Call off the contract on Kennedy
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Aug 10, 2008 
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Ian Kennedy has pitched in 13 games for the Yankees. He is 1-4 with a 6.14 ERA. In 57.2 innings, he has allowed 63 hits and 40 earned runs.
He’s a finesse pitcher on the small side who was a high pick in the draft and now people think he’s a bust.
There’s was a finesse lefty on the smallish side who was a high pick in the draft back in 1984. His first 13 games? 2-7 with a 5.16 ERA. In 75 innings he allowed 78 hits and 43 earned runs. Everybody thought he was a bust, too.
His name was Tom Glavine. He now has 305 wins, a World Series ring and will be elected to the Hall of Fame just as soon as he’s eligible.
No, I’m not saying Ian Kennedy is going to be Tom Glavine. I am saying that 12 games and 58.2 innings are not enough to judge him on. Yes, he said something stupid the other night. You never said something stupid when you were his age?
People who have never met Ian think he’s some kind of jerk. One rabid e-mailer just informed me that Ian is “clearly a loser.” Another criticized him for getting married during the playoffs last season. Never mind that those plans were made a year ahead of time before he had picked up a ball for the Yankees.
Just calm down. Joe Girardi will talk to Kennedy and tell him why what he said was wrong. Dave Eiland, Rafael Chaves and Nardi Contreras will coach him up. I bet Mike Mussina pulls him aside for a chat. Or maybe Andy Pettitte will handle it.
I have no idea whether he’ll be any good or not. But let’s give him a chance.
New York baseball fans are supposed to be smart. Smart baseball fans don’t overreact to small sample sizes.
You wanted them to develop prospects? This is what it’s all about. For every game where Joba sticks it to the Red Sox at Fenway, you get somebody else getting knocked around in Anaheim. It’s all part of the process.
good point pete.
Yanks need to win a bunch in a row here, or its going to be a long september.
I don’t think what he said was so bad. He’s just a young kid trying to deal with failure for the first time in his life. This kid has known nothing but success throughout his college and minor league career. Give him a break. The fans are piling on him because they are frustrated at the way the Yankees are playing and need someone to whip up on to vent their frustrations. I bet if he pitches a gem next time out he’ll have the fans eating out of his hands.
That’s nice. Let him figure it out in the minors. We’re in a pennant race here.
Bring up Chase Wright !
Completely good call Pete. Yes, right now it’s so easy to say, “Oh, Kennedy and Melky and change for Johan? Let’s do it!”
I was not one of those people. I said if Cash wanted to live by the farm, he needs to die by the farm. And 1 year is not enough to judge.
If you didn’t like giving up prospects for Johan in December, jump off your high horse because right now we need to stick with our guys.
Chase Wright will fare no well then Kennedy. There’s not a chance he will be a better MLB pitcher than Kennedy. And I’m not 100% sure Kennedy will ever be anything more than a 4th starter.
“Bring up Chase Wright !”
I second that!
Just got back from the Dodgers-Giants game. I snapped a nice picture of Torre and Mattingly with my buddy’s camera and got to see Manny fail at the plate in numerous situations.
Pete is correct that we shouldn’t write off Kennedy too soon, but I feel that I am equally correct when I say: Ian Kennedy is not an ace!
Pete great post as always, fans need to have a little patients,
I have one word for you “Mike Pelfrey”
Very good. Now apologize to Edwar for your 6th inning crack, Pete.
No one says IPK is an ace, and nor does he have to be,
He just needs to find his groove and pitch some solid games as we saw he has the ability to do
kennedy’s comments last night were no different than they had been after every other time he got his a** handed to him this season.
and that’s the problem. this was not a one-time thing. one would have to assume eiland and contreras have already “coached him up” and moose and/or pettitte put a bug in his ear about behaving like a major league ballplayer.
i’ll pass on giving him a pass, thanks.
(criticizing him for getting married during the ALDS was stupid, though. i caught that comment last night.)
As our fearless leader said, “Baseball is 95% mental and the other half is physical.”
It does not matter what IPK did in the minors (and most likely will continue to do there), he does not have the inner core to be a success at the Yankee (i.e., ALE) level. You can talk to him all you want, Pete, but if anyone has seen him pitch up close (not on TV), you will have seen that as soon as things start getting pressured, he starts missing his spots big time.
There is no strength there. No warrior spirit, only a sense of entitlement, as I said before his last start.
That’s mental, and we root for that spirit when we see Moose and Andy work their way out of jams because they have that “95% mental” toughness that Yogi speaks about. You have the opportunity to speak with Yogi on occasion. Ask him if IPK has that inner core.
