2007 Yankees

Looking forward to the 2007 season. Opening day will be here before you know it. Excited about this Yankee team more than recent years. I guess its the subtraction of the big unit and Wright. Looking forward to seeing Hughes pitch sometime this season. Looking forward to seeing Andy back in pintstripes. Can't wait to see guys like Cano and Wang continue to develop into stars. I will miss watching Shef hit (the most exciting thing in baseball). I won't miss Shef's constant whining to the press and am looking forward to a full season of a better all around player in Abreau and a full year out of the hardworking Matsui. Also am hoping to see Cabrera find at bats and get the chance to develop. Something tells me Giambi will end up playing some 1B and not DHing every game which will free up at bats for Cabrera and probably a roster spot for Bernie if he choses to join the team. The Yanks dug their own hole here. They should have gotten rid of Giambi. He is a crutch for this team. Along with A-Rod he is one of the problem areas still left, but Cashman surprisingly did a great deal of trying to adress some of the problems in the offseason while getting younger. It should be a fun year.

GO YANKS!

i hope the yankees win it all

i love seeing the red sox diehards cry





although rubbing it in NYs face when the sox won was kind of fun too

pjscreamer wrote:

Dis hughs kid sure is getting alot of postive press da kid gonna have to take a road trip to Scranton to see him pitch for da baby bombers..

look pjscreamer they copied your style ` in the title,......;)

Baby Rocket

HUGHES DA MAN
PHENOM COMPARED TO ROCKET, SCHILLING

By GEORGE KING

STRIKING GOLD: Philip Hughes, throwing batting practice yesterday at Legends Field in Tampa, impressed Jason Giambi, who compared the Yankees prospect to a young...
February 23, 2007 -- TAMPA - The Yankees can't play the media card ever again concerning Philip Hughes. No longer is he a product of the hype machine. As of yesterday, every story concerning the right-hander will start with glowing observations from Jason Giambi and Todd Pratt.

The two veterans with a combined 24 years of big-league experience compared the 20-year-old to Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, this after one batting practice session against Hughes at Legends Field.

"We could have used him last year," said Giambi, who didn't get a fair ball out of the cage against Hughes. "He looks like a young Rocket."

Pratt and Schilling were raised in the Red Sox organization in the 1980s. Pratt grew up to be a journeyman big-league catcher. The self-centered Schilling developed into one of the top hurlers of his generation. Twenty-plus years later, Pratt sees Schilling's ability in Hughes.

"[Philadelphia's] Brett Myers and Schilling," the veteran catcher said, when asked whom Hughes reminded him of. "He has life on the fastball and movement on the slider. His curveball is deadly. That reminded me of Myers."

The Yankees insist the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Hughes is going to start the season at Scranton (Triple-A), but listening to Giambi, it will be hard for the Yankees to keep Hughes away from The Bronx for long.

Even after blaming the media for over-hyping Hughes, pitching coach Ron Guidry gushed over the prospect.

"You know the kid is special," Guidry said of Hughes, who was 2-3 with a 1.80 ERA for Tampa (Single-A) and 10-3 with a 2.25 ERA for Trenton (Double-A). Hughes, the club's first-round pick in 2004 out of Foothills (Calif.) High School, logged a combined 119 innings and had his frames cut back on purpose because he had just 911/3 professional innings in two seasons until the start of last year. In those 119 innings, Hughes fanned 168 and walked 34.

"He's got great ability," Guidry said.

Hughes also has immense expectations, which were fueled by Giambi and Pratt.

"It's good to hear that, but I haven't done anything," said Hughes, who faced Raul Chavez, Hideki Matsui, Pratt and Giambi. Hughes allowed two balls to be hit fair.

He is the centerpiece of GM Brian Cashman's efforts to rebuild the Yankees staff into a young one. Cashman received three neophyte arms from Detroit for Gary Sheffield and three more from Arizona for Randy Johnson. While the Yankees are high on Humberto Sanchez, Ross Ohlen dorf and Ste ven Jackson, they view Hughes as their future ace.

"For the first day, it looks like a corral," Pratt said. "There a bunch of horses. With them I would be pretty happy if I was Mr. Cashman."

Hughes, Sanchez, Ohlendorf and Jackson represent the future, something that never used to matter around the Yankees. But on a crystal clear morning that featured a cobalt blue sky and palm trees that danced lightly in the breeze, the future looked good.

"Personality-wise, he doesn't seem to be overwhelmed by anything," said Joe Torre.

