Via the NYYFans forum comes word that the Yanks have sent a staffer from their psychological profiling department to meet (and evaluate) Vanderbilt RHP Brett Jacobson. Saber-Scouting’s first ever post was a scouting report of Jacobson, who is 1-3, 5.80 ERA with 39 hits and 16 walks allowed in 35.2 IP. He’s struck out 32 and picked up 4 saves while serving as coach Tim Corbin’s “moment of truth” reliever. Jacobson was the Commodores’ swingman/number three starter last year behind 2007 top overall pick David Price and current ace Mike Minor. The original article implies that the Yanks are looking at Jacobson in the first round, but that would be an overdraft. He should still be around when the Yanks pick in the second round, #75 overall.

The big league team isn’t the only one being ransacked by injuries, the Low-A Charleston River Dogs are also fighting the injury bug, with Abe Almonte and Wady Rufino being the latest to hit the DL. The Yankees are extremely insecure about releasing injury info about their prospects, but I’ll wrap up the Charleston DL crew for you anyway:

Lower Body Injury: CF Abe Almonte, 1B/3B Brandon Laird, C Austin Romine, and 3B Bradley Suttle
Upper Body Injury: RHP Jairo Heredia, RHP Adam Olbrychowski, and RHP Ryan Zink

As you can see, the Charleston trainers need to alter their conditioning routines so that they do a better job of targeting the upper and lower body. Why can’t they just say, “hey, this guy pulled his hammy,” or “hey, so-and-so’s shoulder is barking.” Is that so difficult? Keeping the injury a secret won’t make it go away.

Triple-A Scranton (5-1 loss to Indianapolis)
Brett Gardner & Bernie Castro: both 0 for 2 - Gardner scored a run, walked twice, was caught stealing & threw a runner out at first from CF … Castro walked once & swiped a bag
Jason Lane: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 CS, 1 HBP
Eric Duncan & Cody Ransom: Both 0 for 4 - Ransom K’ed twice
Greg Porter & Justin Christian: all 1 for 4 - Porter K’ed twice
JD Closser: 2 for 3, 1 PB, 1 E (throwing)
Dan Giese: 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 9-4 GB/FB - 66 of 94 pitches were strikes (70.2%) … in 36.1 IP as a starter, he’s allowed 26 hits, 4 earned runs, 8 walks and struck out 30
David Robertson: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 0-2 GB/FB - only 13 of his 26 pitches were strikes … pitching against guys with big league experience for the first time can be a bit of a rude awakening, he’ll get over the shell shock soon enough

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Triple-A Scranton (6-5 win over Indianapolis) check out which old friend batted third for Indians
Brett Gardner: 0 for 3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SB
Alberto Gonzalez & Eric Duncan: both 1 for 3, 1 R, 2 BB - Gonzalez drove in a run & swiped a bag
Jason Lane & Nick Green: both 2 for 4, 1 K - Lane doubled twice, drove in 3 run & walked … Green drove in a run, stole a base & was hit by a pitch
Greg Porter & Matt Carson: both 2 for 5 - Porter K’ed … Carson doubled & scored a run
Heath Phillips: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 1 K - 21 of 50 pitches were strikes (42%), eek … he also picked a runner off first
Steven Jackson: 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HB, 3-4 GB/FB - the forgotten man in the RJ deal, Jackson’s a pretty good pitcher, don’t dismiss him
Billy Traber: 0.1 IP, zeroes
Scott Patterson: 1.1 IP, zeroes, 3 K - now there’s the Scott Patterson we all know and love

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Triple-A Scranton (5-4 win over Charlotte in 11 innings, walk-off style) thankfully a reliever (probably Britton) will be shipped to Scranton tomorrow to make room for Igawa, because tomorrow’s pitching staff would have been Heath Phillips (4 innings as the starter, tops), Steven Jackson and Scott Patterson
Justin Christian: 0 for 3, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HBP - walk-off walk
Alberto Gonzalez & Cody Ransom: both 1 for 5 - Ransom tripled, scored a run & K’ed
Eric Duncan, Matt Carson & JD Closser: all 1 for 4, 1 BB - Duncan scored a run & K’ed … Carson scored a run & swiped a bag … Closser drove in a run & K’ed
Greg Porter: 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 E (throwing)
Brett Gardner: 0 for 0, 1 R - pinch-run for Porter in the 11th, stole 3rd and set up the play that led to the win
Jeff Marquez: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 E (throwing), 7-7 GB/FB - picked a runner off first … 60 of 83 pitches were strikes (72.3%)
David Robertson: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K - safe to say he won’t be available tomorrow
Billy Traber: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER - gave up a double to a lefty, and coaxed a fly out from a righty … his second straight day of work, so he won’t be available for much work tomorrow
Scott Strickland: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K - both walks were intentional … not going to be available for tomorrow’s game

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It’s reached the point where I’m starting to think that Torre’s bringing Scott Proctor into 10-0 games just to fuck with us.