WOW did Pete’s tone change from last night. Talk about flip-flopping.
I agree with you, Pete. Also DFox, that is true.
Pete, big difference between “the process” and someone who can’t get through 3 innings of baseball on any consistent basis. Fact is, Ian Kennedy, if he wants to pitch for the Yanks, is gonna have to start to show something NOW!!!!!!!!! Maybe, in Kansas City, they have no problem sitting back and letting a kid get beat to a pulp for two years in a row. You know why they do that? Not because they are smarter than the Yanks. It’s because they HAVE to. They have to play their prospects no matter what, and they just hope they turn out. Sorry, the Yanks are not in the same boat.
And Pete, what you always seem to leave out is that Kennedy has shown VERY LITTLE when it comes to his actual stuff. He isn’t throwing 95. He isn’t breaking off a wicked curve. His stuff looks minor league worthy, not major league worthy. And you talk about Tom Glavine? The truth is Pete, Tom Glavine is the exception to the rule. A finesse pitcher getting hit around is usually what he seems, a back-end of the rotation kinda guy AT BEST!!!! For every Glavine, there are about 6,000 guys who never made it. Sorry if I might be inclined to think that Kennedy is not gonna end up like Glavine.
“New York baseball fans are supposed to be smart. Smart baseball fans don’t overreact to small sample sizes.”
Can we get some of those fans to comment here?
Just watch Kennedys Post game comments, He sure does sound like a little kid that has no clue whats goin on.
But let me tell you this, if you think he’s not upset you’re fooling yourself.
did you ever see some one screaming ‘ I’m not screaming now’
thats exactly what he’s doing. just trying to duck him self in the towel.
I don’t get you people
In 10 starts this season he’s pitched 39.2 innings (that’s an average of 4 innings a start). He’s given up 50 hits and 36 Runs. He has not recorded a win. Opponents have a .309 avg and a .399 OBP against him. What more do you want to see this year?
He’s clearly not ready for the majors.
I don’t know why last year he looked great.
Lori Rubenson is starting WFAN on Daniel Murphy… WTF ?
Kennedy has no future here… he will not be given the chances that a Hughes will get because his stuff isin’t good. He came with the tag of being a polished college pitcher who is a finished product. He was supposed to slide right in and atleast be a competent ML starter right away. He can’t even put up Ponson type numbers.
And for every Tom Glavine, there are a million Adam Eatons and Igawas.
The best thing to do is let him build his value up in the minors and trade him next season.
What?
“I don’t know why last year he looked great.”
A fluke. Poor scouting.
The Yankees for some reason never fair well against pitchers they’ve never seen before. It could of been something like that.
How in the world was he a 1st round pick that got Boras money? There was nobody else worth taking instead of him?
E-Man he did pitch two great games this year that the yanks won, he didn’t get the decision though
Kennedy is a 23 kid.. no dumber then the posters on this site.. Did not watch the 8th inning listened to it on XM, the angel station painful it was.
arod cannot hit in the clutch, he needs to get ECT for his brain.. he is hitting 220 and change when it matters. the guy has a $280 mill. comtract..
the score should have been 5 to 1 going to the 7th that changes everything but the yanks cannot hit when it matters all year.
this team is soft. can someone sit down with Irod and talk about pitch selection?
Edwar is good when he gets the 1st guy our but when he faces adversity it appears to be a whole different story.Geise great effort wasted..
say what you want about there pitching it is the same thing I have said 80 times, it is the offense and especially clutch hitting..
IS it true arod has only 8 HR’s with anyone on base???
Girardi should be mad and tell the overpriced schmos why, he should aslo call bout Melancon.. Nice 2 Jack 7th by Veras, 1 of the jacks was to there 9th hitter again…….
Last 5 years and the story is still the same. The rookies do better the 2nd full year. Ian and Phil this is really their rookie year. Next year should be better.
But the real problem are the position players. Lets face it. This team the last 5 years can’t play well against good teams.
In the past they beat up on the weak teams and played .500 against the good and then choked it up in the playoffs.
Right now this is a .500 team. The star players put up numbers in bunches but are inconsistent. It gets tiring to watch them. THose stats are ridiculously misleading. IT starts with AROD and Jeter.
Time to blow up this team really. They are destined to be the Knicks if they don’t watch it. Jeter is not worth 20mm and AROD is ridiculously overpaid. Giambi? well atleast he is putting some numbers at his age but 23MM a year – say goodbye – Same for Abreu – he should a 6th hitter on a good team not a 3rd and he should be paid 8-9mm. His defense is silly. MAtsui bless his soul gave it his all – but he is done too.
