Andy Phillips returning to Yankees
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- June
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Word is that Andy Phillips is being called up from Class AAA Scanton. He was hitting .301 with 11 homers and 36 in the International League.
I don’t yet know who is off the roster but I suspect it will be Josh Phelps. More on this once I get back from the clubhouse.
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on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 5:05 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
Andy and Josh are basically the same offensive players, but defensively there is no question about it that Andy is better. I’d like the move iif that’s what is going to happen.
With Phelps’s defense being what it is, Torre was never going to play him other than DH.
Offensively, Cairo and Phillips are interchangable. Since Phillips is a superior defender at first, we may as well start him everyday until a trade deadline solution presents itself.
Unless I see otherwise from Phillips, who sucked last year, or if Cairo starts regressing, I’d rather see Cairo play 1B every day, with Phillips giving him the occasional rest. Cairo has been great at first, and he can steal and be a tough at bat in key moments. Phillips always looks good in the minors but usually looks terrible batting against major league pitching. Phelps really did suck defensively, worse than I had ever imagined.
Here we go again. Will Baltimore even take Phelps for $25,000?
Welcome back Andy Phillips!!!
Now Peter, go easy on Phelps!
Isn’t it Basak who is now redundant? At least Phelps can pinch hit.
This should stop the Ken Rosenthal’s of the world from writing the ridiculous stuff like, Hughes for Teixiera, that he wrote today.
Phillips is a good in house option for first base. He and Cairo can handle the position until Minky is back.
You don’t need all stars at every position and you don’t need to blow out your farm system for rental options.
The fact is, the bullpen is more in need of help than first base.
If Phillips and Cairo hit .260, and do the job defensively, the Yankees have enough offense throughout the lineup to be just fine.
Save your bullets for Brad Lidge or another solid bullpen option.
Look around at the Yankees competition for a playoff spot. Boston, Detroit and Cleveland. All of have bullpen questions.
Whomever among Boston, NY, Cleveland and Detroit upgrades their bullpens the best, will make the playoffs, IMO.
Its still all about pitching. Always has, always will be.
I think this is a good move. First of all, you get Phillips up here and give him enough time before the trade deadline to show you something and then you have a better idea of what you want/need to do. But, basically, SJ44 is correct in that pitching is the name of the game. What you don’t want is a liability in the field, and you don’t want to overextend Cairo. Phillips did not out and out “suck” his entire time with the Yankees. He’s certainly no worse offensively than either Phelps or Minky.
“Andy and Josh are basically the same offensive players”
i don’t have a problem giving Andy another shot, i think he’s earned it in AAA, but i don’t know if they are “the same” offensively.
Josh Phelps is a career .268/.336/.466 hitter in 1283 major league ABs.
Phillips has hit .228/.266/.391 in the majors.
i would LOVE to see Phillips come up here and prove he belongs. i wanted him to do that last year. but he was terrible and the Yanks had to try someone else.
i hope Phelps can stay with the team since i still like his bat, but i think Phillips deserves the opportunity.
Chris, Phelps and Phillips are the same offensive player??
Are u kidding me??
Phillips is a career .200 batter in the majors. At least Phelps shows hes somewhat of an offensive player. He hit around 25 Hrs one season. All Phillips could do is hit 25 hrs in the minors.
Hughes for Tex is as ridiculous as the trade options you guys think of. You guys overrate our prospects so badly. No Hughes isn’t going anywhere but either is Texiera with the packages you guys think they’ll take. How did Daniels get ripped off for ARod, the Yanks included one of the Top 20 players in baseball in Soriano. He did get ripped off on Soriano but that deal is far from over because he got some prospects (who you guys all think will pan out because no top ranked prospect ever fails). You can’t get equal value for a guy like ARod. If you trade the best player in baseball who says he hates Texas for a Top 20 player you are getting about the best you can do. Soriano=ManRam who was going in the deal to Boston. Texas had no choice but to trade him and eat some salary. He got the best possible deal since only 3 teams could take on that salary at that time.
