Comments on: A look at the Yanks’ pitching depth

By: ortforshort

ortforshort — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:56:30 +0000

We’ll see. As a fan I’m all for them doing well. If I was team management, tho’, I wouldn’t be counting on them this year and I’d be sure I had a contingency plan in place (aside from those two) when my starters went down.

By: tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:28:59 +0000

I’m also a realist.

Were you in fact a “realist”, you’d admit that the phenomenon of highly touted prospects struggling initially and then subsequently improving happens quite frequently. You don’t; you’re needlessly fatalistic, not realistic.

Were you in fact a “realist”, you’d never say statements like “It would be nice if Hughes and Kennedy turned into useful big league pitchers this year, but does anybody really expect that to happen based on their abysmal performances last year?”

Because yes, realistically, you CAN expect them to be useful big league pitchers this year despite their prior struggles.

By: ortforshort

ortforshort — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:13:18 +0000

Who’s bashing Hughes and Kennedy? I’m a Yankee fan. I wish them the best. I’m also a realist. They’ve done nothing yet. They have no history of success in the big leagues like Cano, A-Rod, Abreu and Posada. The point is to count on anything from them this year would be a mistake. We’re talking about pitching depth for this season. That’s the agenda. And I’ll repeat it – does anyone seriously expect anything out of these two this season?

By: kSturnz

kSturnz — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:08:16 +0000

idk if the people that constantly doubt Hughes and Kennedy have their own agendas to promote or what, but it is getting rather tiresome. and the reasoning that they use is so invalid that it is not even funny; but does anybody really expect that to happen based on their abysmal performances last year?

yea dawg, i actually do. they had bad years. Cano, Swish, Arod, JoPo, Sui all had ‘bad’ years by their standards. Should we not expect them to improve? if players can only go downhill, how does baseball make so much money?

By: tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:13:09 +0000

It would be nice if Hughes and Kennedy turned into useful big league pitchers this year, but does anybody really expect that to happen based on their abysmal performances last year?

Here’s the beginning of Johan Santana’s career as a starting pitcher in the big leagues:

April 2000: Promoted from bullpen. 3 starts, 0-2, 12 IP, 20 H, 9 BB, 14 ER, 7 K, 3 HR, 10.50 ERA. Demoted back to the bullpen.

September, 2000: Promoted from bullpen. 2 starts, 0-1, 10 IP, 13 H, 4 BB, 10 ER, 6 K, 0 HR, 9.00 ERA. Demoted back to the bullpen.

June, 2001: Promoted from bullpen. 1 start, 1-0, 4 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 ER, 4 K, 2 HR, 11.25 ERA. Demoted back to the bullpen.

July, 2001: Promoted from bullpen. 3 starts, 1-0, 15.2 IP, 18 H, 3 BB, 10 ER, 9 K, 4 HR, 5.74 ERA. Demoted back to the bullpen.

Perspective fail: you.

By: ryan

ryan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:06:03 +0000

Hughes is legit and he’s only 22. He’ll be the 5th starter after 09 and have some spot starts during most likely. He had a rough 22 innings in 08 and pitched decent in his 70+ innings in 07. Amazing that people can loose faith so quickly on such a talent. His last start of the year shows you what type of pitcher he can be when he’s right.

By: steve (different one)

steve (different one) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:49:37 +0000

and i wonder if there is anything yankee fans won’t complain about.

By: tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside

tommiesmithjohncarlos a/k/a Ridiculous Upside — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:47:30 +0000

“If Coke ends up in the ‘pen, full-time, I’ll wonder why we spent good money on Marte (actually, that money was VERY good in this market).”

Because relief pitchers are notoriously volatile and in order to construct a consistently good 7 man bullpen, year-in and year-out, you probably need to have about 10-12 decent relievers on your 40-man, because invariably some guys you were counting on to be good will suck and vice-versa.

Since we can afford to have a surplus of good power bullpen arms, we should.

By: steve (different one)

steve (different one) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:27:03 +0000

can we get an “ignore” feature on RAB?

the next useful comment from this guy will be his first.

By: ortforshort

ortforshort — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:20:16 +0000

It would be nice if Hughes and Kennedy turned into useful big league pitchers this year, but does anybody really expect that to happen based on their abysmal performances last year?