Betances Joins Bullpen Shuffle

Yankees fans have heard about Dellin Betances' potential ever since the 6'8" hard throwing right-hander was selected in the 8th round of the 2006 MLB amateur draft. Unfortunately, he has struggled to meet the expectations and was recently converted from a starting pitcher to a full-time reliever. Despite pitching just twice in the pen this season, Betances has been recalled by the Yankees to join their bullpen.

The Yankees needed another reliever after Brett Marshall threw 108 pitches and Preston Claiborne pitched 2.1 innings in mopping up the mess Phil Hughes created against Seattle on Wednesday night. The Yankees were hopeful that Joba Chamberlain would be ready to come off the DL, but his oblique injury is apparently still an issue.

The decision to move Betances to the bullpen for good came after the 25-year old allowed 16 earned runs and walked 16 batters in 24 innings (six starts) at Triple-A Scranton. In his two relief appearances since then Betances has allowed one run in 4.1 innings pitched, walked just one batter and struck out four.

Despite his control issues, Betances worked his way up the minor league chain. I was at his Double-A debut for Trenton in 2010 and saw the good and the bad of his game. I recall him missing the catcher's target, his ability to blow his fastball by batters, an awkardness that led to two throwing errors on pickoff attempts, and an intimidating presence on the mound. But his ability and the sound of his pitches popping in catcher Austin Romine's glove sent an electricity through the crowd, quite a few of whom were friends and family of the Big Apple native.

Betances got a late September call up in 2011 and made a less than an impresssive debut against Tampa Bay. He allowed a pair of runs and walked four in just two-thirds of an inning. Six days later he faced the Rays again and pitched two scoreless innings with a walk and a hit allowed and struck out two.

Nuno Impresses in Win Over Red Sox

If you mentioned the name Vidal Nuno to anyone at the start of Spring Training this year, they probably scrunched up their eye brows at the person who queried you and said, "Who?".  There's a chance that won't be the case much longer.

Nuno continued to make the Yankees front office and manager Joe Girardi take notice with five shutout innings in the Yankees 4-0 win over the Boston Red Sox Wednesday afternoon.

Nuno impressed in the 20 starts he made for Double-A Trenton last year. He had a 2.54 ERA against Eastern League hitters, struck out 100 in 114 innings and walked just 27 to help finish 9-5.

The 5'11", 25-year old was drafted out of Baker (KS) University by the Cleveland Indians in the 48th round of the 2009 MLB amateur draft. Household names don't usually get selected in the 48th round of anything. After an impressive post-draft stint in the New York-Penn League (NYPL), Nuno didn't fare as well the following season (6-9, 4.96 in 'A' ball) though his impeccable control continued. Inexplicably, the Indians released him the following March.

After six games in the independent Frontier League, the Yankees signed Nuno in mid-June. The 24-year old dominated the NYPL hitters, most of which were just out of high school or college. The Yankees quickly moved Nuno from Staten Island to 'A' ball in Charleston where continued to dominate opposing batters. Between the two levels, Nuno had a laughable 11.2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. The Indians loss appeared to be the Yankees gain.

Soon the Yankees will have decisions to make concerning the team that goes north for the April 1 home opener with Boston and which players get sent to the minors or released. The Yankees two left-handers in the pen were both banged up this spring. Boone Logan appeared in his first spring training game on Tuesday after sitting out with elbow inflammation. Clay Rapada made two appearances this spring, but has been out for nearly two weeks after he was diagnosed with bursitis in his shoulder.

The Yankees don't necessarily need two left-handers in the pen to start the season, but if Logan or Rapada is not ready, the Yankees could turn to Nuno.  The California native could also be considered a dark horse for a spot in the rotation if Phil Hughes starts the season on the disabled list. (Ivan Nova and David Phelps are the experienced pitchers that are currently battling for the number five spot among the starters.)

The most likely spot for Nuno will be in the starting rotation for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (What a horrible name). With Manny Banuelos recovering from Tommy John surgery, Nuno has leaped to the top of the charts among the team's left-handed pitching prospects.

It Is High, It Is Far, etc.

Yesterday's performance by Phil Hughes was about as ugly as the weather the last two days. I saw more sweat stains than I care to remember.

Hopefully, it's a 2-game blip and the starting pitching gets back on track against the Mets this weekend. Sunday night's matchup between CC Sabathia and R.A. Dickey at Citi Field should be fantastic. In the battle of the initials, CC is actually the underdog right now. That's because of the amazing season Dickey is having for the Mets.

Dickey has thrown back to back 1-hitters, thankfully the hit in the second game was clean so there was no nonsense by the Mets organization trying to get it changed to a hit (the only worse recent performance was by Mets' fans who booed Jason Bay when he crashed into the wall and ended up with a concussion), and struck out double digits with his amazingly controlled knuckleball.

Notes


Tyler Austin, the hot hitting outfielder for the Charleston RiverDogs, will represent the Yankees in the Futures Game during the All-Star break. But if you are wondering how the top 10 rated Yankees prospects are doing, click here to read the piece I wrote for the Yahoo Contributor Network. Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Mason Williams, and more.