And if you mention trading Cordero you are an idiot, because they were making a run at the West and got one of the best power hitters in baseball for a guy that wasn’t to successful in the AL last year. Cordero is having a heck of a year but he certainly wasn’t doing that last year and not many saw that coming.
Phillips is clearly our best in house option to play first base at this point. I bet it’s Basak that goes down, however, with Phillips taking over at 1B and Cairo back to the bench. Phelps can be a useful pinch hitter, especially in NL parks.
I dont understand why they called up Phillips if they plan to use him for 1B, cuz he didn’t even play 1B in Scranton…Shelley Duncan did and has 17 HR on the year. Im sure Phillips remembers how to play 1B but Duncan, IMO, seems like a better option
“How did Daniels get ripped off for ARod”
Daniels was not the Rangers GM in 2004.
Nick B., your argument loses credibility because Jon Daniels wasn’t the GM of Texas when they traded A-Rod.
1. Daniels was nowhere near being a major-league GM when the A-Rod trade went down, that was John Hart I believe. And yes, I agree with you, there was no highway robbery in that trade, Soriano, while not as good as A-Rod, is a huge talent to get back in return.
2. I’m very happy about this move, and pretty much agree with everything SJ44 wrote, except I want no part of Brad Lidge. the guy’s head will melt in NY…even if he’s not a closer, no way do I want him trying to get big outs in September and October. I’d rather have Gagne…that’s just my opinion man.
Admittedly I have missed the stretch of baseball where Phelps played more (out of country) but how can they give up on him at this point? Offensively he is much better than Phillips….is the defense that bad that he can’t recover. Just asking?
hmmm. I was comparing Andy’s 06′ season to Phelps’ 07′ season. Look at the numbers, they are “basically” the same, and if anything, Andy had a better season last season then Phelps has had so far this season. And when Andy gets hot, he really can contribute a god amount for about a week. Phelps is good for a big homerun maybe once every couple of months.
WFAN just reported that Phelps has been designated for assignment.
This is part of the chess match. Remember last season? When Matsui and Sheff went down with injuries, everyone thought Cashman would be forced to make a bad trade for an outfielder. Instead, they played Melky fulltime and he performed well enough so that the Yanks didn’t have to make a trade. That improved Cashman’s bargaining position tremendously and he was able to get Abreu for very little. I think he’s trying to do something similiar here; he’s hoping that he might catch lighting in a bottle with Phillips, then it won’t look to the rest of baseball like they have to make a trade, and this will improve his position in a possible trade for a 1B, perhaps Texeria.
DCYanks, Phelps is very very bad at first base, while Phillips is very very good. Phelps is defintiely more suited for a DH role over a 1st base spot. He doesn’t have many errors this season, but there are plenty of plays that he’s botched that haven’t gone as errors, and other makable plays that he hasn’t made. Phillips makes those plays, and more. His range is better, along with his throwing accuracy. He can also play 3rd base, and 2nd if needed. He is all round a better solution. Phelps is capable of some good seasons, just look at the stats, but this year isn’t one of his better years.
DC –
If you don’t subscribe to the theory that Phelps is the worst defender of all time – Peter will jump on you — just saying.
Phelps UZR is actually better than Minky or Cairo — but facts don’t matter here.
Phillips, however, is very good defensively.
They both suck, move along, nothing to see here.
Nick, Jon Daniels still blows as a gm no whether it was good of him to get Carlos Lee or not. All he got for Soriano was Termel Sledge and Brad Wilkerson(he’s hitting .217 this year), and he got killed in the trade that sent Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez to San Diego for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otuska. Otsuka is good but you don’t trade a starting pitcher like Young for a relief pitcher.
Another questionable Daniel’s move was trading lefty John Danks to the White Sox for McCarthy. Danks was their top pitching prospect who’s name I had been hearing for years. For some odd reason they decided to trade him for a guy who has a 5.90 ERA this season.
I’ve been waiting for this move all season. I don’t understand why it took this long.
SJ44,
“Its still all about pitching. Always has, always will be.”
No it isn’t.
It’s MOSTLY about pitching. Tell this favorite baseball catch phrase to the Oakland A’s. You have to have SOME hitting to be competitive.
