Kei Igawa -- The Lost Yankee

hey, i'm not defending their stubornness here. i always keep in mind the insight a former coach gave me more than 25 years ago: '(coaches/managers/gm's), we're a selfish bunch. our jobs hinge on winning. we'd play 'attila the hun' if we thought he could play.'

doesn't mean the yanks are right or wrong here. simply that they apparently firmly believe the guy is a lost cause (as a starter) for the majors and either makes too much or is ill-suited for any kind of relief role. i mean, from what i recall, he couldn't even be a lefty specialist; he was an equal-opportunity destroyer -- as easy to hit for left-handed hitters as right.

i surely have NO idea about the financial hit they'd take by just releasing him. and obviously EVERY other team shares their evaluation, 'cause they'd trade him for a bat boy and agree to pick up most -- if not all -- of the tab. he was neither a 'hot commodity' when the yanks signed him to the ridiculous contract nor is he seen as any sort of commodity now.

what? y'all really believe the yanks and everyone else are ignoring a SOUTHPAW who could help them? aren't southpaws who can pitch even the teeniest bit viewed as gold in this day and age? it's not like bill pennington unearthed sidd finch here. he's been right in front of every scout's eyes for years now.

the guy obviously sucks balls. he's a great human interest story and bill did his usual masterful job telling it. that's about it.

if this is simply the case of the yankees screwing up yet another player evaluation, i guess we'll find out in a year or so when igawa is back in the majors hurling for the team that wins what will surely be an intense bidding war for his services as a free agent. : :

 

Do you say this knowing that Garcia has 8 wins and a 3.21 ERA, and Colon has 7 wins and a 3.29 ERA?

Igawa has an ERA over 4.00 in Trenton.

Really?

 

Yeah, they've both been more good than bad all season.

Both have had some terrific starts when the team really needed them.

 

The Yankees have a weird blind spot when it comes to org players. If they don't succeed when they first come up, then good effing luck getting another shot.

Ian Kennedy struggled in his first couple tries in New York, then got banished to Arizona, where he has turned into league-average, maybe even a bit better. Phil Hughes and Chamberlain got jerked all around, and that probably contributed to the inconsistent performance of both. Jesus Montero has atrophied in Trenton this year because the Yankees won't cut bait on Posada and/or Russell Martin. And they're frequently passed by the sold-but-unspectacular guys at AAA to sign retreads like Carl Pavano, Colon and Garcia.

Once Igawa is out from his Yankees' contract, I bet someone gives him a minor league or minimum major league contract in an attempt to establish himself as a one-out lefty.

 

oh, i have no doubt. someone will take a flier on any southpaw with a pulse. but it'll be a minor league deal for the minimum. and it should be an nl team. he's got a better chance to get people out there.

 

Kennedy actually was very good in his three starts with the team in '07, but he didn't do as well the next year and hurt his arm. They dealt him as part of the Granderson deal, so it's pretty hard to feel bad for the Yankees with that. And Kennedy is 11-3 this year.

Joba, I'll agree, got jerked around. They should have just kept him in the pen. Hughes struggled as a starter, then the Yanks got desperate, put him in the pen, then he was very good for most of the rest of '09, until the playoffs. That was more of a stopgap measure. They put him back as a starter in 2010. He dominated in the first half, then struggled again in the second half.

Montero is actually at Scranton this year, and he's doing OK, but not spectacular. Maybe he's bored. Martin was signed because Posada was totally washed up behind the plate, but there was still hope that his bat would have some life, especially if he wasn't dealing with the rigors of being behnd the plate. Instead, Posada sulked, which affected things early, and culminated in his tantrum over his batting order slot.

Pavano was signed after an 18-8 year with the Marlins in '04. The Yankees thought they were getting an ace. Instead, the guy got hurt, and acted like a wuss. Garcia was mostly a stopgap solution this year especially after they didn't get Lee, and Colon was just a guy they threw shit up at the wall and hoped he stuck. And he has.

 

Or maybe they got rid of him because he sucked as a Yankee? The dude never touched the numbers he had with Florida in 2004: 18-8, 3.00 ERA, 139 K's, 1.174 WHIP.

He made 26 starts over THREE seasons with the Yankees. The dude was worthless.

 

Granderson has been great since that deal, but I miss having Kennedy in the rotation.

And I stand by what I said about Garcia and Colon. Ten years ago, that would have been a solid 1-2 punch. Now? Not so much.

 

The Yankees would be dead in the water this year without Colon and Garcia.

They've saved the season.

In 2005 Shawn Chacón & Aaron small came up big in the second half or the season.

These guys have both done it since day one. And they've eaten innings. They don't walk anyone and they're not like some fifth starters who barely give you five innings.

 

But like Small and Chacon, their success sure does feel like it's built on a house of cards. If you look at Colon's hits per nine and home runs per nine, he's back to vintage 2005 form; same with his strikeout rate. I really doubt that's sustainable, but hey, it's baseball, and crazier things have happened.

Garcia's HR rate is half of what it was last year. Gotta think that evens out in the last half of the year.

 

Another nice outing by Garcia.