Andy Pettitte Fill-In Options

With Joe Girardi’s announcement that Andy is heading to the disabled list and Brian Cashman announcing it may be at least 3-4 weeks, the Yankees will need to come up with a starting pitcher for at least the next three turns around the rotation.

The first roster move will probably involve Andy going to the DL, with Sergio Mitre coming off of it.

Mitre will get the first crack on Saturday – but the biggest issue with him (other than the fact that he hasn’t been all that good starting) is that he wasn’t used in his rehab as a pitcher coming back to start. In four rehab games, he threw a total of nine innings…this is not what you do with a pitcher you are planning to start. So, it looks like a 3-4 inning outing at most for him this Saturday; and we shouldn’t play the “Royals card” – they are a free swinging bunch, but thus far in 2010, those free swings have resulted in plenty of hits.

Chad Gaudin and Dustin Moseley are two other pitchers on the current roster who could make the transition. Moseley is a sinker/slider type – which usually translates to “He has no fastball, and prays that hitters drill 500 MPH ground balls right at fielders”. You know, like Sidney Ponson. In three appearances for the Yankees, he has a 7.50 ERA and hasn’t shown very much ability to fool hitters. Gaudin, on the other hand, does show the ability to fool hitters…the problem is, he can’t fool them consistently enough to be reliable. He has 38 strikeouts in 38.2 innings this season and an impressive 7.1 career rate…but he walks too many hitters and allows too many home runs to be reliable. He has allowed 10 home runs and 15 walks in 38.2 innings – you can average two strikeouts per inning and still not get by with those rates.

A list of those who may get a shot from the minors. As long as we don’t hear names like Tim Redding and Kei Igawa come up in conversation, we should be fairly confident in the selection of pitchers they’ll have to choose from: I realize that at the end of the day, the Yankees are more likely to go with veteran pitchers than untested rookies…but I am trying to live in a universe where perhaps that won’t happen.

Ivan Nova pitched three low leverage innings for the Yankees earlier this season, and has pitched well for Scranton this year. The sinker-baller with nastier stuff than Moseley (he can actually touch the mid-90s with his sinking fastball, which is not easy to do; he sits in the 91-93 range though) is 7-2 with a 3.21 ERA in 17 starts for Scranton this season. In 103.2 innings, he has allowed 101 hits while walking 40 and striking out 78. Nova has a 54% ground ball rate and his FIP sits at 3.93 on the season. He also hasn’t quite yet perfected his secondary pitches, which major league hitters would probably catch onto eventually, but this is not a permanent solution. I don’t see star written all over Nova, but he can be a very capable major league pitcher and could be a nice fill in for a few weeks.

David Phelps arrived in the organization out of college in 2008…and has been pretty much untouchable since then. Between two levels this year (Trenton/Scranton), the right-hander is 7-1 with a 2.04 ERA in 17 starts. In 106 innings, he has allowed 84 hits while walking 23 and striking out 103. He has only allowed two home runs all season. In his career, he has put up a 28-7 record in 58 starts with an ERA of 2.35. He has allowed 1.97 walks per nine innings while striking out 7.57. So you would expect his scouting report to read like Roger Clemens’ or someone in that cloth; but it doesn’t. He has a low-90s sinking fastball with a very good slider. He also has no fear using his changeup and curve, both of which are quality offerings. He pretty much mixes and matches hitters to death, trying to generate grounders while maintaining a higher than you would expect strikeout rate. My first impressions when reading about Phelps was that he may be another Aceves type – throws a good variety of pitches, all of which are just above major league average. But Phelps is showing that perhaps he can be a bit more than that. I would be all for the Yankees giving him a shot; but they would be throwing him into the fire, no doubt.