A more appropriate statement would be good pitching beats good hitting. Cant win without pitching for sure. But you cant win without hitting either. Gotta have some.
My take is that Cashman is going to see what hes got in house before he goes out and makes a trade.
Curly, I agree. This has been Cashman’s way for a couple of seasons now. He’s been successful that way, too, from a patience and position-of-strength standpoint.
Andy Phillips is a joke. Everyone knows that he has great AAA numbers but doesn’t know anything about hitting major league pitchers. Might as well make a trade right now for Bubba Crosby too.
Ive been one of the biggest Phelps supporters here but even I was amazed at how bad he was with a glove on.That being said the guy is a legitimate hitter and Id love to see a Minnesota take a flier on him.
If Phillips is the same hitter he was last season, then he is .775 OPS vs. righties. I think he’s going to be better than last year, but we can at least get that. He got his “can’t hit a curve ball” reputation because he looked so bad vs. lefties.
Cairo is posting a .304/.360./.348 vs lefties. So between the two, the Yankees should be getting around .280/.340/.400 from 1B with excellent D. Its not great, but its not a big problem or too far below Minky’s production.
Its been a long time since Phelps was a good hitter. He’s still probably a little better than Phillips, but his defense makes him a liability. Good move by the FO.
Andy Phillips’ career OPS+ is 71 (MLB average is 100). So, until further notice, Phillips sucks fish heads, (especially as a first baseman, since they are usually very good hitters).
No one would be happier than me to see Andy (at the age of 30) turn into a productive major league hitter. There’s not much precedence for this hope, however.
Josh Phelps, as inconsistently as he was used this year, posted an OPS+ of 88. He was never given a fair chance to compete for the job. But, as Phelps had only played 31 games at 1B before this season (he had been almost exclusively a DH), he was not a credible option as a full-time 1b for the Yankees.
As of right now, 1B and CF are severe holes in our team. Damon is falling apart, and Melky is not a MLB hitter at present (his OPS+ in 2007 is a brutal 74, versus 90 for his career), and he swings WAY too hard for a player with such modest hitting skills).
Teixeira would be an awesome addition (he is a switch hitter who is actually a slightly better hitter from the right side, which would help us greatly against lefties), but we would have to give up at least two excellent prospects (and maybe Cano, too), for a player who might bolt after 2008.
Thanks for the points on Phelps’ defense. I have heard it discussed but have not seen him playing enough to make an educated statement. Trust me, I am huge a proponent of the key to a defensive 1B. Three plays (1B scoop at first, a CF who could range to get a FO, and that ole Scott Brosius scoop and throw at 3rd) are good for a couple of outs a week and that goes a long way.
I look at a guy like Adrian Gonzalez who bounced around despite being a hot prospect and I guess I had hoped Phelps would do that for the Yanks. He was one of the Grade A prospects a couple of years ago and I thought he had fallen in our laps. Similar to Carlos Pena. I think he is hitting somewhere.
Oh well….
For now, send down Bazak, keep Phelps as a righty bat off the bench, and away we go.
Ok i messed up the GM, i didn’t think I was right but I was in a hurry and didn’t feel like checking my facts, either way it wasn’t a bad deal and Hart was a great GM with Cleveland. Young for Eaton seemed fair at the time because Eaton was ahead of the learning curve and Young was still learning. 6′10″ guys are hard to project also. I said he got hosed on that Soriano deal but Sori was a one year player who didn’t have a position and didn’t want to be there. He wasn’t as valuable as he is now or when he was with the Yanks.
“I dont understand why they called up Phillips if they plan to use him for 1B, cuz he didn’t even play 1B in Scranton…Shelley Duncan did and has 17 HR on the year. Im sure Phillips remembers how to play 1B but Duncan, IMO, seems like a better option”
Ben- Shelly Duncan plays right field. ERIC Duncan has been playing first for Scranton. Different guy.
