Bullpen Diaries

baseball hotbed Trenton?

Several locations come to mind when considering the most fiery hotbeds of baseball: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Williamsport, St. Louis, Fenway Park, Los Angeles, Japan, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and San Pedro de Macoriss (D. R.). 

            But one center of both passion and excellence is usually overlooked:  Trenton, New Jersey.

            Since 2003, the Trenton Thunder have been the Yankees Double-A farm team, and on the passion side of the ledger, the 2006 Thunder became the first team in Minor League Baseball history to draw over 400,000 fans for 12 consecutive seasons at the Double-A level or below.  Over the past 13 seasons, the Thunder has attracted more than 5.4 million paying customers. 

            As for excellence, past Thunder rosters read like a who’s who of current Yankee success.  The list of Thunder veterans who appeared in Yankee uniforms during the 2010 season is impressive: Phil Hughes, David Robertson, Brett Gardner, Joba Chamberlain, Robinson Cano, Francisco Cervelli, Ivan Nova, and Alfredo Aceves.

            Trenton is also where Yankee stars go, via the GWB and I-95, to get in a rehab game: Andy Pettitte this year, and in past years, Jeter, Matsui, Bernie Williams, Clemens and Kevin Brown.

            Before the Yankees took over the operation, Trenton was a farm team of the Tigers and then the Red Sox.  Accordingly, some other notable alumni include Kevin Youkilis, David Eckstein, Nomar Garciaparra, Carl Pavano, Tony Clark and Trot Nixon.

            Looking to the future, Trenton is stocked with future Bronx players. Late in 2010, Baseball America magazine announced its prospect rankings, and for the AL East, 8 of the top 10 prospects played in Trenton in the last two years: catchers Jesus Montero and Austin Romine, third baseman Brandon Laird, infielder Eduardo Nunez, and several pitchers: Andrew Brackman, Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos, and Hector Noesi.

            In the past, this pool of talent would be considered primarily trade material to get big-league ready players from other teams, but it looks, for now, like the Yankees are looking to build from within, although some of these guys will still certainly be traded at some point, especially as their positions higher up the ladder are held down by the likes of Cano and Teixeira. But the rest is or will be open, especially in starting and relief pitching slots.

you can say you saw them when

For the Yankee stars of the future, the minor league season kicks off this week. This Thursday for pitching phenom Manny Banuelos and the AA Trenton Thunder. (I cover the Trenton attendance phenomenon at the end of Bullpen Diaries; I'll post that tomorrow.) Also on the team: switch pitcher Pat Venditte, and a reminder of the “Venditte Rule.”

 Then it’s April 13 for the AAA Scranton Yanks, and Friday the 17^th for the Staten Island Yanks. More on them to come.

 Hey, catch a minor league game this year! Catch a future Bronx resident in action and you can say you saw them when.

quote of the week

When the man with the stick hits the ball into the audience, is that good?” – Eva Gabor

How oblique is the oblique?

    My book editor is slightly crazy, and he gets on jags that I can’t talk him out of. His latest thing is the rash of oblique injuries. He says it’s the new “in” injury. With trepidation, his thoughts:

The news that our Joba and Brian Wilson of the Giants have strained oblique muscles got me thinking. As we watch sports and follow the news, we’ve become familiar – almost too much so – with news of pulled hamstrings and groins, tight calf muscles, torn ACLs or MCL’s, turf toe or plantar fasciitis. A mere tight shoulder sends shudders through the bullpen and front pages. Even if the younger set doesn’t remember Tommy John, we all know about his surgery, even if not what actually gets moved from where and attached how. We just know it takes a long time to recover. 

                So what is this oblique pull? Noblesse oblique?  Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, o-blique? Okay, I’ll stop. Besides, I shouldn’t make you laugh (if I did) as the oblique covers the abdomen, and I can tell you, it hurts like the dickens.

a talk with Ivan Nova

I got to talk to several Yankee pitchers of the future during a visit to AAA Scranton last August. Yankee fans are familiar with one of them, Ivan Nova, as he got the call-up to the Bronx several times last year and performed very well.

“Man, was I nervous in the bullpen,” Nova told me that very humid August afternoon in Scranton, before a night game against the Pawtucket Red Sox.  “I never saw so many cameras flashing in my life. But Mo gave me a cup of coffee and he settled me down.”