The Yankees hope Omar Rodriguez becomes one of the top 10 prospects in the near future. The 19-yr old Cuban and the Yankees agreed to a deal that I detailed in this Yahoo Contributor Network piece.

Yankees Take Grapefruit Opener

There are some basic rules in Spring Training:

1. Stay healthy. This rule far exceeds any other.

2. Get your batting eye ready; get your swing set; get your fielding down; get your pitches in and throw strikes.

3. Don't get hurt. Yes I said it already...still can't stress it enough. Just ask Austin Romine (back) and George Kontos (oblique) about that.

4. If you weren't in shape, get in shape. NOW. Michael Pineda wants (needs) to lose 10 pounds.

5. Make people take notice of you...and be sure it's in a positive way.

Won/Lost record is not on the list of rules. George Steinbrenner would totally disagree, but it doesn't matter. You want to be sure to play well, but the won/loss record does not matter, even if you play the Red Sox or Mets or whomever.

The Yankees did win today, 8-5 over the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater, but the play wasn't all positive. The Yankees made three errors, including Eduardo Nunez booting the first ball of the game at shortstop.

On the up side, Curtis Granderson picked up where he left off last season, with a home run and two hits. On a day the wind helped many a baseball elude fielders, free agent signee Cole Garner needed no help in ripping a 2-run home run to left.

Ivan Nova started for the Bronx Bombers and looked pretty good. He allowed two runs, one earned, in two innings of worked. Manny Banuelos and David Phelps threw a couple of scoreless innings apiece as they followed Nova in the pecking order.

Dellin Betances struggled with mechanics and control in an inning of work, but induced a double play to put a goose egg up on the scoreboard. A couple of lefties had mixed results in the last two innings.

Rule V pick (from Boston ) Cesar Cabrel got off to a good start in his bid to make the Yankees bullpen with a scoreless 8th inning, but Mike O'Connor was not so fortunate. The 31-yr old, who pitched in parts of three seasons with the Nationals and Mets, allowed three runs on three hits and a walk to make things interesting in the 9th.

Brett Gardner (0-3), Nick Swisher (0-3), and Russell Martin (0-2) were the only returning lineup regulars to accompany Granderson on the trip. Newbie, and former Phillies outfielder, Raul Ibanez made his Yankees' debut with a 1-3 afternoon that included an RBI.

Yankees on MLB, Saturday at 1

After playing the Univ. of So. Florida on a Friday (an 11-0 win), the Yankees begin the exhibition season against the big boys today.

Ivan Nova will get the start as the Yankees face the Philadelphia Phillies at 1 pm ET on the MLB Network. Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, and David Phelps are all expected to pitch and half dozen regulars are expected to play.

YEAH!!!

The Yankees Did Nothing...And Nothing Was Good

There are probably plenty of Yankees fans out there tonight bemoaning the fact that Yankees did not acquire one player at the trade deadline. Despite another excellent outing from Freddy Garcia, there's a sense of panic that the pitching staff won't hold up and won't get the job done when the biggest games are on the line.

But what these fans don't realize, there was nothing of substance on the market. Yes, there was Ubaldo Jimenez, who personally I have concerns about, but Colorado wanted Phil Hughes, Dellin Betances, Jesus Montero, and Manny Banuelos. That is bananas. Cashman was willing to include Hughes in a deal, but the Rockies weren't interested especially after the Yankees wanted to see Jimenez's medical records ahead of time.

Some fans probably are livid that the Red Sox landed Erik Bedard, but the achy-breaky left-hander hasn't exactly had a lengthy, healthy track record. The Red Sox didn't even have to part iwth any of their top tier prospects to get him. (Though the Dodgers gave up their 10th rated player, Trayvon Robinson, to Boston who then dealt him to Seattle.)

The price was too high for San Diego's Heath Bell and though Mike Adams would have been a nice addition, where exactly would he fit with Soriano, Robertson, and Rivera?

King Felix was not available. The Yankees were willing to pay $21MM of the remaining money owed Houston's Wandy Rodriguez, but the Astros wouldn't pick up the rest.

The Yankees could use another bat..and they'll have one soon. His name is Alex Rodriguez.

It is what it is and it's not good to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade.

The Kids Are All Right

No, not the lesbian meets the sperm donor movie. No, not the Who's classic song (Happy 67th birthday to Roger Daltrey today). I'm talking New York Yankees prospects.

Remember when all those highly touted kids were in the low minors? Well now they will be in Trenton, Scranton, and the Bronx. So far this spring training the youngsters have been shining.

Weekend Update (No, not SNL)

The Yankees split a home and home series with the Phillies over the weekend, winning on the road with a number of the youngin's. First Saturday though...a 5-4 loss to the Phillies that followed another ceremony honoring George Steinbrenner at the field named in his honor. Jorge Vazquez made the loudest noise of the kids hitting a long 2-run home run to dead center. It actually went over the black batter's eye in centerfield and was not wind aided in any way.