This team is a lot older than it looks. AROD is going to make Dave Winfield look like Kirk Gibson by the end of his career. And Jeter,Matsui,Giambi,Abreu – are either too old or can’t stay helathy and perform as they should. Damon- another injury prone dude. Is Posada that far behind?
LOOK AT THIS TEAM – it is 2 years from FREE Falling. THey need new blood and younger new blood. More Nagy’s young and talented if you are going to make trades or sign free agents.
Peter you had the line of the year……..this is a Slow pitch Softball team.
Kei Igawa pitched 2 good games for us last year also. One of them was against Boston.
Want to give him another chance too?
Thank you
BigV,
I can’t stand fans like you. A-Rod is the best player in the game. No questions asked. Guy is the best player in the game. Next time he comes up with nobody on base somebody should tell him to just ground out instead of hitting the ball 3 miles. Completely his fault. What a joke.
Yankee fans can we please think and not be irrational? PLEASE?!?! Otherwise what do we look like?! I know this season looks bad, but do we always need to hate our team in the middle of the season and then love them down the stretch, only to hate them again in the first week of October?! Guess what?! It’s the same F*CKING TEAM!
E-Man say what you want Kennedy is no Igawa, Igawa is giving up rockets.
he looked good in september because there was no scouting anymore… teams have given up and they play their young players. They dont go through the same preparation. hitters are more aggressive as well to try and pad their stats.
so many young players look great in september and GMs think that a player is breaking out and they look at it as foreshadowing to the next season, when in reality they are only taking advantage of the situation.
remember that game where we had a lineup of duncan, gonzalez, betemit, molina, sardhina, phillips, melky and we scored 10 runs in an inning during the last series of the year?
that is what september baseball is all about.
Everybody needs to stop overreacting like this is football. Teams go through up and down stretches.
God help me if I ever become the beat writer for a Major league baseball team.
Hughes dynasty,
Another over-reaction. Cashman believes in Kennedy. All the people in the organization believe in Kennedy. Yes, he still might not pan out, but don’t think that those three starts at the end of the year influenced how much value Kennedy had to the organization over the winter. Really, please don’t.
Damn you Batista
Walk, stolen base, ground out, sac fly. this is how tampa scored the go ahead run in the 11th.
now this is how you win games, yes A-rod and co i’m talking to you guys
“E-Man say what you want Kennedy is no Igawa, Igawa is giving up rockets.”
Right now, the only difference between Ian Kennedy and Kei Igawa is that Kennedy is 6 years younger.
Igawa may have given up more homers but amazingly has a better opp ba and opp obp.
Well thats true, but i’m not ready to give up on kennedy just yet,
they say never count results you see in spring training or September.
Look at how the rays are going to win tonight, the Yanks use to do that.
the yanks are old and should error on the side of getting rid of guys instead of keeping them.
abreu and arod blew it in like the 6th with 1st and 3rd and 1 out.. no whining about Melky tonight, he got 3 hits but the passes for the millionaires continue.. This team is bottom 3 with BA with RISP, that is BAD…..That is there problem…. Arod 220 is not bad it is a JOKE…Giambi under 200 is not bad it is a worse joke… Abreu is a head shacker, he is a pretty good player but never carry’s the team..
they need to get a new 1b, rf, and cf, for next year at least.
Cano has a 3% point better OBP then Melky.. Cano has has a terrible terrible year and it is not really getting much better……
And tampa won again……. Night all
Good post Pete.
This is more about Yankees fans unrealistic expectations. Its becoming more commonplace around town to find New York sports fans searching for and crowning the next “savior”, yet when that person doesn’t pan out the blame game begins.
The Yankees of the ’90s were a blessing and a curse. Of course they produced the most amazing years we can remember. But the downside is that we are looking for that same success every year. It just doesn’t happen.
Sports is a cyclical business and the Yanks are obviously in decline. The team is entering a transition and success will be sacrificed for youth progression. If we need to take two steps back to take three forward, I whole heartedly welcome that. Hopefully the fans will do the same.
Stop talking about IPK.
We need to watch on next year.
The line-up is my dream team,but it just a dream.
M.Holliday (LF)
X.Nady (RF)
G.Sizemore(CF)
H.Matsui (DH)
Jeter/Damon/Abreu(1B)
I.Kinsler (2B)
Michael Young(SS)
A-rod(3B)
Molina(C)(Because he realize pitchers)
The dream rotation:
R.Halladay
CC Sabathia
Wang
Joba
Mussina/Pettitte
others
M.River
Peter I know you hate when Jeter bunts the runners over but he happens to have a GIDP problem also if there “big guns(3rd and 4th hitter)” cannot drive in runs from 3rd with less then 2 outs then they wil not win.. Abreu leads the team with 76 RBI’s after 115 games or so.. Arod hs 26 jacks and less then 70 RBI’s if you cannot tell these numbers SUCK.