Like every other pitcher in Scranton, Nova was fully aware of the hot spots in his delivery. 

“What I have to do,” he explained, “is plant my front foot about six feet from the rubber when I let the ball go.  If my stride is too long, then I’m pitching over the top of my body and my pitches are too high. If it’s too short, then my arm slot gets low, and my breaking pitches are flat.  I used to make a mark on the mound, but that was too distracting.  It has to be automatic. But if a runner’s on first and he’s a threat to steal, then I can be okay with a five-foot stride out of a stretch.”

Nova was also eager to list his other problem areas:  “My front foot has to be pointed straight at the plate.  I also have a slow arm, so they’re always trying to quicken up my delivery.  What happens, though, is my arms gets quicker but my body is still slow and I’m wild.”

Nova has an easy smile and a friendly disposition.  “But you know what the best thing I’m learning how to do here? How to relax between starts.”

My favorite moment of Nova’s time in the Bronx came when Girardi pulled both Nova and Vazquez one out short of five innings with the lead on successive days, and Ivan totally got it. Javier didn’t and he’s gone. 

A MLB scout told me this about Nova:  “He’s more of a thrower than a pitcher and his arm action is much too long.  The second time around the league, he’ll have a tough time getting hitters out. Although he’s not quite ready for the majors, in the long run he has enough stuff to be a middle-man capable of doing an average or even slightly above average job in the 6th and 7th innings.”

Then he added: “I wish we had him.”

A scout’s report on the newest resident of the Yankees’ bullpen

            “Lefty Pedro Feliciano’s fastball sits at around 86-87 miles per hour and has a slight sinking motion.  But his money pitch is a bender that’s more of a cut-slider than an outright curve.  It’s also a pitch that he can locate it on both sides of the plate, so he can throw it when he’s behind 2-0 and even 3-0.    

            He does have a loose arm, as demonstrated by his appearing in 92 games last season.  The downside of this is that NL hitters had seen so much of him that it was increasingly difficult for him to fool them. That’s why a switch to the American League will do him good,

The usual plan of attack from either side of the batter’s box is to sit on his breaking pitch simply because hitters will still have enough time to get good looks if he throws his fastball.  But it’s the pinpoint control of his almost-curve that continues to make Feliciano very effective against lefties.

            Why did the Mets let him go?  Because he wanted a longer, more expensive free agent contract than they were prepared to give him. But primarily because he’ll be 35 in August, has averaged 86 appearances over the last four seasons, and is due to break down sooner rather than later.

            However, since lefty Boone Logan did such an outstanding job for the Yankees last year, Feliciano’s innings can easily be limited.  If Feliciano can be held to say fifty games, then he’ll be a big plus.”

What Fans Missed about the Yanks’ Future in the Off-Season Part 3

            In addition to great hitting and lock-down starting rotation, a winning game plan these days also calls for a deep, deep bullpen. This is truer than ever since so many modern-day pitchers only work five to six innings—the late, great Bob Feller ranted to me about this, and my book is dedicated to him—and the bullpen better have five to six good arms ready to hold the lead or keep it close until the bats come alive.

            Do the Yankees have the middle-inning help or spot starters to last the season?

            Sure, if the Yanks get to the 8^th inning ahead, then Rafael and Mo are very likely to close the door, but the Yankees success in 2011 will very likely rest on the arms of the middle relievers who climb the loneliest hill in sports—the clay mound in the middle of Yankee Stadium—and try and do their best in the only sport where the defense has the ball. 

            The 2010 season saw the rollercoaster rides of Robertson, Logan, Gaudin, Moseley, Park, Wood, Albaladejo, Sanchez, Ring, Mitre, Marte and Aceves, and half of them are gone. Are Pryor, Colon, or Garcia able or willing to start occasionally but otherwise sit behind the plexiglass wall in right field, waiting for the call? Who in Scranton or even Trenton (note the short driving distance of both to the Bronx) is ready to step up, for a day, a season? (I have my picks, esp. Manuel Banuelos.) Can Mike Harkey and Roman Rodriguez, two unheralded coaches I interviewed and admire very much, keep a healthy bullpen ready to go each game? And Joba Chamberlain remains one of the fascinating unfinished sports stories of recent years. As a former athlete, I know it’s about both mechanics and mindset; which will be it be for Joba version 3.0?

