -0000

by John Froschauer - AP

New York Yankees reliever David Robertson (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

New York Yankees Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review

This list was originally published December 28, 2008. This is a review of the PRE-SEASON list for 2009, not a revision of that list. This is a REVIEW of the old list. I'm not doing new grades or lists until I start working on the 2010 book.

1) Jesus Montero, C, Grade B+: Season ended early due to injury, but hit .337/.389/.562 between Class A and Double-A before getting hurt. Outstanding bat, defense still questionable.

2) Austin Jackson, OF, Grade B: .298/.355/.404 with 23 steals in 27 attempts for Triple-A Scranton. Power development mediocre, but does other things well.

3) Dellin Betances, RHP, Grade B-: 5.48 ERA with 44/27 K/BB in 44 innings for Class A Tampa, 48 hits allowed, before going down with Tommy John surgery.

4) Austin Romine, C, Grade B-: Hitting .274/.321/.433 with 12 homers for Class A Tampa. Needs to tighten the strike zone as he moves up.

5) Zach McAllister, RHP, Grade B-: 2.31 ERA with 95/31 K/BB in 113 innings for Double-A Trenton, 94 hits. A pretty solid strike-thrower.

6) Mark Melancon, RHP, Grade B-: 2.89 ERA with 54/11 K/BB in 53 innings for Scranton, just 37 hits. Has done OK with 11 major league innings, though command hasn't been as good with six walks.

7) Jairo Heredia, RHP, Grade B-: Just 38 innings combined between GCL Yankees, Charleston in the Sally League, and Tampa. 3.32 ERA with 31/7 K/BB combined numbers. Need to see at higher levels with more data.

8) Andrew Brackman, RHP, Grade C+: 6.08 ERA with 100/76 K/BB in 104 innings for Charleston, 104 hits. He's been terrible overall, though has done better after moving to relief. Command remains a huge problem.

9) Phil Coke, LHP, Grade C+: 5.06 ERA with 41/18 K/BB in 53 innings for the Yankees, 42 hits. Needs to cut back on the home runs, but I think he's capable of better than this.

10) Alfredo Aceves, RHP, Grade C+: 3.88 ERA with 53/12 K/BB in 67 innings for the Yankees, 58 hits. A decent utility pitcher perhaps capable of taking a larger role.

11) Wilkin de la Rosa, LHP, Grade C+: 3.48 ERA with 77/41 K/BB in 83 innings for Trenton, 67 hits. Good stuff, needs to improve command.

12) Humberto Sanchez, RHP, Grade C+: Still recovering from injury, has pitched 33 innings between Tampa, Trenton, and Scranton, combined numbers 3.86 ERA with 34/14 K/BB, 21 hits allowed. Still has strong K/IP and hit rates.

13) Jon Albaladejo, RHP Grade C+: Very strong in Triple-A, 1.54 ERA with 24/3 K/BB in 35 innings 24 hits. Weak in the majors, 5.61 ERA with 17/12 K/BB in 26 innings, 29 hits. Like Coke and Aceves, I think he's a useful arm.

14) David Robertson, RHP, Grade C+: 3.46 ERA with 58/21 K/BB in 39 innings for the Yankees, 34 hits. Control could use some work but love the strikeout rate.

15) Brad Suttle, 3B, Grade C+: Out all year with shoulder injury.

16) Arodys Vizcaino, RHP, Grade C+: 2.13 ERA with 52/15 K/BB in 42 innings for Staten Island in the New York-Penn League. Out since August 8^th with a back injury.

17) Christian Garcia, RHP, Grade C+: 0.71 ERA with 24/17 K/BB in 25 innings for Trenton. Out since June 10^th with elbow injury.

18) George Kontos, RHP, Grade C+: 3.35 ERA with 39/21 K/BB in 51 innings for Scranton. Out since June 25^th with elbow injury.

19) Kanekoa Texeira, RHP, Grade C+: 2.82 ERA with 85/40 K/BB in 99 innings for Trenton, 88 hits and a 2.40 GO/AO. Needs better command but looks interesting.

20) Eduardo Sosa, OF, Grade C+: Raw tools guy hitting .200/.280/.291 for the GCL Yankees. Further evidence not to highly rate players merely on the basis of hot scouting reports from Latin America.

21) Eric Hacker, RHP, Grade C+: Traded to the Pirates, 4.08 ERA with 77/44 K/BB in 110 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis, 129 hits. Looks like a Quadruple-A type.