These guys have not gotten it done… Giambi has like 65 RBI’s hitting 5th.. Our big bats have sucked all year, say I am babling and just pissed look at the #’s…
Our big guns may get 100 RBI’s is this the Bob Gibson era????
the Yanks are like 56 and 2 after leading after 6 I think, so if I can add they have won 5 games when not leading after 6, again that SUCKS…. this team has no toughness.. How can we say differently??/Dan Giese has pitched great , he is a 31 yr old who has been in the minore for 9 years or so, his ERA is under 3.00.. But arod, jeter, and the other big shots have done Jack.. Jeter has 55 rbis, arod needs to get a lobotomy, and when he is getting that he should ask them to give Cano one also.
Pathetic…..this team has more talent then they have shown all year..
Yankees can’t go back to the early 90′s teams.They can’t afford 4-5 years of losing.We can do both win and get younger.
The problem is our free agency starting pitchers are so bad we are desperate to throw journeymen and overrated young pitchers.
Didn’t Glavine and Mussina throw in the mid 90′s when they pitched 10 years ago.Kennedy barely goes high 80′s.
I’m ready to blame the Umpires for Ian K.’s troubles. There’s a reason this guy is so good in the minors and gets lit up in the Majors. In the minors all the umpires have the same goals as the players, to make it to the bigs. As a result their strike zones are consistent and fair (for the most part). Once an Ump gets that final promotion to the Majors they are garunteed that spot for LIFE! They no longer have to worry about their calls being scrutinized and the consequences for calling a less than fair game. I didn’t get to see Kennedy’s gAme in Anaheim but from what I saw earlier in the season Kennedy was suffering from his rookie status. Pete said it himself, Ian’s a “finesse” pitcher who paints the outside edge of the zone. when he doesn’t get those calls (which from what I’ve watched he doesn’t and most imps favor the veteran hitter) he’s forced to throw more strikes over the plate. Because his stuff is far from over powering most of the pitches end up being ripped. I don’t know what the solution to this is. maybe we just have to watch him suffer and hope that he starts getting the calls (only then will we see results) or maybe he’s fated to be a minor leauge pitcher for ever. either way that’s my theory on his struggles. if any one has watched a game like this please comment, if you disagree that’s a welcome comment as well.
Pete your really one to talk?
I know this may sound stupid to some, but you seem to knock Joe Girardi every chance you get. This is his first REAL season of managing. I know he was with the Marlins, but NYC is totally different. Maybe you should take your own advice and give Joe the credit he deserves.
BB why even give us these moronic posts.. grady sizemore is not becoming a yankee because you want him to be.
draft him in your fantasy league and let it rest…
Roy Hallady a Yankee, you a a MORON it is not happening so stop the crap…
Funny that Pete compared IPK to Tom Glavine because after his comments earlier in the season I excused his attitude much as I did Glavine after his horrendous last game for the Mets. His attitude seemed to be one of not caring “no it doesn’t bother me” kind of thing. I took it as the way some athletes show their combativeness with reporters and not really a true indication of their feelings. I’m sure it killed Glavine last year to have the worst game of his career ending the Mets season (delicious as it was for me) but he didn’t want to show it. IPK acts after the game as though he isn’t bothered by the way he’s pitching but on the mound Friday he looked like he wanted to throw up which is the same way he looked earlier in the season. He cares and he knows he stinks right now but wont show it. He’s a cocky kid who was the ace of the USC staff and first round choice of the Yankees who flew up the system and pitched great last year, he’s never been through this before and doesn’t know how to act. Hopefully he learn or at least stop sucking so he can be a cocky jerky all he wants.
The major league team isn’t about developing prospects. Those said prospects should be ready from Day 1. This isn’t a team like the late 80′s Braves who could put rookies in the rotation and deal with 3 years of poor records.
Thanks, BB, for listing an all star team and giving us all a nice lil joke tonight.
Can we dig up Babe Ruth and clone him too???
“BB why even give us these moronic posts.. grady sizemore is not becoming a yankee because you want him to be.
draft him in your fantasy league and let it rest…
Roy Hallady a Yankee, you a a MORON it is not happening so stop the crap…”
So,I say it is a dream and can’t come true.You really need a pair of glasses.Everybody has make their dream RIGHT.
Wow I guess I should take down my letter of hatred to Ian Kennedy from my blog….what happened to bring on this positive look at Kennedy?
