Via Mike Ashmore, Double-A Trenton won the 2008 Minor League Baseball Yearly Award (MiLBY) for the Double-A level. Basically it’s the award for best team Double-A team, which the Thunder certainly earned by winning their second consecutive Eastern League Championship. Last month the Yankees renewed their Player Development Contract with Trenton for another 6 years, which hopefully means many more EL titles and MiLBY’s to come.

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That’s the kind of quality title you’ve come to expect here at RAB…

AzL Peoria (15-4 loss to the other Peoria)
Kevin Russo: 2 for 3, 2 R - picked off first … 9 for his last 14 (.643)
Juan Miranda: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 2 K - 0 for his last 14 after a 10 for 20 binge
Jeff Marquez: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1-3 GB/FB - 30 of 55 pitches were strikes (54.5%) … making the spot start in Phil Hughes‘ rotation spot since he started the Rising Stars Showcase on Friday

HWB Waikiki had their game rained out. Not sure if or when they’ll make this game up.

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Phil Hughes, the promising but seemingly inconsistent Yanks youngster, made the start in the AFL’s Rising Stars showcase last night. He threw three innings but did not have his best stuff. He allowed four runs — but just one earned — on three hits and two walks. Two of those three hits were home runs. While he did strike out three, he threw just 27 of 50 pitches for strikes.

For Hughes, this effort was another in a recent spate of sub-par efforts. In the long run, AFL stats don’t account for anything; the whole purpose of Hughes’ stint in Arizona is to ensure him the innings he needs after he missed much of the season to an injury. Until we hear some first-hand scouting reports though, all we have to go on are the numbers, and a 54 percent strike rate is not what we’d like to see.

Update by Mike (1:05pm): Ben beat me to it, so I’m just going to tack on the rest of DotF here. Austin Jackson started in center and batted leadoff in said Rising Stars Showcase, going 0 for 1 with a walk, a strikeout, and a stolen base. The National team won the game when Reds’ prospect Drew Stubbs drew a walk-off bases loaded walk, an inning after Mets’ prospect Eddie Kunz blew the save by allowing all three inherited runners to score.

Jeremy Bleich took the mound for Waikiki, and had another strong outing: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, throwing 58 of 86 pitches for strikes (67.4%). Bleich walked his first batter since October 4th, and over his last three starts he’s allowed just 13 baserunners in 19.2 IP, striking out 19 in the process. Impressive since he apparently needs elbow surgery.

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Let’s do a chat tomorrow, how’s 3pm sound? Help ya get through that last few hours on a Friday. Here’s our past chats.

AzFL Peoria (13-1 loss to Phoenix)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI - took a guy who throws kinda sorta hard deep
Juan Miranda: 0 for 3, 1 BB - 0 for his last 11
Humberto Sanchez: 0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 WP - my eyes, the goggles do nothing!!! … 16 of 26 pitches were strikes (61.5%)
Kevin Whelan: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2-1 GB/FB - only 12 of 23 pitches were strikes (52.2%)

HWB Waikiki had a scheduled off day.

Wednesday’s Games

AzFL Peoria (16-5 win over Phoenix)
Juan Miranda: 0 for 5, 1 BB, 2 K - 16 runs & 21 hits and he takes an 0-fer? lame…

HWB Waikiki beat West Oahu 9-8, but no Yankees’ prospects played in the game. This was Jeremy Bleich’s rotation turn, but he didn’t pitch. Not sure what that’s about. Oh, and Damon Sublett hasn’t played in over week. Hawaii hasn’t been too kind to the Yanks over the years, you may remember Mark Melancon & Chris Garcia blew out their elbows here in 2006.

Loyal reader Angel tells me that Brett Gardner will play for Toros de Este of the Dominican Winter League. He hasn’t played in a game yet.