The Yankees started the season with one excellent prospect in Montero, a solid guy in Jackson, and a bunch of B-/C+ types who may or may not develop into something. Injury attrition has torn through the pitchers. Brackman has yet to live up to New York propaganda hype, and there is a distinct lack of impact talent beyond Montero. On the other hand, Robertson has been strong, I haven't given up on Coke, and Aceves is certainly capable of contributing in a major league bullpen going forward. Melancon, McAllister, and Teixeira are all potential contributors for 2010 or trade fodder.

What a difference three slots can make

Travis G — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:00:10 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

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I remember watching the 2007 MLB draft on ESPN. The Yankees had the 30th pick. A New Jersey high-school pitcher (considered the best prep-pitcher in the draft) was still on the board in the mid-20s. Every Yankee fan knew that if Detroit didn't pick him at 27 (for signability issues; he's repped by Scott Boras), he would fall to the Yankees at 30.

Detroit made the smart move and took Rick Porcello. The Yanks settled on a more promising, though less polished collegiate pitcher named Andrew Brackman. While Porcello was seen as the better all-around pitcher (healthier, better repertoire, better mechanics), Brackman had the higher ceiling (fastball that touched the high 90s with an occasionally devastating knuckle-curve to go along with a 6'10" frame: right-handed Randy Johnson potential).

Two years later, 20-year-old Porcello is one of the front-runners for Rookie of the Year while 23-year-old Brackman is struggling to make it through Low-A ball.

Porcello in the American League: 105.1 ip, 4.36 ERA, 115 H, 35 BB, 55 K, 1.35 GB/FB

Brackman in the South Atlantic League: 88.2 ip, 6.70 ERA, 92 H, 66 BB, 85 K, 25 WP

Can Porcello maintain that ERA with such a low K-rate? His FIP is 5.15. Regardless, to do what he's done at the age of 20 is mighty impressive.

Brackman's 66 walks (6.7 BB/9 ip) and 25 wild pitches are terrible; the good news is his solid K-rate (8.6 K/9 ip). And we must remember that he's coming off Tommy John Surgery, and generally the last trait to return is control. His ML ceiling-comp is Randy Johnson, who had 327 walks in 418.1 innings (7 BB/9 ip) moving through Montreal's MiL system, and didn't become a good pitcher until the age of 26, this third year in the Bigs.

So while there's still a ways to go before Brackman becomes a 'bust', Porcello is certainly making the Tigers happy with their choice (and that they had a worse record than the Yanks in 2006. What a joke that is: a team that wins the pennant picks ahead of a team they beat in the LDS?)

2009 Trade Deadline Preview: New York Yankees

Matt Buggenhagen — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:09:38 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

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Buyers or sellers?

I'm not sure the term "sellers" even exists in the Yankee vocabulary. The Yankees have won eight of nine since returning from the All-Star break, and have taken a 1 ½ lead over the Red Sox in the AL East. They've already been active in the trade market having acquired Eric Hinske from the Pirates. They'll definitely be buyers.

Short-term need

The Yankees most glaring short-term need has to be starting pitching. The top half of their rotation is set in stone with CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, but after that it gets a little dicey. Next in line would be Joba Chamberlain, but it's still unclear if he's on a pitch count for the season, and if that is the case he would most likely be summoned to the bullpen down the stretch. Next you have veteran Andy Pettitte who is no stranger to pitching in big games, but something tells me the Yankees aren't overly excited about Pettitte pitching a season changing game at the ripe age of 37. More and more reports indicate that Chien-Wing Wang is going to be out for the season, so for purpose of this discussion we're not even going to factor him in the picture. Rounding out their rotation is journeyman Sergio Mitre, who has pitched well in the minors this year, and even had a solid 5 2/3, three earned run performance in his first start, but don't kid yourself Mitre is nothing more than a stop gap for the moment. As you can see after Burnett and Sabathia nobody knocks your socks off, which still leads me to believe the Yankees are going to possibly add another starter. They've been rumored to be in the mix for Halladay, but recent reports suggest a deal would have to include Phil Hughes, Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero, and there's no way the Yankees are making that deal. Ultimately they might look at some second tier starter's such as, Jarrod Washburn, Doug Davis or even possibly Erik Bedard. Among the three I think Washburn would be the best fit for the Yankees.

