Open Thread: 2011 Triple-A All-Star Game
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Last night it was the big leaguers, now it’s the guys one notch below them. The Triple-A All-Star Game is being played in Salt Lake City tonight, and former Yankees farmhand Zach McAllister is making the start for the International League. Z-Mac made his big league debut last week in case you missed it, allowing three runs in four innings against the Blue Jays. He’s the eighth player from the Yankees’ 2006 draft class to reach the show, joining Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Colin Curtis, Mark Melancon, Dan McCutchen, David Robertson, and Kevin Russo. Dellin Betances and George Kontos have a chance to make it ten, which would be pretty amazing.
Anyway, here are the lineups for the International League and the Pacific Coast League. Yes, we have a Cody Ransom sighting. The only Yankee there is Adam Warren, and I imagine he’ll get an inning in at some point. Jesus Montero, Jorge Vazquez, and Kevin Whelan all withdrew due to injury. The game starts at 9pm ET and can be seen on the MLB Network, so use this thread to talk about that or whatever else your heart desires. You all know what to do by now, so go nuts.
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Stuck on the runway in an airplane. Yay for tethering my phone to my computer.
So, um, interesting comments section today.
That is what happens when you feed the trolls.
DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!
And look: Even Yankees AAA players can’t bother to show up for All Star games. What a bunch of disgraces.
-Butthurt idiots everywhere.
I’m positive there’s less than 3 people out there saying that.
I heard it from Cal Ripken, and a few other people on the radio. If I heard it on the radio, I can assure you there are more than 3 people that say/believe that.
Cal Ripken said that the fan side of him wants Jeter to attend the game but he understands that he needs rest.
However that doesn’t mean loads of fans think the AAA Yanks are disgraces.
I’m sorry for joking.
1. Its unnecessarily mean-spirited.
2. Its beating up a strawman, actively distorting comments like Ripken’s.
and most importantly
3. Where was the funny?
http://i55.photobucket.com/alb.....sponds.jpg
Some Q&A’s from Baseball America’s Jim Callis from his chat today:
Melissa (Bronx, NY): Is Jesus Montero going to end up with the Yankees after the trade deadline? If not, who do you see coming back for him in return? Is King Felix a possibility?
Jim Callis: Yankees fans, repeat after me: The Mariners are not trading you Hernandez. As for Montero, I don’t know what to make of his future. I thought he’d make the club as a regular DH/backup C this year, and I have no doubt he could produce more than Jorge Posada. Scouts are telling me Montero looks bored in Triple-A, and if they’re not going to play him, the Yankees should deal Montero before his value takes a hit. But there’s no Cliff Lee on the market this year—I don’t know who on the market is worthy of giving up Montero.
Andrew Brotherton (Atlanta, GA): Don’t you think a Matt Moore for Jesus Montero trade would work for both teams? Yankees get pitching, Rays get what they lack which is a power hitter for the middle of their lineup.
Jim Callis: If Montero could catch, maybe. But there is ZERO chance the Rays would trade Matt Moore within the division.
Avi (New Jersey): Better prospect Austin Romine or JR Murphy?
Jim Callis: Romine. I don’t see Murphy sticking behind the plate, and Romine has value as an everyday big league catcher.
scott (ny): Can Andrew Brackman rebound?
Jim Callis: Been waiting for him for a long time to live up to that ridiculous contract, haven’t we? Reliever at best for me.
soo Hellickson for Rasmus in a potental Rays/Cadinals trade? What would that equal to for the Yanks?
You mean who on the Yankees would replicate the value of Hellickson? Hughes plus a b level prospect or something.
I’m not even sure why the Yankees would do that. Even if you think they’re gonna trade Hughes or whatever, which probably isn’t happening, there are things they need more than an OF. Better ways to spend resources.
Damn, filter ate up an interesting trade idea I had.
The bulk of it is Nova/Phelps/CoJo for Anibal Sanchez. Sanchez has been excellent this season, with a 3.58/3.24/3.10 E/F/x line this season. He would easily improve us for the stretch, turning the rotation into CC-Sanchez-Bart-AJ-Hughes. It would also help the Marlins, giving them good starting pitching and a future second baseman or third baseman.
With a pitching line like that and since he’s making 4 million dollars I’m sure they’ll ask for 50 times more.
Sanchez, Nolasco, Bedard and Wandy are decent (relatively) low cost trade targets for the Yanks. Sanchez has been hurt too much throughout his career for me. Bedard has been hurt a lot too but I’m pretty sure is a free agent at the end of the year.
Well, Sanchez has managed to remain mostly healthy the past two seasons. Made 32 starts last year and has made 18 this season.
True but so did Carl Pavano before the Yankees signed him.
I just hate acquiring pitchers that don’t have a strong track record of staying healthy. You’re just setting yourself up for failure.
You’re always taking a risk when acquiring pitchers. Sanchez might be more of a risk, but you aren’t giving up anything in the deal that will hurt you in the long run.
“You’re always taking a risk when acquiring pitchers.”
True. This is why you need to minize risk as much as possible. Yeah considering what you’re giving I’d definitively do the deal. I just don’t like anibal as a trade target in general because of the added injury risk.
has anyone seen this article in the Wall Street Journal yet…
Also, Sergio Mitre is a badass (I shit you not either)…..that’s why he will never disappear from pinstripes, Cash and Joe are terrified of him.
(read the article and you guys will understand why I said this)
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....re_twitter
This article is amazing. The best part is either the Mitre stuff or Posada getting pissy. Hilarious, all of it.