            In the end, relievers are a breed apart, and the Yankees have usually managed to have a menagerie of personalities and live arms ready to come in and save the day. Who does that in 2011 will mean how late into October we’ll be watching the New York Yankees.

            Tomorrow: an exclusive talk with Ivan Nova last year before his 2010 breakout season and a scouting report on Pedro Feliciano.

What Fans Missed about the Yanks’ Future in the Off-Season Part 2

            Despite passing Gehrig as the Yanks’ hits leader, Derek Jeter had a well-publicized off-year and off-season spat with management. Jorge Posada, showing there’s life in his bat after hitting grand slams on back-to-back June days (the first time that’s been done by a Bronx Bomber since Bill Dickey), is now tutoring Russell Martin and Jesus Montero in the proper care and handling of the Yankee pitchers, including rising star Ivan Nova. (Down the stretch last season, Girardi pulled both Nova and Vazquez one out short of five innings with the lead on successive days. Ivan totally got it and Javier didn’t; good riddance on that front.)  What tips Jorge has to offer about Mo will be interesting, seeing as how Jorge hardly ever had to give Mo signs. Let see, it’ll be a two-seam cutter on one of the corners.  Mo gave up his grand slam in eight years in 2010 and had a few uncharacteristically rough outings, but as he always does, he got a grip, literally. And the Yanks will miss the all-time post-season winning pitcher, but betting money says that Pettitte will tire of the Houston summer heat and come back for one more hurrah.

            Save for Derek’s new swing and A-Rod’s new attitude, the Yankees sat tight hitting-wise in the off-season (except for oft-injured Eric Chavez), with Jorge’s move to DH and Granderson’s resurgence last year giving them a traditional Yankee lefty line-up with Tex, Robbie, and Nick as the anchors. (I go into the Yankee’s strategy over the years in the book.)

Yankee fans also followed the headlines on the pitching front, from losing the Cliff Lee sweepstakes (for millions of hoagies) to getting Rafael Soriano to set up Mo—puting Joba in the deepest hole he’s ever been in.

            But it’s the middle inning relief that will decide the fate of the 2011 Yankees.

            More tomorrow.

What Fans Missed about the Yanks’ Future in the Off-Season Part 1

     We may look back at the 2010 New York Yankees season as the last great hurrah for the four players who came up together in ’95 and won five World Series together. Or, since hope springs eternal, 2011 could mark the beginning of a new era, with a new group of stars having matured under the tutelage of Mo, Derek, Jorge and Andy. One has retired (or has he?), one is now going to DH, and the other two are facing down Father Time and trying to maintain their respective levels of excellence for two or three more years. On the mound and at the plate, a lot of things have to break just right for the Yankees to take the division against the reloaded Bosox.  C.C.’s knee, Derek’s bat, A.J.’s tattooed arm, Phil’s change-up, and the arms of a flurry of cast-offs from other teams all need to be A+ for the Yanks to get back to the World Series. But there will be a lot more to it than all that, as well as Mo being Mo for yet another season.

            Last year at this time, I was in Tampa at Yankees’ spring training, embarking on a book about a season in the life of the New York bullpen, with Mariano Rivera as the only sure thing in the competition for reliever spots. In BULLPEN DIARIES, I chronicle the ups and downs of a DL-riddled bullpen trying to save Phil Hughes from his pitch count, Burnett and Vazquez from their flops, and innings-eater C.C. when he tired down the stretch. Along with Yankee fans everywhere, I wondered about pitching coach Dave Eiland’s mysterious leave of absence, and then his getting fired the day the season ended for still unexplained reasons.

    Then, on a humid, extra-inning night in AAA Scranton, I saw some of the future, and it was encouraging. (I had the most interesting locker room baseball conversation since my being in the middle of a Yogi and Joltin’ Joe conversation as a young sportswriter.)

            More on Monday.

John Thorn named MLB's official historian! and a new book soon

Very cool news about John Thorn, the editor of Total Baseball and author of Baseball in the Garden of Eden, coming from Simon & Schuster this month.