Furthermore, the Yankees only other short-term need might be adding another reliever. However, with the emergence of Phil Hughes it's looking more and more like the Yankees bullpen is locked in. If Chamberlain makes the move to the bullpen in either August or September the Yankees bullpen should be as formidable as any in the league. If the Yankees make a move for a reliever it probably will more than anything be a guy they hope can eat innings in the late summer months to help preserve Mariano Rivera and Phil Hughes. One name that's been floating around as of late has been Blue Jays reliever Scott Downs, who would be a nice pick up for the Yankees. The 33-year-old Downs has pitched well for the Jays this year, and has even recorded nine saves, which means he probably could help spell Rivera a few times down the stretch. Also Downs would give the Yankees another lefty to go along with Phil Coke. Just a side note here, the Yankees are also awaiting the return of left-hander Damaso Marte from his rehab stint in Triple-A, but until he shows any level of consistency I don't think he will hold up the Yankees from getting a player like Downs.

Long-term need

Tough to pinpoint long-term needs with the Yankees because of their inordinate ability to make immediate changes to their roster via free agency or trades. However, with that said the Yankees certainly do have an aging roster that they must began to compensate for. They have aging superstars in Derek Jeter (35), Alex Rodriguez (33), Johnny Damon (35), Jorge Posada (37) and Mariano Rivera (39) who aren't getting any younger, and more importantly aren't getting any better. The old Yankee core of Jeter, Posada, Rivera, Pettitte may be close to coming to an end in the near future here, but with a near limitless payroll I don't suspect they'll have much of a problem finding replacements. They've already begun the process of creating a new identity with the offseason additions of Mark Teixeira, Sabathia and Burnett, and with a collection of young players waiting in the wings the Yankees should be a contending team for a long time. Under GM Brian Cashman the Yankees have put much more emphasis on developing a quality farm system, and have even been more reluctant to deal top prospects, and because of that the Yankees may soon be able to start redeveloping the core of their team from within their own walls. Losing has no longer become an option under the Steinbrenner regime, and I suspect that will remain the case even with General George on the sideline. Overall, we're going to say the Yankees don't have much of a long-term need, rather every year they'll just have a new short-term need.

Big leaguers on the market?

I would say the Yankees have four potential people on their current big league roster that could move. And my intuition is that if any of them were to move it would have to be in a deal for Roy Halladay. The four players are Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera. Hughes and Chamberlain are obvious choices, as any deal for Halladay would have to start with at least one of them. I throw Gardner and Cabrera in the mix just in case the Yankees didn't want to include Austin Jackson in a deal, maybe somehow they would supplement Jackson for either Gardner or Cabrera, but it's very unlikely the Jays would do that. Other than that the Yankee roster is pretty set in stone, and I wouldn't suspect any other players going anywhere.

Minor league strength

As we've said under Cashman the Yankees have done a much better job at developing a quality minor league system. In years past the Yankees farm system was nothing more than a grow em' and throw em' system, which the Yankees would develop prospects only to trade them away for aging stars. However, now they value their younger players much more as evidence by the development of Hughes, Chamberlain, Robinson Cano, Cabrera and Gardner.

In terms of assessing their prospects it all starts with catching prospect Jesus Montero, who many people believe has superstar potential. Montero bat is definitely big-time, which was enough to earn him the honors of being Baseball America's third best overall prospect. This year Montero has spit time at both Single-A and Double-A and combined he's hitting .335 with 16 homers and 64 RBI's. The biggest question surrounding Montero is his glove. As of today he's a catcher, but many scouts project him as a likely candidate to play first base. Interesting to see how that plays out with Mark Teixeira the Yankees likely first baseman for the next decade. Following Montero the Yankees next best prospect is center fielder Austin Jackson. He was the Yankees eight round selection in 2005, and has since come along very nicely in the organization. Ultimately, Jackson may not have superstar potential, but he does have the tools to be a very nice centerfielder. He kind of has that Jacoby Elsbury feel, but with not quite as much speed. At Triple-A this year Jackson is hitting .311 with four homers and 38 RBI's, to go along with 17 steals in 19 attempts.

The rest of the Yankees system generally speaking is ok, they've got a few pitchers who have very high ceilings, but as of right now have been somewhat inconsistent. The most notable among that group is six-foot-ten right-hander Andrew Brackman, who was the Yankees first round selection in 2007. Scouts say Brackman has a huge ceiling, but it just hasn't showed so far. In Single-A this year Brackman is 1-11(not a typo) with an ERA over six. Another kid to keep an eye on is Dellin Betances who John Sickels of Minor League Ball ranks as the Yankees third best prospect. He's another huge kid standing 6'8' and weighing in at about 245lbs. He's also struggled a bit this year at Single-A he's 2-5 with a 5.48 ERA.

