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.
They’re bringin’ sexy back
Via Pinstripes PA, Getty Images has the “photo day” pics available. You should definitely check ’em out, but here are the highlights:
- Joba must have that Thinner disease. Dude’s downright skinny.
- Jason Giambi definitely avoided the In-N-Out burgers this winter. Wait, didn’t he say that a few years back?
- Here are your top two position prospects.
- Jesus!
- Andrew Brackman is one big dude.
- Brian Bruney lost a ton of weight. Hopefully he practiced throwing strikes with the empty cans of Slim Fast.
- The Fat Relievers™ aren’t so fat anymore; I’d say … husky.
- Check out Ross Ohlendorf. Tell me that kid doesn’t look like he was born to wear pinstripes.
Make sure you take a look at all the photos. Good stuff. Some of ’em remind me of yearbook picture day.
The good news about Tabata’s injury
From Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus (subscription required):
The fact that he recently had surgery on his hamate bone is a mitigating factor, as that’s exactly the kind of injury that can sap a player of his power…Nonetheless, on a pure hitting level, Tabata is pretty special and should be a consistent contender for batting titles when he reaches the big leagues.
It’s a little reassuring, and should at least silence the Tabata cynics for another six months or so. Hard to knock a guy’s power when he’s on the DL with an injury that was directly related to it.
Tabata done for year, Garcia suffers setback
Yankees outfielder Jose Tabata will miss the remainder of the season after surgery to remove the hamate bone in his right wrist.
The injury has bothered the 19-year-old outfielder since playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, and he’s seen five different hand specialists over the past year to get a proper diagnosis.
“It’s a six-week rehab and he’s going to be fine,” Yankees senior vice president of baseball operations Mark Newman said. “He tried to play through it and he shouldn’t. He’s had problems with it on an off for a while and it really bothered him on a swing. We got him in for an MRI that revealed the damage.”
Well at least he’s getting this fixed once for all. If the kid could hit .307-.371-.392 in the FSL as an 18-yr old with a bum hand, I can’t wait to see what he does fully healthy.
The same article has this on forgotten man Christian Garcia:
The Yankees got hit with more bad news recently when righthander Chris Garcia sustained a knee injury and needed surgery.
Garcia, a third-round pick out of a Miami high school in 2004, was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time of the injury and isn’t expected to begin rehabbing again until November.
“He was doing some running as part of his rehab from (Tommy John),” Newman said. “As fate would have it, this happened. It’s like serving a concurrent sentence for a criminal. We expect him to be ready to go in the spring.”
The Garcia injury is no biggie, it won’t delay his return at all. That’s the good thing about TJ, if you hurt anything else while you’re rehabbing, you have plenty of time to let that heal as well.
Jose Tabata Player Journal
Tabata’s latest journal entry over at milb.com is up. It sure sounds like the whole Clemens experience went well.
Read up on Jose Tabata
Here’s the latest entry from Tabata’s milb.com Player Journal. It’s chock full o’ good stuff; I especially found his batting practice approach interesting. Â
Jose Tabata: stud outfielder, great hitter…
…husband and father? Of two??? From his milb.com Player Journal:
I haven’t spent too much time seeing Tampa — my wife and I generally stay home when I’m not playing. We’re expecting twins this winter, and my mother will come to help out.
Damn yo, guess he’s living the life of a normal 18 yr old, huh?Â
Speaking of husbands and the such, congrats goes out to Alex and Emily for driving off the cliff walking off the plank getting hitched. Homer Simpson said it the best: marriage is a coffin, and every kid is another nail.
Just kidding on that last part, but in all seriousness, congrats and here’s to the long happy and healthy life ahead of them.
(hat tip to James for the Tabata link)