Sublett returns from two week layoff

November 2, 2008 by Mike Axisa 32 Comments

Apologies for the tardiness, it’s not worth posting two lines worth of stats a day, so I’m spreading DotF out a bit now.

AzFL Peoria (13-1 loss to Mesa)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 5, 1 R, 1 3B, 2 K – threw a runner out at third from CF
Humberto Sanchez: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 3-1 GB/FB – 17 of 22 pitches were strikes (77.3%)

HWB Waikiki (13-8 loss to West Oahu)
Damon Sublett: 2 for 5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K
Austin Romine: 0 for 4, 1 BB, 1 K – 3 for his last 21 (.143)

Friday’s Games

AzFL Peoria (3-2 loss to Mesa)
Kevin Russo: 1 for 5, 3 K – the league’s longest active hitting streak reaches 12 games
Austin Jackson: 0 for 4
Jeff Marquez: 4 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 4-2 GB/FB – 39 of 62 pitches were strikes (62.9%) … picked a runner off first

HWB Waikiki (3-2 win over West Oahu in 7 innings)
Damon Sublett: 0 for 4, 1 K
Austin Romine: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 PB

Thursday’s Games

AzFL Peoria (7-1 loss to Phoenix)
Austin Jackson: 0 for 4, 2 K
Kevin Russo: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K – way to account for your team’s entire offensive output
Kevin Whelan: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 4-3 GB/FB – 26 of 44 pitches were strikes (59.1%)

HWB Waikiki (5-2 win over Honolulu)
Damon Sublett: 2 for 4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 E (fielding) – big comeback after missing 16 days due to a mystery injury
Andrew Brackman: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 3 WP, 7-4 GB/FB – 57 of 91 pitches were strikes (62.6%) … phew, he’s not a bust this week

Via loyal reader Angel, Melky Cabrera will make his Dominican Winter League debut for Aguilas on Nov. 12th.

mason.flint

did phil get hurt…again.. or is he just done for the winter?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  Not sure.
  - Reggie C.
    
    I’m waiting too read the inevitable…
- whozat
  
  I figure it could be a couple things:
  
  1) hurt badly
  2) hurt, but just needs rest
  3) traded, but not announced yet due to the WS
  4) got enough innings, nothing to see here
  5) mechanics are so screwed up they pulled him (at least temporarily) to do nothing but side-work with coaches who know him
  
  Hopefully someone will ask Cash at the GM meetings this week.
  
  Also…King says they will decline Marte’s option. Unless they have a handshake agreement to re-sign him for 2/8 or so, that seems dumb.
  - http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
    
    No, what’s dumb is giving any credence to a “report” by George King.
  - Emac2
    
    I’ll vote for the dumb option being paying the 8th guy in your pen 6 mil for one season.
    
    Good move by the Yanks. Save the big bucks for the stars.
    - whozat
      
      Why would marte be the 8th guy in the pen? First of all…that would mean that he usually wasn’t on the roster — since they normally only carry 12 pitchers. 2nd…he’s a lefty that throws 94 with a track record of success in the bigs.
      - http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CRsmithT1.jpg tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Mr. Snarky Irrelevant Non Sequitur Jones
        
        Exactly.
        
        Marte and Bruney will be the two main bridges to Rivera, unless Veras or Edwar catch fire.
        
        He’s the 3rd guy in the pen, at worst.
http://footballstu.blogs.sportsline.com/ Stu H

It’s good to see Sublett back playing.

Don’t look now, but Brackman and Bleich have been pitching pretty well. If you ignore Brackman’s first start, his stats are:

23.1 IP, 24 Ks, 11 BBs, 17 H, 5 ER, 1.93 ERA, 1.200 WHIP.

The walks are to be expected, and he’s starting to throw more strikes. No idea if he’s throwing his curve for strikes or not, but he did have three wild pitches in this last game, so I’m guessing he’s at least throwing it some (it’s a shame there’s no more info on the pitches thrown).

Brackman and Bleich are #2 and #3 respectively in innings pitched in Hawaii, which is great.

Bleich’s stats:
25.2 IP, 22 Ks, 9 BBs, 20 Hs, 2.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP

I’m not sold on Bleich, and I still think he’s going to have some kind of arm surgery within the next two years (probably next year, or in the offseason).

I am entirely sold on Brackman, though. It’s just a matter of how patient the Yankees will be with him. He’s going to take years to be ready for the majors (at least 3, imo). It will be interesting how many innings they let him throw next year, and whether they send him to Charleston (I expect they will).
- Reggie C.
  
  sometimes a strain is just a strain. bleich is throwing good and since there’s been zero mention otherwise, you’ve got to assume he’s healthy. bleich could be a type that gets to Double-A quick. pac-10 baseball isn’t kid play, so one would imagine that a healthy bleich wouldn’t have too much problems at the high-A level.
  - Steve
    
    Yeah, Kazmir strained his elbow in spring training and went on to have a terrific season.
    
    I think were on dangerous ground when we start acting like we know something without a MRI machine and a medical degree. Unless of course, your name is Jorge Posada. Then you can predict injuries from 60′ 6″ away with your bare eyes.
    
    Or if you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.
Accent Shallow

I’ve seen lots of speculation on Hughes from several sources, but it doesn’t seem that anyone has any information. It does seem unlikely that they’d pull him after just 15 innings without an injury, but you’d like to see him not come into the spring tired.

Hmm.
- Accent Shallow
  
  I was unclear here; what I meant was that perhaps the Yankees pulled him from the league because they don’t want him pitching too late into the year, and not having enough time to rest and recover for Spring Training?
  
  I supposed it’d be a trade-off: innings now to build up strength vs. rest and recovery and hoping for the best next year.
  - Miles Roche
    
    I remember reading in a couple of places that multiple scouts who watched Phil Hughes pitch in the AFL claim that his mechanics are completely out of whack. . .
    
