Yankees recall David Phelps, send Ryota Igarashi to Triple-A

June 29, 2012 by Mike Axisa 20 Comments

The Yankees have recalled right-hander David Phelps from High-A Tampa, giving the club a long-man with Adam Warren scheduled to start tonight and Freddy Garcia slated for Monday. Ryota Igarashi was sent back to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Phelps threw 55 pitches on Monday and should be good for 60-70 tonight if needed. The Yankees sent him down a few weeks ago to stretch him out so he could start, and I’m not a big fan of abandoning that plan with both CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte on the shelf. Hopefully they can keep him stretched out to 50 pitches or so before sending him back down when Sabathia comes off the DL.

Robinson Tilapia

Very odd. You’d think they’d see the big picture a bit better here. Needing the long man tonight shouldn’t preclude his being stretched out. This is why disposable arms like Iragashi have jobs to begin with, and where a guy like Ramon Ortiz would earn his ticket back to the majors.
- BeanTooth
  
  Both Joba and Hughes find your talk of the Yankees seeing the big picture with young pitchers utterly hilarious.
- RetroRob
  
  I don’t view it as odd. They have a rookie scheduled for tonight against a powerhouse team, not to mention Garcia scheduled for Monday. They have to assume there could be one, if not two blowouts requiring length. Phelps is lined up for either of the games. If not needed, they can have him resume stretching out.
  - Ted Nelson
    
    I don’t view it as odd, either, but I’m not so worried about the blow-outs as the games that are still fairly close. The Yankees’ starter gets shelled a bit early, but they also put some runs on the board.
- BK2ATL
  
  I agree. Bizarre. Not sure what changed between yesterday and today.
  
  If they were going to do this, why not yesterday??? Why even bother with Iragashi yesterday? Phelps would be up and rested, after travel, for usage today.
  
  Know what’s laughable in all of this? Nova gave them 7 & 1/3 innings last night. Yet, I have a feeling that we’re gonna hear about the bullpen being overused pretty soon.
- Ted Nelson
  
  Is one start in High A the big picture?
Rush Stern- megarobothead

This is disturbing that they did not give Igarashi his chance to shine. The guy is legit. How can he not be with a name like that?
leftylarry

Adam Warren deserves a shot, as does Phelps.There’s no end to the myriad retreads available who have zero real upside.
Fernando

Yankees designate Farquhar and claim Chris Schwinden. Farquhar might make it through waivers and they’ll keep him in AA.

Nice to see Phelps back up as he deserved to be here based on his performance last time. Hopefully they can keep him stretched out though that might mean a blowout or two.
yooboo

Phelps should not be there with Yanks. He will be mishandled by Girardi.

Schwinden should be with Yanks as a long reliever and Phelps should be with AAA to continue stretching as a starter.
LiterallyFigurative

I hate putting young pitchers in the long man role. Phelps should be in the minors building up the pitch count. Let Igarashi or one of the retreads sit in the pen for 6 days. It’s one thing to use a guy like Phelps semi-regularly for multiple innings, as those outs can have some leverage. Wholly another to hope for blowouts and injuries before you get some burn.
- Fernando
  
  I totally understand that viewpoint, but you have to give the team credit for giving THEIR young guys the chance. I’m not saying you would…but lots of people would criticize that move as the Yankees not giving their young players a chance.
- Steve (different one)
  
  No one is hoping for a blowout, but surely you acknowledge that the chance of one this weekend is greatly elevated? This is a sensible, if sub-optimal move.
  - Ted Nelson
    
    And long-men aren’t only useful in a blowout. Your starter can allow 4 Rs in 2 IP and need to come out while your offense scores 2, 3, 4 Rs in the first inning… and it’s a close game where you have a lot of bullpen innings to eat.
- Ted Nelson
  
  “It’s one thing to use a guy like Phelps semi-regularly for multiple innings, as those outs can have some leverage.”
  
  Uhhh… that’s exactly what they did for over a month…
Preston

I like having a caddy for young starters. Warren should have a short hook and Phelps can come in and we don’t have to kill the rest of our pen.
- RetroRob
  
  Exactly. If Warren goes deep into the game tonight, then the Yankees will hold Phelps to back-up Garcia on Monday. If Warren gets blown out early, they can have Phelps give them four innings or so tonight. Garcia, even if he’s on his game, won’t go very deep on Monday he’s also not stretched out. Bottom line is they are going to need Phelps for about four innings either tonight of Monday. After that, they can send him back down to continue stretching out, or they might just insert him straight into the rotation once they figure he can give them five or six innings.
  
  There is nothing negative in this move at all for Phelps. He’s protecting the Yankees big league rotation and will build his pitch count up some more tonight or Monday and then the team will decide how to proceed from there.
  - Kosmo
    
    it´s nice to see Phelps in the mix . CC will be back before we know it and moving on NY will then have 3 options in Garcia,Phelps or Warren for 1 role. Depth!
  - Laz
    
    I would really like to see them use phelps for long stretches late in games. Up by 2-3 runs but a starter only makes it through 5-6 innings, let him pitch the rest of the game.
    
    Phelps and warren have nothing left to prove in the minores. Warren threw 150 innings in AAA last year.
http://fendersonandhampton.com Cuso

Phelps is an organizational asset. Would it be nice to have him throwing 100 pitches in AAA every fifth day? Sure. But you can only have so many guys that you can protect how slowly/consistently you bring them along.

Bottom line: with the recent injuries, they need to call upon people within the system to get outs at the Major League level. They need to protect wins for the big club in 2012.

The Joba Rules have given fans a preternatural aversion to having any young pitcher get out of the “perfect” routine to become a #1 or #2 MLB starter. They’re not ALL Banuelos, folks.

I’m sure that Phelps is more than OK with helping the big club in ANY capacity.

Stop treating “being stretched out” as sacrosanct for any AAA pitcher with starting experience. These moves prevent the big club from making kneejerk reactions and trading away these young assets for the Lirianos and Wandys of the world.