Pete said “New York baseball fans are supposed to be smart.”
Preamble: I am a big Yankees fan who was born in the Bronx. My father is a big Yankees fan who was born in the Bronx. His father emigrated from Ireland to settle in the Bronx, where he became a big Yankees fan.
All that to prove I’m not a troll/flamer Red Sox/Mets fan before I say this:
Whoever says New York fans are smart has never been to a Yankees game. It’s like visiting the monkey house at the zoo.
First time, long time.
Kennedy has been projected as a #3 starter (taking into account his ceiling) and at worst an innings eater. He’s been neither. I don’t believe scouts would give a starting pitcher such a marginal rating if he couldn’t ever live up to it. They projected low on Kennedy for a reason, anything extra they get is a bonus. No one who watches baseball says he can blow people away. Do they think perhaps he could be that #3? Absolutely. Ian Kennedy isn’t this bad and the organization who’s job it is to grade these players knows it.
The least is yet to come with Kennedy. His value is being projected a 3rd starter, and when he becomes 4th or 5th in the rotation is where he’ll do his best work. He isn’t missing bats, he isn’t throwing enough finesse stuff, and not to lay excuses but: umpires have squeezed him at the plate. The sooner he learns how to hit the black part of the plate, knows how to get inside a major league hitters head, its the sooner we can start to see the player scouts projected and Cashman protected from a trade. Kennedy is worth 15 wins at best.
Glavine is almost a perfect example. He never blew batters away, he had to learn how to nibble at the outside part of the plate, and he had to learn how to miss bats. Is Kennedy – Glavine? No, he isn’t supposed to be.
Please on the “he’s only 23″ thing. Both Joba and Hughes are younger and conduct themselves like seasoned professionals. This will haunt Kennedy wherever he goes now.
Glavine broken into the majors on a last place Braves team that was without expectations, and could afford to keep sending under performing prospects to the mound.
I don’t see how anyone can watch a Kennedy game and find something worth banking a Yankee future on.
Great post, Pete! Finally some sense here! And that’s a really interesting take by Adriano– I think that makes a lot of sense, too.
Chase Wright sucks. He has bad control and bad stuff. Why are certain people on this blog obsessed with him?
Chase Wright wasn’t given a fair shot though. He projects as a marginal player, but he only got 2 starts right? He surrendered back-to-back-to-back-to-back Homeruns at FENWAY PARK to Manny RamÃrez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek. I could see how a lefty without much ability/experience could give up homeruns to the heart of the order. Boston won the world series that year, they fielded a great team and the Righties (minus Drew) took Wright yard. Yankees had a patchwork rotation like this season, and did what worked for them as long as they could to make a playoff run.
Our Ace pitchers are lucky in not giving up 4 homeruns in arow, but they’ve lost in other ways. Fenway is difficult to pitch at, especially for a rookie. Who cares how you give up the 4 earned runs? It looks horrible in the box score and on SportsCenter, but what is the real difference between 4 back to back homeruns or Walk, Double, Walk, Double?
Chase Wright is lefty, if he can get the ball over the plate and give you some innings, what is the harm in giving him another shot? He showed some signs of life in his debut. He isn’t the key to the Yankees success, and he won’t be lights out but the Organization and fans should take another look at him. They threw him to the wolves in his second start and his lack of experience showed. I think he might just be a serviceable replacement level alternative for now.
How far along is Austin Jackson?
This road trip is turning into quite a mess. I watched both the Boston game and the extra inning game the Rays played last night on MLB.TV I have the premium package where you get MLB Mosaic and can watch up to 6 games at once. The Rays are not going to go away folks…neither are the Bean-heads. We are in MAJOR LEAGUE trouble as a team. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Girardi is FAR to passive as a manager…the hire was a mistake. Respecting him as a player for most of these vets is one thing…repecting him as a skipper is quite another.I wish Billy Martin had this team for a season…heads would roll! Girardi has too many “buddies” to be the kind of manager he was with the Marlins. This squad for the most part are well paid seasoned veterans. I often wonder if Mattingly would have been a better fit. But he in his own way is passive also. I was Torre’s way of doing things…and you can tell how it rubbed off on Girardi. This team seems to have the mindset that it will be in the playoffs irregardless of what happens along the way…and that’s not a bad thing…but I don’t know if I can honestly call it HEART or just being spoiled. It is very disconcerting to see these guys drop series to sub-par baseball clubs…games they should go out and kick-ass…they lose…sometimes miserably! The streak coming out of the All-Star break was encouraging…and therein in part of the problem…nobody was there to push them harder. And that is where I have to lay some blame on Girardi. I’m so damned tired of the “That’s how it goes in baseball” take. The press treats Joe G. pretty damned good I think. Perhaps it is time to start turning the screws a little bit. Look, I’m not stupid…I know we have had to deal with alot of injuries…I’m sure our opening day line-up hasn’t been used since that day. But we can’t keep letting the Baltimores and Kansas Cities of MLB dictate our future in the AL East.I’ve been a Yankee fan since around 1964 when I was a little shit-head kid…I’ve lived through the droughts…believe me. It’s all very hard to sit back and watch.