    I’m not suggesting that this is the sole reason for his absence in games lately, but it might have something to do with it.
    Just throwing it out there. . .
whozat

Apparently Davidoff at Newsday reports that the Sox want Tex too.

That’s concerning.
- Mike Pop
  
  Trying to make us and the angels oveerpay for him but i do beleive they are generally interested
  - Emac2
    
    Boston isn’t going to spend that much on a first basemen. If they bid 20 I say stick them with him.
    - Mike Pop
      
      It confuses me becuz Lars Anderson is suppose to be a beast… I wouldnt want to see Tex in a red sox uni cuz that would be rough for us
      - Steve
        
        . . . . which is why they’re not really interested.
        
        I mean, please. They’re going top trade (2007 WS MVP) Mike Lowell to make room for him? Is that the same Mike Lowell who just had hip surgery?
        
        Now if you called a radio show and said you were going to trade a guy who just had surgery, the host would laugh/scream you off the air. But somehow, when the guy plays for another team, Ken Davidoff and some of us believe it.
        
        It’s not happening.
Miles Roche

Mike, it’s time to turn the clock back one hour.
Brian

I’m trying to figure out the draft pick situation. And thanks for the Draft Order page, Mike…

If we did say goodbye to Marte, Pudge, and Abreu, and welcomed Sabathia plus one other of Teixeira/Burnett/Lowe/Type A guy, is this right?:

We lose: the 24th pick (for Sabathia) and one of the compensatory 1st round picks (from Abreu or Marte for Tex or other Type A).

We gain: possible 1st rounder (not Top 15) for Abreu, a sandwich pick for Abreu, possible 1st rounder (not Top 15) for Marte, a sandwich pick for Marte, and a sandwich rounder for Pudge.

So we would have, if neither compensatory pick were Top 15 (best case scenario):
Two back-half of first round picks (one for Abreu or Marte, one being the protected Cole pick at 28A).
Three sandwich round picks (two for Abreu and Marte, one for Pudge).
One second round pick (54 for now).
Two third round picks (one being the protected Bittle pick).

That comes out to eight picks in the first 100 or so.
Am I doing this wrong?
- UWS
  
  Compensatory picks gained from other teams are fixed – they can’t be lost if we sign a Type A FA. Angels would get our 1st rounder for Tex, Brewers would get our 2nd rounder for Sabathia (plus a sandwich pick for each, which pops out of the air).
- Accent Shallow
  
  Short answer: Yes.
  
  Long answer: The only picks that can be lost due to free agent compensation are the ‘normal’ draft picks. If the Yankees were to sign Sabathia, they lose their first round pick. The Brewers would also get a sandwich pick, but that’s fabricated from whole cloth — it doesn’t come from the Yankees. If they were to follow up a Sabathia signing with another type A signing, they’d lose their second round pick.
  
  So, the Yankees could sign Sabathia and Teixeira, but still wind up with five first round picks — compensation for Cole, the first rounder of the team that signs Abreu, first rounder of the team that signs Marte, and two supplemental picks — one each for Abreu and Marte.
  
  Seems almost unfair, doesn’t it?
  - kenthadley
    
    of course, we need to actually use those picks to select healthy and signable athletes……hopefully we will be more successful in 2009 with this…..realizing the draft is a crapshoot, we should be able to come up with 4 really good MLB players if we are picking 8 in the top 100……not necessarily stars, but one or two could be……this draft will set the stage for the next decade IMO….good or bad.
    - whozat
      
      “we should be able to come up with 4 really good MLB players if we are picking 8 in the top 100″
      
      That would be a draft for the ages. Mindblowingly successful. Impossibly so. 4 guys out of 8 who have more than a cup of coffee in the bigs would be excellent.
      
      If they came away with like…A Mike Cameron, two Alex Coras and a Sal Fasano, that’d be a pretty successful draft.
      - UWS
        
        Hey, now. Alex Cora wins games™!
      - Andy In Sunny Daytona
        
        Dr. Whozat you are spot on. Most people have way to high of expectations for 1st and 2nd round draft picks. The MLB draft is mostly a crapshoot.
        If Eric Duncan and his 1st round status had happened last year (2007), the “sports columnists” would be crying about how the Yankees have the worst talent evaluators in all of baseball.
        
        A.D.
        
        Yeah thats been the problem with the extra draft coverage and added stories, all they do is talk about the successes & missed picked, not the general crap shoot that even the first overall pick can be
        
        whozat
        
        People equate it with football and basketball, where guys can legitimately make a huge impact the year after being drafted. In baseball, that’s just very, very rare. Hitting and pitching just require so very, very much more development time. And the level of competition in the bigs is leaps and bounds greater than in college.
        
        Will David Price make an impact next year? Probably. He’ll dominate sometimes, and he’ll stink sometimes, like all young pitchers. And he’ll only be able to start about 20-25 games, probably. WHIP around 1.4, maybe, ERA near 4. Which would be awesome for a kid as young as he is. But like…the top 5, maybe 10 guys have a chance to contribute like that inside of 2 years after being drafted. That’s it. And most of them won’t.
Tim

Finally the day I have been eagerly anticipating – “Melky Cabrera will make his Dominican Winter League debut”! How can the rest of you keep talking about nobodies like Brackman or Hughs? Romine, come on that kid is the biggest bust since 2008 Posada! Austin Jackson will never see the green pastures of CF in the new Yankee Stadium. The future of the franchise will be taking the field again! Oh happy day!
- steve (different one)
  
  i’m picking up on your sarcasm
- Andy In Sunny Daytona
  
  Wow! A Melky hater! You hardly ever see one on this site.