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Baseball America has started digging through the aftermath of the 2008 Draft, and handed out some hardware. Unfortunately this article is subsciber only, but I’ll tell you this much: Pat Venditte has one of the best pro debuts of any college player, Jeremy Bleich had one of the draft’s best secondary pitches, and Garrison Lassiter was one of the best late round picks. Sadly both Gerrit Cole & Scott Bittle were two of the best players who got away, but that should come as no surprise. All-in-all, the Yanks spent just over $5M on the draft this year, down nearly $3M from last year. Had Cole and/or Bittle signed, they would have spent north of $8M this year.

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AzFL Peoria (18-11 win over the other Peoria)
Kevin Russo: 1 for 2, 2 RBI, 1 BB - pinch ran for Milwaukee prospect Taylor Green after he was a pitch … you may recognize that name; Green is one of the two players the Indians could have selected as the fourth guy in the Sabathia trade, but they went with Michael Brantley instead
Austin Jackson: 3 for 6, 1 R, 2 RBI - 9 for his last 24 (.375)
Jeff Marquez: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 3-1 GB/FB - 24 of 47 pitches were strikes (51.1%)

HWB Waikiki (7-2 lead over West Oahu in the 5th) all Yanks’ prospects have already exited the game, hence the early post
Austin Romine: 0 for 0, 1 HBP - left the game with an arm/wrist injury after the HBP … not sure how serious it is, but he’s got all winter to get better if need be
Andrew Brackman: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 5-4 GB/FB - 48 of 81 pitches were strikes (59.3%) … his control is slowly coming back, but he threw a first pitch strike to only 11 of 20 batters … he had men on 1st & 3rd with one out in the 3rd, but the guy on third was thrown out trying to steal home, and then the guy on first was tagged out in a rundown to get Brackman out of the inning

Monday’s Game

AzFL Peoria (4-2 win over the other Peoria)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 K, 1 HBP
Juan Miranda: 0 for 3, 1 R, 1 BB - what, no extra base hits?
Kevin Russo: 1 for 3, 1 2B, 1 HBP, 1 SB
Kevin Whelan: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1-1 GB/FB - only 8 of 16 pitches were strikes (50%)

HWB Waikiki was off Monday.

Here’s some highlights for the guys playing winter ball in the Caribbean:

Matt Carson: 2 for 13 (.154), 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 SB in 3 games (DR)
Justin Christian: 7 for 33 (.212), 4 R, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, 6 SB in 8 games (Mex)
Reegie Corona: 3 for 7 (.429), 2 R, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K in 3 games (DR)
Victor Zambrano: 11 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K in 2 starts  (VZ)- say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

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The rosters for the Rising Stars Showcase, essentially the Arizona Fall League All-Star Game, have been released, with the two most obvious Yanks’ farmhands making the National Team. The game is this Friday at 7:15pm local time (10:15 on the east coast), and Phil Hughes will get the start against the Braves’ Tommy Hanson. There’s a good chance the game will be on MiLB.tv, but we won’t know for sure until Friday comes. It will definitely be available on Gameday, though.

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One of my favorite free features of Baseball America is their minor leagues tractions column. This usually comes out weekly, and contains items such as reassignments, releases, and signings. There are a couple of tidbits in this week’s edition that are worth at least glancing at, especially in this time of baseball news lull.

For starters, the Yanks have but one transaction. They have granted Billy Traber free agency. Whoo-pee. Signing him last winter was a decent idea, but it never worked out. In the end, he took up a roster spot for a bit too long, on account of his throwing with his left arm. Perhaps some other team will give him a shot next spring.

The Rockies released 2B Jayson Nix. After losing Kaz Matsui to the Astros last winter, the Rox had a few candidates to take over at second, among them Nix, whose older brother Laynce is also a free agent. The now 26-year-old’s run didn’t go so well, as he owned an ugly .111/.216/.133 line when he was finally benched on April 25. He returned for a few games in July and picked up just two hits in 10 plate appearances. He did excel in the minors, though, posting a .303/.373/.591 line in AAA in 2008, after a .292/.342/.451 line in 2007. Note, though, that this is the league in which Bubba Crosby hit .361/.414/.635 in 277 at bats in 2003.