Overall, the Yankee system is solid. They've got a few players who could turn out to be great, but generally speaking the system is built around solid players like Gardner and Cabrera. While we've said the Yankees have put a much greater emphasis on developing young talent, don't kid yourself in all likely hood the next generation of Yankees will probably for the most part be coming from somewhere else, but they might pick up a few from in house.

Take on short-term money to win?

Can the Yankees take on short-term money, of course, but do they want to take on short-term money? Probably not.

For more coverage of the Yankees, check out PinStripe Alley

The Yankees are falling ... time for drastic measures

Ed Valentine — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:01:08 -0000

Clearly our New York Yankees are hopelessly broken. They are in complete disrepair and will not win another game in 2009 unless drastic measures are taken. Before Tuesday's game in Atlanta. So, what's to be done? Here are some ideas.

GM Brian Cashman needs to be fired. Clearly, he has no clue how to construct a major-league roster. We need to convince Theo Epstein to come save us -- now! If he's not available, maybe 'CaptainYank' or 'TheRealDeal56' would be our savior. Clearly, if they were in charge no one would ever screw up a bunt, hit into a double play, make a base-running mistake or hang a curveball.
Manager Joe Girardi needs to be shown the door along with Cashman. Any moron who has ever watched a game knows Joe G. has no clue when to bunt, when to hit-and-run, when to go to the bullpen or which pitchers to use. He keeps flashing that 'hit into a double play to kill this rally sign.' Oh, and he keeps insisting on using a five-time all star and borderline Hall of Famer as his catcher. Clearly, Joe G. must go. Maybe Stump Merrill is available. Oh, and I heard the other day Bucky Dent is looking to get back into baseball.
Alex Rodriguez must be DFA'd. It's obvious the Yankees are better with Angel Berroa at third base. Oh, and Cody Ransom is close to being eligible to come off the DL. Gotta make room for him somehow.
Derek Jeter has to sit down. Obviously, he has forgotten how to bunt. And he seems to think hitting into rally-killing double plays is showing good leadership. You know, it gets the game over faster so A-Rod can go party with Kate Hudson. He can't play again until he lays down 1,000 successful sacrifice bunts in a row during BP, and writes "I will not hit into double plays" 10,000 times on his Blackberry.

Starting rotation: A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte (they were both good in their last starts), Phil Hughes (any idiot would agree), Alfredo Aceves and Andrew Brackman.
Bullpen: Mariano Rivera, CC Sabathia (injury shows he can't handle starting), Joba Chamberlain (only the team's second-best starter -- that's not good enough), David Robertson, Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, Mark Melancon. See ya, Chien-Ming Wang!
Institute a Nick Swisher rule. Let's ask Major League Baseball to let us use the Little League pinch-runner rule so that every time Swisher gets on base we can run for him, then put him back in the game.
Actually, forget pinch-running for Swisher. Just cut the king of Red Bull and put Shelley Duncan in right field.
DFA Jorge Posada. Clearly too old, can't call a game, can't throw, doesn't know how to properly catch the ball. Bring up Jesus Montero. Or even the newly-signed phenom Gary Sanchez. They have to be an improvement.
Johnny Damon hasn't homered in a couple of weeks, is old and can't catch the ball any more. DFA him and put Austin Jackson in left field.
Sell the team to Donald Trump. Maybe he will have a clue how to right the ship.

Q&A with Trenton beat writer Mike Ashmore

Ed Valentine — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:00:21 -0000

Maybe looking toward the future will help take your mind off the miserable last couple of days our New York Yankees experienced at the hands of the lowly Washington Nationals.

Mike Ashmore covers the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees AA affiliate, for the Hunterdon County Democrat, and writes the outstanding 'Thunder Thoughts' blog.

I sent him some questions recently about the Yankee farm system. Here is the result of our e-mail exchange.

Pinstripe Alley: I have to start with Jesus Montero. I know he has only been at AA for a couple of weeks, but is he worth all the hype? I know there are questions about his ability to catch, and the Yanks insist he will develop. Off what you have seen, what do you think?