Hector Noesi is still in Double-A, and the Yankees aren’t exactly known for jumping players to the majors from Double-A. But he has to be opening eyes, regardless. Noesi has been brilliant this season, putting up an 11-3 record between Tampa and Trenton with an ERA of 2.14. In 105 innings, he has allowed 83 hits while walking 17 and striking out 108. Those numbers are pretty darn filthy. Noesi is 21-10 with a 2.78 ERA in 68 minor league games (50 starts). Over 297.2 innings, he has allowed 252 hits while walking 51 and striking out 303. (BB/9: 1.5; K/9: 9.2; K-BB; 5.94). Noesi is 23 years old, and does have a black mark on his record: Suspended a few years ago for 60 days due to violating the minor league drug policy. Hopefully, he has learned and cleaned up his act since then.

As a prospect, Noesi is a bit of a late-bloomer. Never really seen as anything big, he suddenly gained some command of his curveball/changeup combination to go along with his low-90s fastball. The Yankees protected him (which was a little bit surprising given the undeveloped nature of his stuff enterting 2010) from the Rule 5 draft, so he is on the 40-man roster. I thought Noesi, with his above average command of a few good pitches, would be a prime bullpen candidate; but I have read scouting reports that Noesi actually gets better as games go on, as opposed to mowing hitters down early in games. That could change if he was given bullpen duty, but he has no experience doing that. He is a longshot to get the call now; but he sure has put himself on the prospect map.

Minors Report for 6/24/10 (Brandon Laird Has Huge Day; Austin Romine; Hector Noesi; Andrew Brackman & Zolio Almonte Promoted)

In promotion news, Andrew Brackman was promoted to Trenton & Zolio Almonte was promoted to Tampa. Almonte is a 21-year old center-fielder. This is quite the leap for the young man. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Neil Medchill was demoted from Tampa to Charleston.

I am going to break from the normal format and start in Trenton, where a lot of today’s action was.

Trenton:

Brandon Laird hit two home runs and drove in seven as Trenton put up an 11-2 victory.

Laird had three hits overall, including a grand slam and a three-run home run. He is hitting .293/.344/.558 with 17 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs and 76 RBI. He’s even 2-for-2 stealing bases, for good measure. He has eight home runs in 82 June at-bats.

Austin Romine couldn’t quite live up to that, but went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Romine is now up to .294/.360/.447 on the season and has put up a 2-for-4 game in each of his last three games. To show how bad his slump was prior to this, he is now hitting .224 in June.

Hector Noesi threw another solid game. Noesi tossed seven innings of four-hit ball. He allowed two runs, walked three and struck out 10. He is now 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA for Trenton (45 IP, 36 H, 9 BB, 44 K, 5 HR). He allowed five earned runs in his first start for Trenton – he has allowed only six in his last six starts combined. Tim Norton continued his impressive relief work, throwing a scoreless inning while walking one and striking out two (5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K since promotion to Trenton). Norton is older (27) but is having a solid season that is hard to ignore (1,32 ERA; 5 BB, 41 K in 27.1 innings) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Scranton:

Eduardo Nunez went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a double, and an RBI as Scranton won, 5-1. Nunez is now hitting .320 on the season. Reegie Corona contributed two hits (including a home run) and two runs scored to the winning effort. Corona is still only hitting .232/.301/.350 on the season, but is hitting .324/.343/.588 in his last 10 games and .259/.302/.420 in June. Corona’s numbers are weighted down a bit by an awful April (.488 OPS), but has picked it up a bit since then. He’s only 23, and a strong showing in Scranton could potentially put him on the trade radar as he has played short & second in his minor league career. The win went to Tim Redding, and that’s as far as we’ll go there. —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Tampa:

The Shaeffer Hall Express continues to cruise through minor league lineups. Hall went six innings tonight, allowed two unearned runs on seven hits to lead Tampa to a 5-2 victory. He walked nobody and struck out six. Hall has been unbelievable since Day 1 this year. For Tampa, he is now 4-0 with a 0.77 ERA in 4 starts (23.1 IP, 20 H, 2 BB, 23 K). Overall, he is 6-2 with a 1.58 ERA (14 starts, 91.1 innings, 72 H, 13 BB, 69 K). As always, I am not sure what to make of him; other than the fact that all he does is dominate in every game he pitches.

