River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Jose Ortegano

Silva makes his first minor league start

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And the next contestant on "Scrap Heap Sweepstakes" is... (AP Photo/Jim Bryant)

Apologies for the lack of a DotF last night, but I’ll make it up to you today with a short version…

  • Both Triple-A Scranton and Low-A Charleston had scheduled off days. Easy enough.
  • Double-A Trenton won. Cody Johnson and Corban Joseph were your offensive stars of the night; both had two hits including a homer. Austin Romine also picked up a pair of base knocks, and both CoJo and Jose Pirela tripled. Dellin Betances allowed one run across five innings, striking out five and walking no one. He also generated nine ground outs and just two air outs. Dominant, yo.
  • High-A Tampa lost again, making it 13 losses in their last 14 games. Rob Lyerly and Luke Murton each had a pair of hits, but that’s about it on offense. No extra base hits at all, just a bunch of singles all around. Carlos Silva made his first minor league appearance, allowing two runs in three innings of work. He got five ground balls and zero fly balls, striking out five and walking one. Jairo Heredia made his not-so-triumphant return from the disabled list, allowing five runs in 2.1 IP. He walked three and whiffed just one. First game back from the DL, he gets a mulligan.

Obviously Silva’s first appearance was the story of the night, as he’s now officially making his case to join the big league team. I have no idea how he looked stuff-wise, but he wasn’t exactly a blow-you-away kind of guy anyway. Silva will pound the strike zone with the sinker, and when he’s at his best he’s getting ground balls and not walking anyone. Here’s some other news and notes…

  • Remember Jose Ortegano? The Yankees re-signed him to a minor league contract after designating him for assignment and releasing him within the last two weeks. He might actually pitch this time around instead of sitting on (what I assume was) the phantom disabled list because…
  • Both Steve Garrison and Brian Anderson were placed on Double-A Trenton’s disabled list. Garrison left Tuesday’s start with a groin injury, though I’m not sure what’s up with Anderson. He’s not a phantom DL kind of guy. Poor Josh Schmidt was sent from Triple-A Scranton down to Trenton to fill one of the roster spots, that guy has done everything he’s needed to do at that level over the last season or two. Such is the life of an org arm.
  • With Garrison’s injury, four of Trenton’s five starting pitchers from the Opening Day rotation have been on the disabled list already. Betances and Manny Banuelos had the blisters, and Graham Stoneburner is still out with a sore/still neck. Shaeffer Hall is the lone survivor. Both Garrison and Stoneburner are heading to Tampa to rehab.

Even with the DL stints, Trenton’s rotation should be just fine. Both Kei Igawa and Cory Arbiso have experience starting and could move out of the bullpen temporarily, and now there’s Ortegano as well. Plus Silva figures to move up at some point, though I suspect he’ll make at least one more start for Tampa before moving up a level. Might even be two more starts just to make sure he’s stretched out to five innings properly. Hopefully he turns out better than Kevin Millwood.

Just call him Jose Orte-gone-no

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Via Matt Eddy, the Yankees have released left-hander Jose Ortegano. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, that’s because he not only never pitched for the Yankees at the big league level, but he also never pitched for them in the minors. He started the season on the disabled list after being claimed off waivers at the end of Spring Training, and was designated for assignment last week to make room on the roster for Buddy Carlyle. So long Jose, we hardly knew ye.

Yankees claim Jose Ortegano

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Via Marc Carig, the Yankees have claimed left-hander Jose Ortegano off waivers from the Braves and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton. The 23-year-old from Venezuela made 20 starts for Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate last year, pitching to a 4.56 FIP in 103 IP. He was not among their top 30 prospects in the 2011 edition of Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook, but he ranked 25th in 2010. “His fastball sits 86-88 mph and occasionally touched 90,” they said. “He also has a plus curveball and locates his changeup with precision … his ultimate role may be as a crafty left-handed reliever.”

Given Pedro Feliciano’s bothersome triceps and Boone Logan’s nagging injury filled camp, it doesn’t hurt to have another lefty around to stash in Triple-A. Ortegano’s nothing special, but certainly not useless.