enjoy Pittsburgh, Ian
Gene,
the tack on critique of A-rod is justified (except for last year which surprise was an option year for him)
A Rod has the most tack-on home runs, as defined by home runs when your team is leading by more than 3 runs, in the majors this year.
“New York baseball fans are supposed to be smart.” ??? you are kidding, right ?.
Mussina showed me something the last time out. Mike threw four consequtive pitches, breaking ball each one,all four high and away in the zone. My opinion all four should have been called strikes. He did not get the right call on the first three. Finally the ump got it right on the fourth pitch. Mussina continued getting that call the rest of the game when he chose to throw it.
He finally impressed the ump with knowledge he knew the pitches were strikes, and he was not going to live without the pitch. Mussina won the battle of wits.
Kennedy doesn’t seem to get those away pitches either, happens to rookies consistently, but kennedy bends begins moving to get more dish, not a good thing. The ump has to know you know the pitch is good or you will never get the call. Good experienced pitchers force the issue, sometimes it doesn’t work, but then more often it does. Comes across as confidence. If you don’t show it, you won’t make the ump believe it either. Ya know if something doesn’t fit sometimes you just force it, and get by.
I find it a bit humorous that Pete was all over Ian Kennedy for his post-game remarks, reported on it several times and got all of the fans excited, and now advises everyone to “just calm down.”
Its really funny, IPK would have had to pitch 7 shutout innings for anyone on this blog to say something positive about him. Young pitchers struggle….it happens, but no – “He sucks”, “Trade him to the NL”. I think Pete was right on the money..If you want the youth movement as opposed to the Randy Johnsons, Pavanos, and Kevin Browns, you have to deal with some adversity too….they’re not all gonna be Joba from the get go.
Now, I don’t know if he’ll be great but I’m pretty sure he’ll a be a good starter for some team for years to come…
If you can’t be upset over 7.5 games out, with 40 plus games to play, your not even ahead in the wild card race,with your ace out due to injury,the back up ace now out(Joba,)Bull pen being lit up with untimely hits,having the *greatest * player(Alex) steadily strike out,your captain on his way to setting a record in the league for most DP’s /force outs,facing the first season in 12 yrs without a playoff berth,maybe your right we should just chill!
But answer me this.When you have a person on 3rd and nobody out,why wouldn’t a mgr signal for a scarifice to score the run? Are the Yankees not capable of small ball,ot is it all about going yard?
IPk will be dealt the same card as Kyle,build him up for trade value,then trade ~the son of a biscuit eater!
What the Yankees saw last September with Kennedy was a flash in the pan.
The big mistake was practically giving him a guarantee of a 5th starter right out of spring training. He actually belived that his less than average stuff would get him through the big leagues. Wrong. He doesn’t pitch with his head and combine that with a straight fastball with no movement on it and no real pitches to mix in between and he is what he is.
Grand slam on this one, Pete. Take these negative nancies to school…
I agree with you, Pete. For the record, I’ve never said that Kennedy was a “loser”, but I’ve always maintained since the Offseaosn that it was foolish for Cashman to count of Hughes/Kennedy for 2/5ths of the starting rotation at such a young age and significant inexperience…IF he had aspirations of a Yankees World Championship in 2008.
Joba was slated to become a starter sometime in July but those plans were escalated because of the injuries. Now he’s injured too!
Perhaps Cashman figured all along that this was a “rebuilding year” for the Bombers?
Rico, were you watching the same game I was on Friday night?
I thought IPK’s fastball looked excellent. Good movement, good location.
He had a couple of nice changeups but his breaking pitches mostly hung — and if you’re doing that, it doesn’t matter how good your fastball is.
All in all, Ian didn’t pitch great on Friday, but he didn’t pitch terribly either. He was up against a fantastic offense with a particular talent for putting tough pitches in play, and worse, the defense behind him was abysmal. Just abysmal. Nady, Melky, Damon, Giambi and Jeter were a big part of his loss.
As for his comments, he’ll learn quickly enough how not to deal with the NY media.
