The LoHud Yankees Blog

Former Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland is reportedly close to joining the coaching staff of the Kansas City Royals.

Jerry Crasnick reported late last night that Eiland is “close” to being named the Royals pitching coach. It was reported earlier this month that Eiland was a candidate.

After his rather bizarre departure at the end of last season — missed a significant chunk of the season to deal with a personal issue, then the Yankees announced immediately after the season that he would not be brought back — Eiland spent this season serving in an advisory role with the Rays.

On that note: Today is Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey’s 45th birthday.

UPDATE, 1:31 p.m.: The Royals made it official and hired Eiland as their pitching coach.

First, an admission that this comparison is far from perfect, but it’s the first thing I thought about when Mike Napoli hit that game-changing double for the Rangers last night.

When a guy can hit like that, do you think the Rangers care that minor league scouting reports said he’d never be able to catch at the big league level?

Of course I ask this question because of Jesus Montero, and of course it’s not a fair comparison because Montero is a far bigger prospect than Napoli ever was, but even so… Back in 2005 — when Napoli had just finished his fifth professional season, like Montero just did — this is what Baseball America wrote in its Napoli scouting report for the prospect handbook:

Napoli has a polished, professional hitting approach and obvious power. He has natural loft in his swing and drives the ball well from center to the opposite field… The biggest question surrounding Napoli is whether he’ll be able to catch at higher levels. His catch-and-throw skills are adequate, but his flexibility and footwork are poor. He doesn’t move well behind the plate — or on the bases, for that matter — and several Cal League observers didn’t think he’d be able to serve as a backup catcher in the majors.

Sounds fairly familiar, doesn’t it?

Back in 2005, Napoli was ranked as the 29th-best prospect in a loaded Angels system. He was 23 years old, had never played above Class-A ball and had just come back from a torn labrum. He was no Jesus Montero.

But Napoli also just finished a season in which he hit .320/.414/.631 and actually did a pretty nice job of throwing out base runners (36 percent caught stealing). He has four straight seasons of at least 20 home runs, and he’s played more than 114 games in only one of them. He’s a heckuva hitter, and hitters like that find a way to stay in the lineup.

If Montero hits like that — he’s been a better minor league hitter than Napoli was — how good would his defense have to be to earn a job as an everyday catcher in the big leagues? When you see a guy having an offensive impact like Napoli’s having in the World Series, it makes you forget about defensive scouting reports a little bit.

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One other quick note about Napoli and the 2005 Prospect Handbook: That list of Angels prospects is/was incredibly deep. A few highlights from the Top 25:

1. Casey Kotchman; 2. Dallas McPherson; 3. Erick Aybar; 4. Jeff Mathis; 5. Kendry Morales; 6. Brandon Wood; 7. Ervin Santana; 8. Howie Kendrick; 9. Albert Callaspo; 11. Mark Trumbo; 13. Joe Saunders; 14. Sean Rodriguez; 15. Dustin Moseley; 16. Maicer Izturis; 19. Kevin Jepsen; 20. Nick Adenhart; 24. Reggie Willits

Big leaguers Alexi Casilla and Bobby Wilson were also in the Angels system at the time but couldn’t crack the Top 30, and Jered Weaver had been drafted but hadn’t signed yet, so he was Angels property without being eligible for the rankings.

Associated Press photos

Back to the aces in Game 5. Chris Carpenter outpitched C.J. Wilson in the World Series opener, and tonight one of those two could put his team on he verge of a championship. The Cardinals shook up their lineup with Skip Schumaker in center field. The Rangers are keeping the same lineup from last night.

• Despite Derek Holland’s dominant performance last night, the Rangers announced that Matt Harrison will be their starting pitcher if the Series goes seven games.

• Interesting question in the Morning News: How much does Carpenter have left? If he gets eight outs tonight, Carpenter will set a career high for innings pitched in a year, and at 36 he was the oldest pitcher to lead his league in innings pitched since Randy Johnson in 2002.

• Last night’s game drew 11.9 million viewers between 8-11 p.m. ET, which ranks as the FOX’s highest-rated and most-watched Saturday night since January 15.

• Demi Lovato is singing tonight’s National Anthem. Absolutely no chance I could pick her out of a lineup. None whatsoever. Is she the same thing as Hannah Montana?*

CARDINALS
Rafael Furcal SS
Allen Craig RF
Albert Pujols 1B
Matt Holliday LF
Lance Berkman DH
David Freese 3B
Yadier Molina C
Skip Schumaker CF
Nick Punto 2B

Chris Carpenter RHP

RANGERS
Ian Kinsler 2B
Elvis Andrus SS
Josh Hamilton CF
Michael Young DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Nelson Cruz RF
David Murphy LF
Mike Napoli C
Mitch Moreland 1B

C.J. Wilson LHP

* Kidding. I know Hannah is the same thing as Miley Cyrus, but seriously, I have no clue who this Lovato person is.

Assocaited Press photo

Here’s the announcement from Major League Baseball…

Major League Baseball announced today that Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays and Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers have been selected as the winners of the 2011 Hank Aaron Award. This is the second consecutive year Bautista has won the award. Established in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, the Hank Aaron Award is officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball and recognizes the most outstanding offensive performers in each League.

Fans voted for the award on MLB.com, and for the second straight year, a special panel of Hall of Fame players led by Hank Aaron joined fans in voting for the award. The Hall of Fame panel included two new members – personally selected by Hank Aaron – Roberto Alomar and Joe Morgan. They joined panelists from last year, which included Tony Gwynn, Paul Molitor, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams and Robin Yount, forming a group comprised of some of the greatest offensive players of all-time who combined for 23,536 hits, 11,445 RBI and exactly 2,800 home runs.