Ashmore: Montero is kind of like IKEA furniture right now ... some assembly required. He's certainly looked good, but he hasn't been the "blow your doors off" kind of impressive that I was expecting. The bat's been decent -- a lot of his outs have come on hard hit balls as well -- but his defense certainly needs some work. He hasn't been real great in throwing runners out, and I'm not too sure the pitchers are sold on his game-calling abilities just yet.

But he's 19 years old. 19 and in Double-A. Must be nice. But he also looks like a 19-year-old kid in Double-A right now, but I suspect he'll have improved quite a bit when the season comes to a close.

PA: The Yankees have used a "high risk, high reward" type of philosophy in the draft the past few seasons. Have you liked their approach, and what do you think of the overall state of the farm system?

Ashmore: Their draft approach is an interesting one. Hopefully they learned from the mistake they made with Andrew Brackman ... maybe he'll turn into something someday, but having him take up a 40-man roster spot (at the expense of guys like Eric Hacker, Steven Jackson and so on) and signing him substantially over slot doesn't really seem to have panned out just yet. Overall, I'd like to think they might take a less aggressive approach with the draft in the future, but it is what it is.

The farm system as a whole ... the pitching is good, the position players are pretty average. Outside of a few standouts, there really aren't too many genuine impact players to be found when it comes to position players.

PA: Which pitchers at AA are most likely to eventually make an impact on the major-league level?

Ashmore: Zach McAllister, Ivan Nova, Mike Dunn, Amauri Sanit ... I'd have said Christian Garcia before he went down with injury, but his status is a bit mysterious as of now.

PA: Are you surprised the organization hasn't moved Pat Venditte up a notch or two to see if his stuff translates at a higher level?

Ashmore: Given his age, yes. He's put up numbers wherever he's been, he's got a great story, and he's a great kid. Challenge him in Tampa and see if he can keep this run up.

PA: Any position players at the AA level, other than Montero, we should be paying attention to?

Ashmore: No one on the level of Montero...but Jorge Vazquez is probably the one that stands out the most. If he can ever get his stuff straight and improve his defense -- hence his "The Jorge Vazquez Experience" nickname -- he could make an impact at the big league level at some point.

PA: Can you get me one of those Austin Jackson bobblehead dolls the Thunder gave away the other night? And yes, I'm sort of serious. That would be pretty cool to have.

Ashmore: I don't have that kind of power. I'm lucky to get one myself, really.

PA: You saw a lot of Ramiro Pena last season. Are you surprised by what he has done in New York this year, or even the fact that he is in New York to begin with.

Ashmore: Yes and yes. He played exclusively at shortstop, so I was impressed by how well he handled third base at the start of the year. He was kind of thrown into the Futures Game at the last second as an afterthought ... but I guess they got it right after all. But I still never thought he'd be a guy who would skip Triple-A almost entirely.

Who's the next Joba? - MLB Draft preview

Travis G — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:00:14 -0000

The MLB amateur draft is tomorrow evening (6 p.m., MLB Network). The Yankees have the 29th and 76th overall picks (due to not signing Gerrit Cole and Scott Bittle last year).

It's almost impossible to predict the MLB draft, unlike the NBA and NFL, because it often takes years to break into the Bigs. Andrew Brackman was drafted in the first round in 2007 and is only in Low-A Charleston. The most recent draftees on the current team are Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson (both taken in 2006).

For comparison, the New York Giants first round pick last year was Kenny Phillips, who played in every game and was sixth in tackles. It's extremely rare nowadays to see a draftee play in MLB the year he's drafted.

Anyway, the consensus #1 overall pick will be (barring any unforeseen developments) Stephen Strasburg, a right-handed pitcher from San Diego State. There's not much hype surrounding him - he's only been called the 'best prospect ever.' His stats stand as such: 97.1 innings, 1.57 ERA, .79 WHIP, 133 K, 16 BB, 1 HR. He threw a 17-strikeout no-hitter on May 8th.

The Yankees could go any direction with the 29th pick. Baseball teams generally don't draft for need (again, because it takes so long to reach the majors, who knows what the 'needs' will be at that time), but the Yankees' MO in recent years has been to take high-ceiling RHP in the first round (Hughes, Cole, Brackman, Joba).

Sean Potter (of Pending Pinstripes) has the Yanks taking New Jersey high-school centerfielder Michael Trout. The Sporting News predicts Tony Sanchez, a catcher from Boston College. Project Prospect goes for Rex Brothers (sounds like a WWF tag-team, no?), a LHP from Lipscomb U (in Tennessee). MyMLBDraft.com sees the Yankees taking (finally) 6'6" RHP Kyle Heckathorn from Kennesaw State.