Hart got robbed, plain and simple, when he decided to pay a third of A-Rod’s contract. That’s the horrible part of it. You can’t get back equal value, but Hart went past that, actually giving up money to get rid of A-Rod. The trade to the Red Sox wasn’t all that bad, I think it was Manny and some prospects, and the Sox would have taken on all of A-Rod’s contract and actually helped the Rangers with some of Manny’s. But Hart handled the situation horribly, allowing the Sox to tamper with A-Rod’s contract and thus nullifying the deal. That put him in an even more desperate situation, thereby getting a lesser player than Manny in return, and actually paying a full third of A-Rod’s remaining salary. If that’s not getting robbed, I don’t know what is.
Face it, buddy. The Rangers are an awfully run organization. Daniels can only dream of getting back Hughes, who would immediately become the staff ace, for Tex. He won’t get that caliber of a prospect from any team, much less the Yankees, because everyone knows he is not a smart guy when it comes to trades. He’s probably better off keeping Tex and signing him to be their franchise player. Trading him for crap, which is what will happen if Tex is traded (unless you get the Seattle GM on the phone, who surpasses Daniels’ stupidity and lack of foresight), will only make the Rangers an even more pathetic team than they are today.
I wouldn’t say Hart got robbed. He had to have someone pay most of the salary. Not like he got a bum here.
He signed the best player in the game. No one pays full freight on a trade when money is involved.
Don’t cry for Tom Hicks. Please.
For Daniels to get Hughes the Rangers would have to have Nolan Ryan. Circa 1972.
Is UZR Spanish for “I never watch the games” ?? Please.
I was waiting to see somebody pull out the ‘ole UZR chart to stick up for Phelps.
Really, you gotta take your head out of the stat sheet and watch the games.
The guy was an AWFUL first baseman. For anybody to even argue otherwise is comical.
He makes Giambi look like Donnie Baseball defensively at first base.
Offensively? You can pull all the stats of what he did 4 years ago out and they are meaningless.
He did little with the Yankees. That’s what matters.
He had chances, he didn’t deliver.
He’s a limited guy. His defense is so bad, he can’t be put in the field. The Yankees have enough DH’s.
Offensively, he swings at too many pitches out of the zone, can’t bunt or move guys over and is strictly a boom or bust guy.
Let’s see if he clears waivers. If he does, is it fair to say the other 29 teams in baseball aren’t buying the statsheet or the UZR Chart on Josh Phelps?
This is the classic case of folks falling in love with somebody off spring training. Yet, when the lights when on, he was brutal.
Is Andy Phillips better? For this team, at this time, yes he is. He is much better defensively, can at least bunt guys over, and isn’t going to kill you when he plays.
That’s all they need right now at first. Its not like they haven’t been hitting the past two weeks.
When Clippard’s former slot comes due, Basak will be returned for Igawa.
Phillips is not a great fielding first baseman – he’s adequate – equal to Cairo, much better than Phelps and Giambi – but still a .245-.250/.290-.325 OBP MLB hitter.
The Yanks need some right handed power, period! The lineup is too lefty heavy and good lefties shut them down. ARod has 27 HRs and having a fabulous season. He’s not going to keep that pace from July through September. Who’s next in the power department? Posada with…..9! Tex would be a great long term answer, but only if they can sign him to a 3-4 year deal and we don’t give up on our top-notch prospects (Hughes, Chamberlain, Betances, Tabata and even Sanchez.)
Please, let’s not make Andy Phillips out to be Keith Hernandez around the bag. He’s Clay Bellinger with less stick, if that is possible.
This was a dumb move. Watching Cairo pinch hit vs. Fuentes tonight the first thing I thought was how it would have been nice to have Phelps pinch hitting in Colorado in that spot.
Dumb move. I hope Andy Phillips is here temporarily and Cash makes a deal for a 1b.
I’m tired of seeing Andy Phillips get chances when he’s shown (more than Phelps ever did) that he can’t hit major league pitching.
Andy Phillips is not the answer to the first base platoon and Cashman knows it. Cashman must believe that he has enough hitting at this time to release Phelps. I hope he is correct because he isn’t going to get much hitting out of Andy Phillips.
Josh Phelps did a great job I thought and and had several RBI’s when they counted………. Looks like a lot of you guys missed that one.