Keeping up with the ex-Yanks: Go Johnny go!

10 Responses to Keeping up with the ex-Yanks: Go Johnny go!

1. Frank says:

   June 19, 2011 at 9:16 am

   IPK an All-Star? I think so.

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   Steve S. Reply:
   June 19th, 2011 at 9:34 am

   I’ve always been a fan, and I think there’s a lesson here about looking past radar gun readings and weighting pitchability more in evaluating prospects. I was always impressed by how much weak contact IPK could generate with that Change of his, and for me that negated the fact he didn’t have a plus-plus fastball. If he had to learn one thing in his time with the Yanks, it was to use all of his pitches all the time, even when one wasn’t working. He tended to shorten up his repertoire if something wasn’t working, which made him too predictable. But that’s the type of thing that comes with experience.

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   T.O. Chris Reply:
   June 20th, 2011 at 10:18 pm

   He has done great with the Diamondbacks this is for sure, but I don’t think he would have the same numbers in our rotation. Facing a DH instead of a pitcher once every 8 men is huge, and the level of competition in the NL West isn’t really comparable to the AL East. I don’t think he would be bad, he is a good pitcher, but his value would be lower.

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2. Steve S. says:

   June 19, 2011 at 9:23 am

   A few impressions on these numbers. NL West or not, I hope that even IPKs harshest critics will admit by now that he’s a good pitcher. He’s sporting a 1.05 WHIP, how much worse could he be in the AL East? Of the Big 3, the Yanks kept the two hard throwers and traded the guy with the 89-91 MPH fastball. Hughes and Joba have both broken down, and there’s no longer an argument who’s had the best career of the three to this point.

   The final chapters are far from written, and this could all change in the coming years. But IPK’s critics were wrong about him. That being said, I don’t think anyone should regret trading him, since we got back the 2011 MVP in Curtis Granderson. Win-win deal for all parties. But you could argue in retrospect that we would have been better off putting the oft-injured Hughes or disappointing Joba in that deal.

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   Captain Mick Reply:
   June 19th, 2011 at 12:08 pm

   “But you could argue in retrospect that we would have been better off putting the oft-injured Hughes or disappointing Joba in that deal.”

   This might turn out to be true, and it’s certainly true for 2011, but I think we should also tread lightly when drawing any conclusions about the major league careers of three guys aged 24, 25, and 26.

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   Steve S. Reply:
   June 19th, 2011 at 12:20 pm

   I agree, which is why I couched that in the previous section of that quote.

   But right now, going forward, who would you rather have on your team? I think the obvious answer is IPK.

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   T.O. Chris Reply:
   June 20th, 2011 at 10:20 pm

   Hughes is more debatable than Chamberlain. At this point I don’t think Joba will ever be a starter for us again, so by that right alone we would have been better off trading him. I think Hughes has more to prove and could go either way at this point.

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3. Steve S. says:

   June 19, 2011 at 9:29 am

   Another thing I wanted to note. The power never showed up for Tabata. In the lower levels of the Yankee system, he drew comps to Manny Ramirez and many fans were outraged when he was traded, especially coming off a down year. 2 lessons here. First, sometimes you should sell low, if you think a player’s value will never be higher. Next, even the best prospects have a failure rate and/or won’t have a good enough all around game to be regulars for a team like the Yanks. Everyone doesn’t hit their ceiling. In fact, most don’t.

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   T.O. Chris Reply:
   June 20th, 2011 at 10:22 pm

   “Everyone doesn’t hit their ceiling. In fact, most don’t.”

   That would be the argument for selling high on Betances. He has potential to become and ace pitcher, but he likely will never clear up the walk rate enough to be that.

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4. dbacklover says:

   June 19, 2011 at 11:58 am

   Thanks for the updates. It is nice when trades turn out to be win-win as is the case with the Granderson three-way trade. For some reason, probably being young and new at dealing with the media, IPK got labelled as cocky by the NYC press. Following his career in Arizona, nothing could be further from the truth. His personna is humble, self-effacing . . . yet confident in his ability as a pitcher. He always speaks positively about the opportunity the Yankees gave him, even when a reporter might want the conversation to take another path. I think the Yankees are a class organization and show neophytes to baseball the professional way to handle themselves, particularly some of the more seasoned players on the team. Glad that good things are happening for him right now.

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