-AJ Burnett was named the #2 starter, which makes Hughes the #3. If Ivan Nova’s new found slider is for real, he could out pitch both of them. Especially the first few months of the year when teams haven’t seen it yet. A slider raises Nova’s ceiling substantially. He can back door lefty batters for called 3rd strikes and bust righty batters in on the hands for weak grounders. If he works low in the zone, he’ll be very effective and pile up innings.
-Your tax dollars at work
-Brian Cashman announced yesterday that rotation decisions are coming soon. While we all know spring training shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but the team will be placing more weight on recent starts than earlier ones, since pitchers tend to be ahead of hitters in early camp and most of the low level minor leaguers have been weeded out by now. That’s bad news for Freddy Garcia, and Colon’s next start could clinch him the #5 spot in the rotation.
-Another head scratching trade for Tony Reagins. Between Kazmir, the Vernon Wells deal and the Gary Matthews Jr contract, he’s arguably the worst GM in baseball.
-Freddy Garcia has no intention of being sent down to AAA:
“It’s like, what am I supposed to do in Triple-A?” Garcia said. “I’m 34 years old, I’ve been in the big leagues for a long time. There’s nothing to go to Triple-A to prove. It’s make the team or not.”
It doesn’t matter anyway. If the team really likes him, you could always DL Sergio Mitre and hang onto Freddy for a few weeks in April and see what happens. If you really don’t like what you’ve seen, you just cut him loose.
-Mark Prior hit 94 on the gun yesterday
-Larry over at IATMS penned a terrific post explaining why Banuelos isn’t ready to pitch in the major leagues yet. He may be ready in terms of maturity and stuff, but he’s just not ready physically. Wherever you stand on Manny Banny, give it a read.
-Jake Peavy is ready for Opening Day.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
2 Responses to Sunday Notes and Commentary
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Is there anybody who is a Yankee fan that doesn’t hope Prior gets at least one effective inning this season? After all he has done to get to this point I really hope an injury doesn’t set him back.
Interesting to see Burnett be named the 2 starter, it is the move you would prefer because of Hughes’ age, but after last year they must have some faith in to give him the spot.
I don’t see the slider raising Nova’s ceiling to the point he is out-pitching Burnett and Hughes, unless of course both Hughes and Burnett tank, in which case Nova doing well won’t matter. I still see Nova as a mid to back of the rotation arm, he gets groundballs and his fastball is good but it doesn’t over power despite velocity and he doesn’t get ridiculous GB numbers, maybe he will surprise but there is no shame in being a career 3-4 starter.
Yeah, given how long Prior’s road has been back to the big leagues, its an incredible story. I think were all waiting for that moment when he gets called up, comes into a game, and hopefully it goes well. If I’m at the ballpark, I’d give him a 5 minute standing ovation before he even throws a single pitch. He deserves it.