I’m not ready to give up on IPK yet. And I’m a long-term thinker. If we keep running Kennedy out there every five days and he steadily improves over the rest of the season to the point where he can consistently give his team a chance to win against major-league hitting, that’s more important to me than making the playoffs this year. (Same applies to Hughes.)
Brian in 702,
You can think whatever you’d like. Maybe next time the team is up 3 runs or more A-Rod should just stand there and not swing the bat.
But the guy has won 2 MVP awards here, he’s been a great player. For that he takes a pretty heavy beating from the fans. I don’t like the way he handled the contract situation last year but I didn’t want to see him walk, because imagine where this team would be without him. It would be bad.
Agreed. Good point Pete.
It’s just that things are so frustrating…sometimes we may say things due to that frustration.
I didn’t like what Ian said and I still don’t. But it is too early to just give up on him. He could actually improve.
Brent,
You want a squeeze every time there’s a runner on third with less than two outs?
Now here’s a depressing stat (albeit a small sample size).
With Molina catching, opponents are hitting .250/.312/.373 off our pitching staff.
With Pudge catching? .318/.406/.554.
Pudge has some homework to do with our pitchers, big time.
Clearly Kennedy needs some maturity lessons, startnig with keep your mouth shut. As for the marriage commenter, he wasn’t on the post-season roster and had been told to shut it down for the season.
Doc Brown, I believe a lot of that poor pitching line has to be placed at the feet of the people throwing the ball. Look at yesterday – one run allowed through six innings, and then the bullpen implodes with the same catcher behind the plate.
good points about all the premature burials of Ian P. Kennedy.
though i think the portion about Mussina or whomever correcting what he said is irrelevant. BFD. what matters is that they tutor Kennedy – and perhaps his catchers – to vary his pitch selection and location.
my only concern for him for 2008 is, “can he command his hook?” if he can’t, then they might as well try someone else. if he can, keep him in there and live w/any ups and downs.
I don’t know why you say that NY fans are supposed to be smart. Once upon a time, then the Giants were in NY, their fans were supposed to be smart. Yankee fans never have had a reputation as smart. Brutal, yes. Short-tempered, sure. Ready to show fans of other teams a complete lack of hospitality – absolutely. But smart? Look at the comment by Brent, who thinks that the appropriate move in a game with a man on third and no one out is a squeeze play, every time.
Sorry, but no. We are in no position to coddle a pitcher who is still learning right now.
By all means send him back to the minors until such time as he’s looking great to scouts again. Then trade him for someone more mentally suited to New York.
Finesse pitchers are always one tiny error away from a game losing grand slam. We really don’t need someone like that, not now, and probably not in the future.
IPKei will be great in the National League — just like Maddox. Just look at all those NL Championships Atlanta won compared to the number of WS wins in the same period. Maddux was never great against the superior hitting of the AL.
Kennedy’s best role for the Yankees is trade bait. And the failure to trade him for Santana (packaged with Melky Mendoza Cabrera, of all people) is a crime that Cashman should never be forgiven for.
Kennedy does not locate his fastball that well and he gets lit up on it. His fastball sets up the breaking stuff, because he cannot blow the fastball by people. He needs to pitch more often but can the Yankees afford it at the big league level.
Second question I have is why doesn’t Robertson pitch from the stretch fulltime? His baa with runners on is terrible! The kid can pitch, he just needs to refine a couple of things.
There you go again. We didn’t want them developing prospects at the Major league level – at least not three simultaneously — too much risk — we wanted IPO and Melky traded for Sanatana
If that was too much to ask – picking up Sabbathia would have helped this season and prepared for next
And if that was too much to ask how about Washburn — Giese coming out of the pen or starting is better than Rasner
You think Farnsworth returned to norm – wait til Ponson does
The Rotation is going to need to be Mussina and four days of rain
The Joba project has been sweet except for the inury; and while injuries happen the JOB of the Yankee FO is to deploy the huge advantage in CAPITAL to minimize the impact – i suppose only being four games behind Boston suggests they have done a superior job – especially Nady
Prospects and Projects
The Yankees need to develop prospects in the minors
We have the
- Melky Prospect
- the replacement for Posada project
- Giambi reclammation project soon to be replacement project;
- the what the heck has Mussina learned project — we wil take all we can get;
- the Bad Andy Good Anndy project;
- soon to come the Abreu replacement project
-The Ramierez soft smoke and mirrors project
– BP wil be again a work in progress
– and most of all the Giradi project — against a potent offense with a 2 run lead and 2 on no outs in the 7th – Jeter sacrifices — maybe the hit into DP chart scared everyone — but that is a National League Play — also in the books is that Ramierez got torched by the Angels last series
– Maybe next year will bring a mix of Mussina, CNW, Huges, Joba, Pettit, Sabbathia — and then figure who wil hit after Cano (half a season) Jeter, Nady, Damon and ARod (a restored to health Posada – Matsui??) — will they get Teixeira
Which untradeables will keep us aggravated all winter long
Peter are you an idiot? I am younger than that moron ike and I would have never said anything that stupid.
