Montero returns to lineup after last night’s injury

May 5, 2009 by Mike Axisa 50 Comments

Scroll down for tonight’s game thread or news on the A-Rod investigation.

The Yanks resigned Humberto Sanchez, and assigned him to Double-A Trenton. They released Sanchez a week ago to clear room on the 40-man roster for Mark Melancon. These kind of release-and-resign deals aren’t all that uncommon. Teams will usually do this when they have a player they want to remove from their 40-man roster, but want to keep him in the organization without exposing him to waivers. Since Humberto is a young power arm that is cost controllable for the next six years, there’s a chance someone would have put a claim in.

Triple-A Scranton (3-1 loss to Indianapolis)
Kevin Russo: 2 for 4
John Rodriguez & Austin Jackson: both 1 for 4 – J-Rod drove in the only run & K’ed
Todd Linden: 0 for 2, 2 BB, 1 K – hit streak ends at 19 games
Shelley Duncan: 0 for 4
Juan Miranda & Chris Malec: both 1 for 3, 1 BB
Doug Bernier: 0 for 3, 1 K
Chris Stewart: 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 2B
The Ghost of Kei Igawa: 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 5-8 GB/FB, 1 E (throwing) – 62 of 91 pitches were strikes (68.1%) … he’s up to 10 homers allowed in 27.2 IP
Jose Valdez: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 0 K, 1-0 GB/FB – just 13 of 32 pitches were strikes (40.6%) … yikes
JB Cox: 1.1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 1-1 GB/FB – 13 of 22 pitches were strikes (59.1%)

Double-A Trenton had their doubleheader with Bowie rained out. No official word on when these games will be made up, but they could opt to play doubleheaders tomorrow and Thursday. That’s a good way to wreck a pitching staff.

High-A Tampa (3-0 loss to Daytona)
Austin Krum: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K – threw a runner out at home from CF
Addison Maruszack, Jesus Montero, Damon Sublett & Austin Romine: all 1 for 3 – Maruszack K’ed … Montero doubled, drew a walk & K’ed … Sublett tripled & walked … Romine walked
Brandon Laird & Mitch Hilligoss: both 0 for 4 – Laird K’ed
Eric Fryer: 1 for 2, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 CS – 2 for his last 35 (.057) coming into the game
Ryan Zink: 6 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 9-5 GB/FB – 20-4 K/BB ratio in 31.2 IP
Tim Norton: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 4-2 GB/FB
Jon Hovis: 1 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 0-1 GB/FB

Low-A Charleston (9-2 loss to Greenville)
Ray Kruml: 1 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
Mitch Abeita, Brian Baisley & Melky Mesa: all 0 for 3 – Abeita K’ed once … Baisley drew a walk & K’ed twice … Mesa drew a walk & K’ed
David Adams: 1 for 4, 1 2B, 1 RBI – 15 for his last 38 (.395)
Taylor Grote: 2 for 4, 1 2B, 1 K
Dan Brewer & Walk Ibarra: both 1 for 4, 2 K – Ibarra swiped a bag & scored a run
Garrison Lassiter: 0 for 0 – left the game in the third without an at-bat for an unkown reason
Andrew Brackman: 4 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 3 WP, 1 HB, 4-5 GB/FB – still struggling with control, but the strikeout rate is high (8.80 Kper9) and so is the GB/FB rate (2.16) … he’ll get there, don’t worry
Casey Erickson: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1-4 GB/FB
Ryan Flannery: 1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GB/FB – my eyes, the goggles do nothing!!!
Brad Rulon: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2-0 GB/FB

A.D.

Headline alone is great news.
manimal

Montero is better? Call him up.
LC

Is anyone worried that A-Jax has 0 HRs this year and only 5 of his 30 hits have gone for extra bases? The batting avg. is pretty awesome, but from stats it looks like he’s lacking power.
- http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com Aunt Becca-Optimist Prime
  
  Not yet. It’s still really early and the most HRs anyone in the system hit last year was 23.
- A.D.
  
  Youk never hit more than 8 hr in the minors, and now is a 20+ guy, sometimes the power doesn’t come until a few years in the majors.
- http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
  
  Power is usually the last thing to come in the development of a hitter.
  - http://actyankee.blogspot.com Matt ACTY
    
    See: Hanley Ramirez.
- http://actyankee.blogspot.com Matt ACTY
  
  .071 IsoD is pretty good, though. .091 IsoP…meh. But as long as he’s getting on base it’s all good.
  - Ed
    
    But as long as he’s getting on base it’s all good.
    
    That’s what people said about Gardner’s AAA line…
    
    What it really means is A-Jax needs more time in AAA and shouldn’t be rushed.
    - A.D.
      
      Brett Gardner isn’t anything like the type of prospect that AJAX is.
    - http://actyankee.blogspot.com Matt ACTY
      
      I agree with you. I don’t want him up any time before September.
      