In his debut, Zolio Almonte went 1-for-2 with an RBI, two walks, and a stolen base. The raw talent this kid has is really impressive.

21-year old shortstop Jose Pirela contributed three hits to the cause, driving in one and scoring one. He also drew a walk. Pirela is hitting .238 overall but is hitting .343 in the month of June. —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Charleston:

JR Murphy is still playing here instead of in Staten Island…and tonight, he made a bid to make sure he stays here. Murphy went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI but Charleston ultimately lost, 7-6. Slade Heathcott, who also has hung around Charleston, contributed a 1-for-4 night with a run scored. Heathcott is hitting .292 on the season. Murphy has his average up to .250 thanks to a 10-for-26 run (.385).

20-year old catching prospect Kyle Higashioka hit his 4th home run of the season in the losing effort.

Francisco Gil (21) pitched three innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit. He walked nobody and struck out two (6 games, 0-0, 1.59 ERA, 11.1 IP, 11 H, 0 BB, 6 K) Gil has a very good arm, and just needs to stay healthy. Easier said than done sometimes. He missed the entire 2008 season due to surgery on his right elbow. He missed the beginning of 2010 as well. He threw 45 effective innings for the GCL Yankees last year. —————————————————- GCL Yankees:

Anderson Felix, a 18-year old second baseman, went 3-for-5 today to raise his average to .500 (9-for-18) with four doubles, a triple, and two RBI. 18-year old OF/1B Ramon Flores also improved to .500 today (8-for-16) with three hits of his own. Flores even got to play in a game for Tampa earlier this year.

Minors Report for 6/13/10 (Eduardo Nunez; Hector Noesi)

A light report tonight, as both Tampa & Charleston had the night off.

Scranton:

Eduardo Nunez went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Colin Curtis added a hit, walk, and two runs scored as Scranton took a 3-1 victory.

Nunez is now hitting .317/.360/.394 and is at .321/.357/.358 in June. This is significant because he didn’t hit all that well in May. Curtis (25, outfielder) is hitting .260/.351/.340 on the season in 100 at-bats. He’s only hitting .135 in his last 10 games.

Jorge Vazquez made his Triple-A debut, playing third base and going 0-for-3. Juan Miranda had two hits.

Tim Redding pitched well to earn the victory, and Jonathan Albaladejo picked up his 21st save.

——————————————————————————————

Trenton:

Is there a level that can challenge Hector Noesi? Noesi pulled off a rare feat for the modern day pitching prospect, tossing a complete game to lead Trenton to a 10-2 victory.

Noesi (23, RHP) allowed two runs (one earned) on nine hits. He walked one and struck out six. Since being promoted, he is 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA in four starts (28 IP, 25 H, 5 BB, 24 K, 4 HR). Overall on the season, including his stint in Tampa, he has made 12 starts and is 8-2 with a 2.66 ERA (71 IP, 60 H, 11 BB, 77 K, 7 HR). Noesi’s best asset is his unbelievable command of two plus pitches. He throws a fastball in the 92-94 range with a curve ball that has been touted by some as the very best in the organization. He throws a change for his third pitch, but that pitch is a bit more erratic. He also mixes in a sinking fastball. In any case, to demonstrate his command, here is a look at his career line: 263.2 IP, 45 BB, 272 K. That’s insane. So where is his future? Assuming he sticks with the Yankees, he could be a bullpen fixture at some point, giving his great command of two plus-plus pitches. This is not to say they need to start him on that road now; who knows? He may someday command that changeup better and become a true three pitch pitcher. He is quickly becoming a very intriguing major league prospect.

At the plate, Brandon Laird went 1-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI while Daniel Brewer went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. On the season, Brewer is hitting .243/.321/.405. He’s a right-handed hitter who is actually showing off much more success vs. righties than lefties (.286/.353/.448 vs. righties; .125/.239/.286 vs. lefties).