I know, now I know we need to win games, but let’s just have Mitre pitch inside to ortiz….and watch Mitre go chuck norris
Mitre is now my favorite mediocre pitcher. What a badass.
Wow, that was a great read. That they would choose Mitre in a fight over the giant CC Sabathia or A-Rod who’s ripped tells you something. Now I like Sergio Mitre even more than I used to (but I used to only like him because he made me lol every time he pitched.)
Loved the article.
Wow, great article, SDM. Thanks for sharing.
So Cervelli takes the longest to get ready, huh. I like him even less now. Nothing worse than hanging with dudes who take forever to get ready. Unacceptable.
Knew Posada was slow, but slower than CC and Bartolo? Wow, that’s bad.
And, yeah, I guess Sergio is worth keeping around solely for throwing at Big Cry Baby Ortiz and then laying the smack down like you say.
Great read. Will be sending that one around.
Everyone agree that an elite hitter is more valuable than an elite starter these days?
It’s much easier to find a starter that can approximate what the ace will give you than it is to find a hitter that will approximate what the slugger will.
how are you defining valuable? it seems like the hitters dominate week pitching in the regular season and then usually come back down to earth when the pitching is more elite in the post season. how many high powered yankee offenses have we seen shut down in the post season by elite pitching.
I mean more valuble as a comdity, what’s more scarce? If you’re staring a franchise today for the next five years and you can have a guaranteed ace or guaranteed masher what do you go with?
Terrible spelling on my part there. Sorry, I’m multitasking.
im going to go with the masher, because of entertainment value, position players just play more, and their more fun to watch. as awesome as cc is right now i tune into watch him pitch every 5th day. while you get to see someone like pujols do his thing every single game, its just more entertaining.
i remember in 07 how awesome it was to watch every single a-rod ab because you thought he was going crush one every time.
but if your question is who would you want for a playoff series i would choose the pitcher, every time. and i mean even over like a juiced up barry bonds. and he was the most dominant hitter baseball has ever seen.
The ace is much more replacable than the masher. Which is why I’d rather see the yanks get a Wandy type for the Romines, Warrens, Novas, Nunez etc, than get an Ubaldo, Weaver, Haren type for the A prospects (Montero, Banuelos, Betances).
There are 51 starters who have a 3.65 ERA or lower (minimum 15 starts) at the break. I haven’t checked but I bet that’s A LOT more than there were in say 2002. You have guys like Kartens, Ogando, Maholm, Stauffer, Baker, Humber, Fister, Colon and Garcia pitching as effectively as Felix Hernenadez.
Offense is the scarce commodity and you can wing it with you’re pitching staff. It’s exactly the opposite of the way things were a few years ago.
i didnt think of it that way honestly. thats a pretty good point about offense being down. i guess im a chile of the PED generation. when you put it that way i can see why you would choose the elite position player over the elite pitcher.
this PED free era is still a novelty so i dont really believe what im seeing across the league
Bnauelos just struck out the side (X. Avery, S. Marte, and J. Diaz) on 13 pitches (10 strikes) in the EL All-Star Game.
Whoops, that’s Banuelos.. but I’m sure you guys could figure that out..
What are your half-season awards picks? I’m going with…
AL MVP: Bautista
AL Cy: Weaver
AL Rookie: Pineda
AL Manager: Acta
NL MVP: McCutchen
NL Cy: Halladay
NL Rookie: Espinosa
NL Manager: Hurdle
Verlander over Weaver, Prince over McCutchen.
Prince, eh? Interesting.
CC over Verlander over Weaver.
AL MVP: Bautista
AL Cy: Verlander
AL Rookie: Pineda
AL Manager: Acta
AL Comeback: Bartolo
NL MVP: Kemp
NL Cy: Halladay
NL Rookie: Espinosa
NL Manager: Hurdle
NL Comeback: Berkman
I dig ya on all, except I’d have Reyes over Kemp.
Bautista, Verlander, Pineda, Acta, Colon or Ellsbury;
Kemp or Reyes, Halladay, Espinosa, Hurdle, Berkman? Beltran?
Not to be shown up by Banuelos.. Betances pitches a good inning also. Retires the side in order on 7 pitches. Struck out C. Joseph.
im going to suggest that all baseball fans should watch “a player to be named later” and ken berns “baseball” at least once every two years. it will be good for us all.
The 10th Inning that came out this year was excellent. Any one who has Netflix really needs to watch it. Really captures the Steroid era well.
Deadspin today compiled a list of 100 of the worst baseball players of all time. Among the notable Yankees on the list:
http://deadspin.com/5820716/th.....ion-part-1
8.) Billy Martin
21.) Steve Balboni
62.) Ruben Rivera
80.) Sidney Ponson
87.) the 2008 version of Andruw Jones
90.) Kei Igawa
Any Yankee suggestions for the list? Surprised Cody Ransom and Darrell Rasner got no love for their awfulness.
At least Billy Martin had some clutch hits and made some great defensive plays in some of the World Series of the Yankees’ 50′s dynasty.
2008 Andruw Jones wasn’t a Yankee. Thank God. I’m surprised anyone handed him a contract after that.
Ughhh… Chris Rose and Kevin Millar are calling the game. Insta-mute.
Hey Mike, where’s our big splash in IFA? So far I count about 30 or so signed by everyone else.
Warren is pitching right now for anyone not watching the game.
Warren is currently pitching
According to the radar he just hit 104 mph. I think someone needs to fix that thing.
I was at the AAA All-Star game, and Warren was pretty impressive live. Seems to have some good life to that fastball. Ran it up to 94-95 quite a few times.