      And Jackson’s ceiling is MUCH, MUCH higher than Jackson’s.
      - http://liberalmusings.wordpress.com Pablo Zevallos
        
        ??
        
        http://actyankee.blogspot.com Matt ACTY
        
        The second Jackson should read “Gardner”.
      - Ed
        
        And Jackson’s ceiling is MUCH, MUCH higher than Jackson’s.
        
        I’m assuming the second Jackson was supposed to be Gardner.
        
        The Gardner reference simply meant “don’t overvalue OBP at AAA.” Especially when it comes along with low slugging.
- zack
  
  Wait, anyone here actually devalue a prospect in the Yankee’s system a bit? Bah! Jackson could not hit a HR all year and people would say not to worry, wait, power is the last thing to develop.
http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak

Jose Valdez was channeling Jose Veras tonight. They never got the “Throw Strikes” memo.
RollingWave

What’s more expected? a Angelini error or a Kei Igawa HR?
- A.D.
  
  Angelini error, Kei only plays every 5 days.
yankeefan91 Arod fan

So by the Yankees signing Sanchez the yankees have controlled for the next 6seasons?
- http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ Artist formerly known as ‘The’ Steve
  
  I guess, but he has to get to the bigs before that means anything. The Yanks have always been down on his work ethic, so don’t expect much.
  - JohnC
    
    what injury does Sanchez have now that he was immediately disabled upon resigning?
http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ Artist formerly known as ‘The’ Steve

Ben, I have a name for the recap.

“A Tale of Two Joba’s

One who was throwing junk in the first inning and gave up 4 runs. Another who recorded 12 of the next 14 outs via strikeout and looked like Superman out there.
josh

does anybody know exactly what was wrong with montero last night
A.D.

Should Malec get some time in LF, give him a chance to win a job next year?
- http://actyankee.blogspot.com Matt ACTY
  
  I don’t know. Looks like he doesn’t have the power to justify LF.
  - A.D.
    
    At least solid utility guys, switch hitter with corners, LF, 2B in a pinch.
- Jerry
  
  Malec is always underrated. The guy is an on base machine and deserves a chance.
  - kSturnz
    
    So was Gardner, then they threw him strikes…
A.D.

Man I feel like I haven’t seen Z-Mac or Pope with a line in awhile with these rain outs.
Chris G.

How much do you think what seems like an awful defense skews the stats for pitchers in Charleston? Sure the errors turn into unearned runs, but sometimes I wonder how many of those hit are balls that someone didn’t get their mit on, but should have gotten to…. I’m not trying to make excuses, but bad d can make pitching look even worse than it actually is.
- A.D.
  
  Figure some ground ball pitchers have to be killed. Its probably evened out to some extent to worse batter they get strikeouts or just real easy outs on.
A.D.

They demoted PJ Pillitere? WTF
- http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com Aunt Becca-Optimist Prime
  
  Because they called up Cervelli.
  - A.D.
    
    Then send Cash down to AA
    - steve (different one)
      
      maybe they can’t. perhaps it is in his contract.
      
      also, who gives a shit?
      - A.D.
        
        Just somewhat of the wrong message to not activate the guy, then finally do, he starts slow and pulls it up to .317, then congrats you’re demoted.
        
        Realistically if it weren’t for the 40 man he might be the one that should be on his way to NY
        
        Dave M
        
        He’s only there until Jorge is better. At least he should play more in AA.
stuart

Did not see the game but wow about Melancon. was he even close in his pitches. conse said he looked nervous!!!What is that about.

they need to add a bench player regardless of the pen’s utter ineptness.

they gave up over 5 again tonight, why is theis pitching so bad???
Dave M

Tampa is really struggling this year. And The River Dogs just plain stink!!! Scranton is the lone bright spot this year. Trenton has a few good pitchers, their lineup is very weak.
- Rick in Boston
  
  And that’s why the minors aren’t about results. It’s about development and sifting through the quantity to find the quality. You’re not looking at Tampa to see how they win and lose, it’s about howing guys like Montero and Romine develop and improve. With some exceptions, Scranton’s big producers are non-40 man guys who are in their late 20’s or early 30’s and have spent time in the bigs and are looking for another shot.
stuart

any other pen options not on the big club?

you think Melancon gets on the plane?

man this pen is even worse then the starters….
- V
  
  Are you trying to write haikus?
  - Captain Bawls
    
    holy hell, this is the funniest thing all day
EvoLuTioN

Ryan Flannery: 1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GB/FB

holy crap.
Drew

Is there anyone we should look for to sky rocket through the system this year, a la Edwar and Joba.
- Rob in CT
  
  Melancon is that guy. He’s already up.
voIII

Yankees pitching problems are the walks and the nibbling…They need to attack the hitters…Problem is a pitching coach who never did this, because he never had the stuff…

Where is the fight in this team…they need BALLS… same problem under Torre.

Also, it seems every year they pile up injuries, no-one is that unlucky…strength and conditioning needs to be addressed.
- Rob NY
  
  “hey need BALLS”
  
  IMO they need strikes. :)
JohnC

Was funny how the fans started the ‘We want Torre’ chants last night
- zack
  
  Right, because the Yankees have never played like this this early for Torre before. Stupid fans