Hughes' arsenal includes two-plus fastballs, a curveball that catcher Ben Davis called "devastating," a developing change-up, a slider in mothballs that is slowly seeing daylight, and a deceiving delivery. With that type of repertoire, it's no wonder Hughes dreams of the big leagues. Still, he embraces the Yankees' strategy.

"Anybody would want to start the season [in the big leagues]," Hughes said. "I have an understanding of their plans for me."

I'm really excited about Phil Hughes.

I'm not sure the pitching will be enjough to win it all this year.

I'm concerned about Wang. Last year he did well but can he put together a similar performance?

Shef's bat will be missed he was one hell of clutch hitter.

I'm interested in what Bobby can do in a full year in the bronx.

I hope cano can continue to develop as he has.

Should be an exciting season. The sox have great pitching and the blue jays are a good team too. Tough competition in the AL EAST.

intodeep wrote:

I'm really excited about Phil Hughes.

I'm not sure the pitching will be enjough to win it all this year.

I'm concerned about Wang. Last year he did well but can he put together a similar performance?

Shef's bat will be missed he was one hell of clutch hitter.

I'm interested in what Bobby can do in a full year in the bronx.

I hope cano can continue to develop as he has.

Should be an exciting season. The sox have great pitching and the blue jays are a good team too. Tough competition in the AL EAST.

Phil Hughes sounds like a porn star name

intodeep wrote:

I'm really excited about Phil Hughes.

I'm not sure the pitching will be enjough to win it all this year.

I'm concerned about Wang. Last year he did well but can he put together a similar performance?

Shef's bat will be missed he was one hell of clutch hitter.

I'm interested in what Bobby can do in a full year in the bronx.

I hope cano can continue to develop as he has.

Should be an exciting season. The sox have great pitching and the blue jays are a good team too. Tough competition in the AL EAST.

hughes sounds really good. do the yanks rush him to the show?

the rotation is horrible. ok, not horrible, but just with a TON of questions that a team with a $180mil+ payroll should not have. they will miss the big unit this year. can mussina do it again at 37/38? wang had an amazing year, but he doesn't K anyone. how will petitte do coming back to the AL? will the 'other' japanese pitcher be any good? will pavano stay healthy for more than a week?

sheff wasn't there for most of last year, but i don't think the offense will suffer much without him, although being another AL team, it must be nice to go through the line-up without having to face him.

abreu should be good for 20/20 at the very least.

i think cano won't nearly be as good this year as he was last year. avg will take a hit for sure.

pjscreamer wrote:

Dis hughs kid sure is getting alot of postive press da kid gonna have to take a road trip to Scranton to see him pitch for da baby bombers.As far as Bernie goes it sucks hope to see him got out a Yankee though but dats da business of da game.Opening day at da Statium is right around da corner da kid will be def in attendence to keep his steak of 15 years in a row of seeing opening day at Da Stadium.

i saw hughes pitch twice at trenton last year. all the hype is legit. he's a hard thrower, he can locate all his pitches, and he has one of the nastiest curveballs i've ever seen. in the two starts i saw him, he pitched a combined 10 innings and struck out 21 batters.

that being said, i'd rather they keep him at AAA as long as possible. he's only 20. bringing up pitchers at that age hardly ever works out well in the long run... mark prior, kerry wood, dwight gooden, francisco liriano, etc... gotta protect his arm.

BetterManningNYG wrote:

yeah, but whose rotation doesn't have question marks? that's the state of baseball right now.

but the key to the yankees starting pitching this year is their depth. they have seven minor league starting pitchers who project to be ready for the major leagues at some point this season: phil hughes, humberto sanchez, ross ohlendorf, jeff karstens, darrell rasner, steven white, and tyler clippard.

with five major league starters and seven potential replacements, i'm confident that they'll always throw a starter out there who at least gives them a chance to win.

you got me on the first part, but i really hope yankee fans aren't just assuming or hoping that any one of the seven potential replacements can just step in a do a more than passable job.

actually, i do hope that yankee fans think that anyone can step in and do a more than passable job since i'm a sox fan.

NCBRI wrote:

Regarding Wang not striking many guys out:

He was 19-6 last year


Relax. Alright, don't try to strike everybody out. Strike outs are boring, besides that, they're facist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic. So relax, let's have fun OK? It's fun goddamnit!
-- Crash Davis

sooner or later not striking people out will get you in trouble if your fielders don't bail you out.

bad news for abreu - hope that strained oblique doesn't linger.

brain of c wrote:

go blue jays.

you switching teams now?