Hector Noesi, one of the guys who has an outside shot at the #4 or #5 spot, threw two scoreless innings on just eight pitches. And all eight pitches were strikes. Catcher Austin Romine was 1-2 and Eduardo Nunez, battling for the utility spot, was 1-3 with a run scored and a stolen base.

Though he's been in the league for a few years Joba Chamberlain is still a young guy and he impressed in his season debut. Much has been made about his increase weight which Chamberlain said is muscle. That being said GM Brian Cashman was upset about the added weight. However, in seeing Chamberlain for the firs time on Sat., he definitely did not look fat. He looked thicker through his core and it seemed to back up his explanation of added muscle. More importantly, Chamberlain threw a solid inning and even hit 94 mph on the radar gun.

On Sunday Ivan Nova made his first bid for the rotation a good one. 10 pitches, two innings, two strikouts, and six up and six down. Dellin Betances threw a no contact inning in relief - one walk and struck out the side. Adam Warren allowed a run in an inning, but threw decently.

Offensively, Vazquez went deep for the second straight day- this time going deep against Brad Lidge. Jesus Montero did a nice job behind the plate and was 1-3 with an RBI single.

Monday

The Yankees came up short to the Tigers on Monday in a 6-2 loss, but after two encouraging innings from CC Sabathia, Manny Banuelos was the third pitcher used and tossed a scoreless inning.

No kid, but Mark Prior in his comeback attempt threw one scoreless inning as well.

NYDN's John Harper with a nice feature on Betances and Montero working their way to the bigs.

When playing Rome, Win

Very corny..but the Charleston RiverDogs got 2 RBI from Ray Kruml and four pitchers limited the Rome Braves to seven hits in Charleston's 6-1 win on Saturday.

Starter Manny Banuelos tossed 4.2 innings before reaching his pitch limit. He allowed a run on three hits and struck out six while not walking a batter. Casey Erickson picked up the win with a scoreless inning and a third of work.

Catcher Mitch Abeita added 3 hits for the RiverDogs, who play the Braves once again this afternoon.

	April 11, 2009
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Rome 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 1 Charleston 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 X 6 10 2 W: C. Erickson (1-0, 0.00); L: P. Clemens (0-1, 16.87) HR: None.

Brackman roughed up in season debut

Plenty of eyes will be on the RiverDogs this season and they will mainly be looking up. That's because 2007 first round pick, 6'10" Andrew Brackman (seen here between fellow pitchers Manny Banuelos and D.J. Mitchell), will be starting the season in South Carolina.

Brackman was drafted by the Yankees despite knowing he would need Tommy John surgery. Some thing it was a mistake, but the Yankees are confident they knew exactly what they were doing.

You can bet though that Brackman would like to put his season debut last night behind him. The 6'10" right-hander allowed 5 earned runs (6 total) in 5 innings pitched in the RiverDogs 8-2 loss to the Rome Braves. Brackman gave up 5 hits, walked 3, and struck out 5. He was handed a 2-0 lead, but with his team clinging to a 2-1 margin, gave up four runs in the fourth inning.

The River Dogs played a sloppy game, committing 5 errors, including a pair by shortstop Carmen Angelini. He did try to make up for it at the plate by leading the RiverDogs with 3 hits and also drove in a run.

	April 9, 2009
	Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Rome 0 0 1 4 1 0 0 0 2 8 7 0 Charleston 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 13 5 W: R. Sullivan (1-0, 3.60); L: A. Brackman (0-1, 9.00); SV: E. Spruill (1) HR: None.

The Post and Courier has more on the Charleston pitching staff that comes with high expectations this year.

RiverDogs GM Dave Echols maintains a blog on the team's official site and was excited about Thursday's opener.

Opening Day is almost here! MLB has started and our turn will be here on Thursday. Don’t miss arguably the best time of the year and don’t be late as we introduce your 2009 Charleston RiverDogs via and Opening Day Parade – with a little taste of NY in Charleston brought to you this year by Comcast.

A few familiar faces (Angelini, Almonte & Baisley), a 6’10” RHP (Brackman), a Clemson Tiger (DJ Mitchell) and an ambidextrous pitcher (Venditte) help fill out our roster. Take advantage of our first, meet the team party / practice tonight from 6pm – 8pm. A new opportunity to mingle with the players for a short period of time then watch the open practice.

Every team is different but we trust Torre will be use his past success in managing the RiverDogs to help guide this team thru the summer season. You’ll be catching his blog throughout the summer as well.

Come out and enjoy the start of a relaxing summer of RiverDogs baseball. Thursday, April 9^th we battle the Atlanta Braves affiliate from Rome, GA and begin a 140 game quest to bring a championship to Charleston.

We will introduce a few new food items (Mellow Mushroom pizza, sushi), a few new promotions but with the same Fun Is Good approach. Who knows, maybe you’ll see Bill Murray walking the concourse, get a chance to tell Mike Veeck your favorite promotion or see future New York Yankee make a great play.

Baseball is back in Charleston, come out to The Joe, relax and let us entertain you.

Dave