AL East Farm System Values

erik — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:00:10 -0000

TINSTAABALEFS. There is no such thing as a bad AL East farm system, at least in terms of surplus values.

Here again are the values for each category of prospects, as figured by Victor Wang.

Top 10 hitting prospects	$32.5M
Top 11-25 hitters	$22.3
Top 26-50 hitters	$20.8
Top 51-75 hitters	$12.6
Top 76-100 hitters	$11.1
Top 10 pitching prospects	$13.5
Top 11-25 pitchers	$14.2
Top 26-50 pitchers	$14.2
Top 51-75 pitchers	$10.8
Top 76-100 pitchers	$8.7
Grade B pitchers (as graded by Sickels)	$6.5
Grade B hitters	$4.9
Grade C pitchers 22 or younger	$1.9
Grade C pitchers 23 or older	$1.3
Grade C hitters 22 or younger	$0.62
Grade C hitters 23 or older	$0.45

See the original post on the series for more info. First, the Wieters-factored Farm System Values:

via www.editgrid.com

Here's the non-Wieters factored farm system values:

via www.editgrid.com

Toronto Blue Jays, $94.1M. The Jays have done a nice job drafting as of late. Travis Snider is a top ten hitting prospect and J.P. Arencibia, Brett Cecil and David Cooper look like good picks well. Justin Jackson is a toolsy shortstop with star potential. The drop off is significant after this group, but this is a solid system.
New York Yankees, $97.8M. Jesus Montero looks like a pretty terrific international signing. The 18 yr. old won the Sally League batting title in his full season debut and projects to be a major power threat in the big leagues. Austin Jackson has no standout tool, but looks like a solid all-around center fielder. Where the Yankees are particularly deep is the pitching department, but none of their pitchers are really awe-inspiring at the moment. Andrew Brackman, Dellin Betances and maybe Arodys Vizcaino are the only ones who strike me as having high upside. The Yanks have nine 23 year old + C grade pitchers, 12% of their systems' value, so they should be able to fill out a bullpen rather cheaply for the next few seasons.
Boston Red Sox, $99.15. While the Red Sox have a pretty valuable farm system, after Lars Anderson there's a lot of risk. Their next two most valuable prospects are Michael Bowden and Daniel Bard, both top 76-100 pitching prospects, and then a load of young B grade prospects with boom or bust potential. Interestingly enough, the plan with their 1st rd. pick Casey Kelly is split his season as a pitcher and a shortstop.

via www.editgrid.com

Baltimore Orioles, $112M. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Oh, yeah - The O's have three pretty exciting home grown arms that could help them finally turn things around. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters.

via www.editgrid.com

Tampa Bay Rays, $113.2M. Deep in pitching, but a little light in the hitting department. It's a minor complaint considering BJ Upton and Evan Longoria are both under 25. This is just one of the better run organizations in baseball right now, from top to bottom. It will be interesting to see how long they can continue their run as their stars age and they'll be going from drafting towards the bottom of the draft, rather than the top.

To conclude, Matt Wieters, Matt Wieters, Matt Wieters. Matt Wieters.

Up next: NL West.

Twins 5, Yankees 4

Jesse — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:09:05 -0000

Joe Crede makes his Twins debut.

It was a rough start, literally, for Scott Baker this afternoon. Six hits and three runs (including a solo shot by Justin Leone) though his two innings of work doesn't read well in a box score, but thankfully numbers like those aren't the story at this time of year. Baker went game-speed for two innings, and at this point all you're hoping for is to get a feel for the ball and to finish the day without an injury. Both of those boxes were ticked this afternoon.

Today's other highlights...

Joe Crede walked, grounded into a double play and struck out in his three plate appearances today.
Jason Kubel went yard against Andrew Brackman in the sixth, bringing the Twins within a run.
Brian Duensing, Kevin Mulvey, Rob Delaney and Ben Julianel combined to throw six scoreless innings, allowing the offense to catch up and surpass the Yankees.
Delmon Young went 2-for-2 with a stolen base and an RBI.
Alexi Casilla and Danny Valencia committed errors in the field, throwing and fielding respectively, while Carlos Gomez notched an assist.
26 guys got a look today.

Tomorrow's game is just after noon central time, with Francisco Liriano making his debut. See you then!