First, I want to thank people for starting to leave comments as I hope we can get some dialog between all of us in a format that you can get involved with if you choose to. We have had some good questions and good points made so far. One question was about moving Cano up to the 3rd spot and dropping Tex down. My feeling is that in general you put your better hitters up earlier in the order so that they may get the extra AB compared to some less productive hitter. I would never put some blazing fast guy up at the top of the order who couldn't hit well such as Juan Pierre or Rajah Davis type. What is the point of giving an extra AB to a guy like that instead of "ARod?" That being said, I would just let Cano continue where he is at as long as he is producing. I want him to take his approach that he has improved on and make sure it is part of his DNA and he doesn't revert back. Baltimore can help someone get back on track and because Tex is a proven commodity, confidence may be a big part of the issue. BTW, Tex had a May OPS of .841 so he was doing OK. June started out awful until yesterday...but lets give him another week before dropping him.
Another question surrounded the Yanks drafting a SS. I can't say I know anything about the kid as I have never seen him play. I have only read the same things many of you have and that is he has a rocket arm and is built tall and lean (kind of like Jeter was). This could be the heir to the throne, but that also may be a little premature and he could simply be the best player available. He is 17 years old and already committed to the University of Maryland. I would assume the Yanks felt that money will sway him away from school or they would not have drafted him. He hit .561 with 10 doubles, 5 triples and 9 homers in 22 regular season games (also 20 walks). I won't talk about things I don't know so I will only say we shall see.
I also had some comments about the excitement behind the 1st start by Strasburg (Last year's #1 pick by Washington). Yeah, he was playing against Pittsburgh, but it was one of the few times where the hype might have been less than the performance. OK, a 2.57 ERA (2 runs in 7 innings) isn't incredible, but striking out 14 and walking nobody in his debut is extremely impressive. He had at least 3 k's each off of his consistent 98 MPH fastball, his change up and his curve ball. Washington should be excited between Strasburg and the newly drafted clear cut #1 pick they just got in Bryce Harper. This kid is 17 and had played a year at a junior college. He used a wooden bat and hit 31 homers in about 60 games. People call this kid the natural.
Last nights game...
I think Gaudin will be released or dropped to the minors after yesterday.
Hughes struggled with his command, especially with fastballs and change ups. He was wild within the strike zone with his fastball and missed with change up. I thought his curve was outstanding and should have been used more; they didn't touch it. No walks helped nurse him through allowing 9 hits in 6 innings.
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Yeah but who would have ever thought at the beginning of the season that Hughes would be arguably our best starter so far! How funny it is that people (tim kurkjian) are already comparing Strasburg to the big train Walter Johnson, that did not take long! I really do get excited when a team starts to reap the rewards of being a cellar dweller for years. Tell me you are not pumped about Bryce Harper in the HR derby three years from now at the all star game! Would you go after Cliff Lee? I would. He seemed to do pretty weel in the playoffs right?
ReplyDeleteSteve D
While HR derby doesn't excite me, I share your excitement about a cellar dwellar getting some young studs that they can build around and get their team poised for some playoff shots. These teams need to spend a little bit so they can compete. TB is doing that and while their payroll is about half of what the Yanks is, they used to be about a 30%. The extra investment will pay dividends
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