The Angels parted ways with reliever Chris Bootcheck, their first round pick in 2000. He’s never excelled at the major league level, though his only prolonged appearances was in 2007, when he posted 77.1 innings to the tune of a 4.77 ERA. Considering he’s 30 and hasn’t had much minor league success, I can’t see him getting anything beyond a minor league deal heading into ‘09. With the Yanks bullpen depth, a flier like this doesn’t seem worth it.

The Phillies have pulled the plug on the Chris Snelling experiment. Here’s another story of a guy with potential who just couldn’t stay healthy. Philadelphia was his fourth team in the past three years, and it doesn’t seem like anyone would give him more than a Spring Training invite. I don’t think he’d fit with the Yankees, but he’ll get a chance somewhere.

The Giants surprisingly released 28-year-old Kevin Correia. He had a rough time this year, posting a 6.05 ERA in 110 innings over 19 starts. I know Mike mentioned liking his arm. His problem, as it is with so many pitchers, is with the walks. Just too many, even though he misses a decent number of bats. There is some hope that he’ll rebound a bit in 2009, and can be at the bottom of a team’s rotation, or possibly out of the bullpen. If all it takes is a Spring Training invite, I don’t see why you wouldn’t take a chance.

(On a side note, the Giants also released Scott McClain, who has hit 287 minor league home runs.)

Perhaps the most interesting name on the list is now-former Blue Jay Gustavo Chacin. He was solid in his 203 innings in 2005, but couldn’t stay healthy after that. That wasn’t a massive jump from his 168 innings in 2004, though he did make the leap from 69 innings in 2003 (he had previously topped out at 140 in 2001). He was neither healthy nor effective in 2006 and 2007, and didn’t make the majors in 2008 after shoulder surgery. He posted a 7.88 ERA down in the Florida State League, over 45.2 IP. He hasn’t posed an ERA below 7.45 at any minor league stop since 2004. Yet he throws left-handed, so he’ll surely get at least an audition in 2009.

So crap, crap, and more crap. Is there anyone on the scrap heap worth looking at?

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AzFL Peoria (14-11 in over Scottsdale)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 5, 1 R, 3 K - 5 for his last 27
Juan Miranda: 2 for 4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 K, 1 HBP - 9 of 14 hits have gone for extra bases … hitting .500-.548-.964 in his 7 games
Kevin Russo: 5 for 5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB - batting avg jumps from .143 to .308
Busty McZOMGheonlythrows91: 2.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HB, 4-3 GB/FB - 36 of 60 pitches were strikes … after retiring 6 of the first 7 batters he faced, the wheels fell off in the 3rd: single-single-HBP-sac fly-homer-single-single-walk-pop out-walk-single w/ 3 run error by LFer … threw 42 pitches in the inning, 24 for strikes (57.1%)
Humberto Sanchez: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 0-3 GB/FB - 9 of 14 pitches were strikes (64.3%)

HWB Waikiki’s game has just started. Austin Romine is behind the plate and batting sixth. These games end mad late because of the time difference, and I don’t feel like waiting around for it. Check out Gameday in the meantime.

Friday’s Games

AzFL Peoria (7-3 loss to Scottsdale)
Juan Miranda: 0 for 4, 3 K, 1 HBP - teh bust
Jeff Marquez: 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3-0 GB/FB - 19 of 32 pitches were strikes (59.4%) … teh bust

HWB Waikiki (8-1 win over Honolulu)
Jeremy Bleich: 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 9-6 GB/FB - 48 of 78 pitches were strikes (61.5%) … not teh bust, at least for today

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How about a chat this afternoon, let’s call it 3pm? Help pass that always slow Friday afternoon. He’s the past chat transcripts.

AzFL Peoria (9-8 win over Mesa)
Austin Jackson: 1 for 4, 1 RBI
Juan Miranda: 3 for 4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K - leads the league in batting avg by .144 pts, OBP by .019, SLG by .373 & OPS by .452
Kevin Russo: 1 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 K - he’s played 3 positions (3B, LF and now SS) in the 6 games he’s played

HWB Waikiki (7-4 loss to North Shore)
Austin Romine: 1 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 PB - allowed 5 passed balls in just 7 starts

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