Shame on you, Pete. You posted his comments the other night on here as fast as you could knowing how we would react.
Your posting had a role fanning the flames on Kennedy.
Maybe you feel guilty or responsible or something.
You want to flip flop like that, go right ahead. It’s your blog.
But it’s kind of like tabloid creating a sensation and then the next day coming back and condemning everyone for getting excited.
You’re better than that.
OH MY GOD. Pete is telling us not to react to small sample sizes. I think hell hath frozen over.
How many Tom Glavine types are there in the American League East?
Generally, how are Tom Glavine’s splits in interleague play?
Is Ian Kennedy good enough to reinvent the type of pitcher that can succeed in this division or league? Ian seems to think so (to the tune of a 8+ ERA).
Now people are getting sensitive when we hold 23-year-olds accountable for brain-fart comments they make?
Pete -
your such a good voice of reason! you’ve talked me off the ledge once or twice before (not that i was gonna jump over kennedy, but the comments did piss me off. to your point, i said a lot more things dumber than that at his age…). point being, love the your insights and the blog.
here’s to us putting a streak together and taking the next 50-odd games a little more seriously; ie – time for the guys to step up and bring it all together…
Interestingly, LoHud had Kennedy’s comments posted (with a small editorial piece) before the YES network had even posted the actual video.
I want to win the World Series, not be Scranton North. This team should Santana and Sabathia by now.
I don’t mind developing the youth. I’ve said this before, I know they’re going to get knocked around a bit. I don’t even mind Kennedy’s failure so far. What I do mind is his attitude. Now if you want to tell me that his apparent disinterest in his results is just his answer to the media, well you would know better than me, Pete, since you see him when he’s not in front of the cameras. But his attitude after his latest blow up also reminded me of Glavine’s after his final start as a Met. Met fans never forgave him for that. But the difference here is Glavine has a hall of fame career with ups and downs, and he was able to explain how he actually was “devastated” in terms of his career though not in terms of life. I understand that. But Kennedy has not had this success yet, yet he gives off this attitude that he has some delusional sense of entitlement. So I hope I’m wrong, but we don’t need to put faith in a headcase like that.
I hope Wright gets called up, goes 5IP, walks three guys, and gives up 3R so people here can shut up about him.
You’d rather root against a 25 year old lefty starter with decent minor league numbers? Just so you can stop hearing about him? You’re a great fan…I for one would prefer for him to be called up, do well, and prove he can stabilize the rotation, perhaps for years to come.
And by the way, if Wright were to go 5 innings, 3 runs in his first outing, he would get another start.
By only beef and question about Ian Kennedy and the Yankees is I am a bit dismayed his fastball is tops out at about 87 and the Yankees used a supplemental first round pick on this guy. Sounds like a #5 starter at best. Pretty suspect. If you want to compare him to Glavine, I believe Glavine still throws that hard. And he’s what 42 now?
It’s funny, but IPK hasn’t looked one bit like the guy who showed up last time the 40 man roster was around.
That being said, you’re absolutely right on IPK’s personality. He really is a nice guy. Unfortunately, nice guy doesn’t equal wins. He looks good in Scranton, I get the chance to see him here and his control is on when at this level. I don’t want to say he’s a AAAA type prospect because of the success he had last season, but it’s appearing that way the more I watch him at the Major League Level.
It’s not a matter of talent either, it’s exactly what’s been being said. It’s mental. He simply is not a New York type guy this year. Whatever confidence he had in the call-up last year, he needs that back.
Pete is right on with this article. Patience is a necessary trait for managers dealing with young players, analogous to parents and young children. You simply have to be supportive and wait and see. He’s clearly got enough talent to be a Major League pitcher, and with all this time and money invested in IPK, criticism will not help him gain confidence and pitch more effectively. Cashman has made a commitment to develop young pitchers in the farm system, which can be integral to a team’s success. Trying to win it all every year (via making a trade for Santana) is not the best strategy for a franchise. The Red Sox did not make the playoffs one year, but that gave them time to develop and strengthen a fairly strong team into legitimate contenders. The Yankees need to step back and take some lessons from Epstein and their rivals.