Triple-A Scranton (5-1 win over Charlotte)
Brett Gardner: 1 for 3, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K - Chad Jennings said it was a classic fast guy double - bloop over the third basemen’s head that he ran into extra bases
Alberto Gonzalez & Eric Duncan: both 1 for 4, 1 RBI
Jason Lane & Justin Christian: both 0 for 3, 1 BB - Lane K’ed twice … Christian was picked off first
Greg Porter & Chris Stewart: both 2 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB - Porter hit a solo jack & K’ed … Stewart doubled & committed a throwing error
Steven “don’t call me” White: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 6-10 GB/FB
Billy Traber: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K - the 4 outs came against lefties … the two hits came off of righties
Scott Patterson: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K - 1.54 WHIP this year after a 0.78 WHIP last year

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This is usually Mike’s department, but I don’t see him online at the moment, so I’m going to wrap up this piece by the indispensable Chad Jennings. While his job is to cover the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees, he does a stupendous job of talking to guys like Nardi Contreras and Mark Newman, providing updates from the entire Yankees farm system. While you can find the full list of updates at his site, here’s the abridged version.

Humberto Sanchez is on the road back, but he’s not at 45 pitches yet. Jennings explains that this is the number of pitches they want a starter to toss from a mound before getting him into a game. This suggests that at least for the time being, the Yankees will use him as a starter. We’ll see, though.

For those Chris Garcia nuts out there (I’m looking right at you, Jamal), he’s pitching today. I’m not sure where he’s pitching today, but it will be four innings or 55 pitches, whichever comes first. We’ll see if we can get the results if this start happens to be in extended spring training.

Nardi seems to be very happy about Zach McAllister, J.B. Cox, and Mark Melancon. And really, how couldn’t he be? These guys are pitching very, very well.

Finally, no one knows what’s up with Sean Henn. Could it be possible that no team claims him off waivers? It seems to me a team like the Giants could afford the roster spot. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Triple-A Scranton (4-0 win over Charlotte)
Brett Gardner, Justin Christian, Jason Lane & Nick Green: all 1 for 4 - Gardner scored a run, drove one in & K’ed … Christian drove in a run & K’ed … Lane doubled & K’ed … Green scored a run
Matt Carson: 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 CS
Greg Porter: 1 for 2, 1 RBI, 1 BB
IPK: 7.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HB, 5-9 GB/FB - 58 of 89 pitches were strikes (65.2%) … Chad Jennings said in an email that he fell behind 2-0 to only two batters (came back to K the first guy, gave up the lone hit to the other), and gave up only 2 hard hit balls all night - zeroes are nice, but those last two stats do a much better job of telling the story … here’s CJ’s wrap of the game … and to think some called him a failed prospect
Heath Phillips: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 4-1 GB/FB - 14 of 20 pitches were strikes (70%)

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Triple-A Scranton (5-0 loss to Charlotte)
Wilson Betemit, Nick Green & Greg Porter: all 1 for 4 - Betemit drew a free pass … Porter doubled
Brett Gardner, Cody Ransom, Chris Stewart: all 0 for 4 - Gardner walked & K’ed twice … Ransom & Stewart each K’ed three times
Jason Lane: 2 for 3, 1 BB
Eric Duncan: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 E (throwing)
Matt Carson: 2 for 4 - 6 for 10 since the promotion
Dan Giese: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1 HB - picked a runner off first … 52 of 78 pitches were strikes, exactly 2 out of 3
David Robertson: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 Er, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 WP - one off the walks was intentional … 24 of 42 pitches were strikes (57.1%)
Steven Jackson: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K - stranded both inherited runners

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I’ve got a minor correction to this comment I made the other day about draft eligibility. If a team wants to draft a player than isn’t in the MLB Scouting Bureau database, they have to request a “commisioner number” for that player ahead of time. If no request is made, the player can’t be drafted. Thanks to KLaw for the heads up.

Triple-A Scranton (9-5 win over Durham)
Wilson Betemit: 1 for 2, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 BB
Brett Gardner: 2 for 3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB - on base 45 times in 28 games
Jason Lane: 1 for 3, 2 R, 1 HR, 5 RBI - 5 RBI total in his last 23 games
Eric Duncan: 2 for 4, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 CS - batted cleanup for the first time all year
Cody Ransom: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K
JD Closser & Justin Christian: both 1 for 4 - Closser K’ed once … Christian scored a run & K’ed twice
Kei Igawa: 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 2-11 GB/FB - 66 of 108 pitches were strikes (61.1%) … he bit the bullet and went as deep as possible because there were only two relievers available today
Scott Strickland: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 0-4 GB/FB - 25 of 41 pitches were strikes (61.0%) … David Robertson was the only other reliever available

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PeteAbe has more of the details surrounding Jose Tabata’s suspension last week. The year at AA is not going too well for a player once regarded as the Yanks’ top positional prospect.