Bautista batted a career-best .302 and led the Majors with 43 home runs. The 31-year-old outfielder added 103 RBI and also led the Majors with a .608 slugging percentage and 132 walks to go along with a .447 on-base percentage (second in Majors), 24 doubles, two triples, 105 runs scored (sixth in the A.L.) and 312 total bases (sixth in the A.L.). The Dominican native became just the fifth player in Major League history to record at least 40 home runs, 130 walks and nine stolen bases in the same season, becoming the first American Leaguer to do so since Babe Ruth in 1930. In addition, the two-time A.L. All-Star was the only player in the Majors to record at least 40 homers, 100 runs scored, 100 RBI and 100 walks with a .600 slugging percentage in 2011, marking the second consecutive season that he has accomplished the feat and making him the first to do so in consecutive seasons since David Ortiz in 2005-2006. The 20th round selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft reached base safely in 136 of his 149 games played in 2011. Dating back to September 1, 2009, Bautista leads the Majors with 107 home runs, 22 more than Albert Pujols of the Cardinals, who ranks second during that span.

Kemp, 27, batted .324 (third in the N.L.) with 39 home runs and 126 RBI in 2011, leading the National League in homers, RBI, runs scored (115) and total bases (353). The 2011 N.L. All-Star also finished among league leaders in multi-hit games (57, tied for first), hits (195, second), slugging percentage (.586, second), extra-base hits (76, second), stolen bases (40, tied for second), on-base percentage (.399, fourth) and walks (74, tied for eighth). Kemp became the seventh player in Major League history to finish the season ranked in the top three in homers, batting average, RBI and stolen bases in their respective league, joining Hall of Famers Ty Cobb (1907, 1909-11), Honus Wagner (1908), George Sisler (1920), Chuck Klein (1932), Willie Mays (1955) and Hank Aaron (1963). In addition, the sixth round selection in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft was the first Dodger to lead the N.L. in home runs and RBI since Dolph Camilli in 1941 and the first Dodger in history to lead the N.L. in homers, RBI and runs scored. Kemp, who hit .335 on the year with runners in scoring position, is one of five players all-time to eclipse 30 homers, 35 stolen bases, 100 RBI and a .310 average, joining Ken Williams (1922), Barry Bonds (1992), Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Vladimir Guerrero (2002).

Past winners of include: Jose Bautista and Joey Votto (2010); Derek Jeter and Albert Pujols (2009); Aramis Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis (2008); Alex Rodriguez and Prince Fielder (2007); Jeter and Ryan Howard (2006); David Ortiz and Andruw Jones (2005); Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds (2004); Rodriguez and Pujols (2003); Rodriguez and Bonds (2001-02); Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton (2000) and Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa (1999).

The Phillies today officially declined options on right-handed pitchers Brad Lidge and Roy Oswalt. The veterans will become free agents this winter.

Obviously the Yankees don’t have much use for Lidge, but at the right price, Oswalt could be a short-term investment to fill a rotation spot while the Yankees wait for their top pitching prospects to finish their development. Again, it all depends on the price (doesn’t it always?).

A few other quick notes from this afternoon…

• Commissioner Bud Selig will announce the Hank Aaron Award winners tonight at 7 ET. The awards go to the top offensive players in each league.

• David Waldstein tweeted today that Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner spoke today at Yankee Stadium. No deal is done just yet, but it obviously seems to be moving that direction.

• Joel Sherman wrote today that the Yankees seem more interested in Yu Darvish than C.J. Wilson. Sherman also wonders whether the Yankees and Pirates might be a trade match because of the Pirates desire for a young catcher.

Some of you follow the Yankees minor league system very closely, and for you, this is going to be familiar information. For those who don’t pay much attention, we’ll try to provide the nuts and bolts with a level-by-level look at what happened this season, and we’ll start at the top with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Young pitching was expected to be a strength, and it was The Triple-A Yankees were fourth in the International League with a 3.80 ERA, but their lineup was in the bottom half of the league in runs scored.

Hitter of the Year: 1B Jorge Vazquez
He strikes out a ton, but there’s no denying the raw power of perhaps the organization’s most unusual prospect. Vazquez is already 29 years old, and he spent most of his career playing in Mexico, but at this point there’s little reason to doubt his ability to hit. His batting average is, well, average. His on-base percentage is disappointing. But the guy hit 32 home runs and 20 doubles in 118 Triple-A games this season. He missed a little bit of time with minor injuries and still finished second in the league in RBI.

Starter of the Year: RHP D.J. Mitchell
Honestly, you could make a case for Mitchell, Adam Warren or David Phelps, and truthfully, Mitchell is probably the smallest name of the bunch. He doesn’t have Phelps strikeout stuff, and Warren held hitters to a lower batting average, but Mitchell has ground ball stuff that carried him to 13 wins and a 3.18 ERA through 161.1 innings. A 10th-round pick in 2008, Mitchell would probably standout more if he weren’t in an organization with so much pitching depth. As it is, he’s more than holding his own with bigger names.

Reliever of the Year: RHP George Kontos
In the first half, it was closer Kevin Whelan who stood out, but by the end of the season, it was impossible to ignore Kontos. In his first full year back from Tommy John surgery, Kontos fully adapted to the bullpen as a long reliever with a 2.62 ERA, .221 opponents batting average and a little more than a strikeout per inning. The Yankees rewarded Kontos with a 40-man spot and a September call-up. He fell a little bit off the prospect map after the injury, but he’s back on the radar and pitched his way into the big league mix for next season.

Breakout performance: RHP Kevin Whelan
This is probably the closest Scranton came to a traditional breakout performance. Jordan Parraz had a great year in the outfield, but I’m not sure it changed his status. Lance Pendleton earned a lot of big league time, but he finished year out of the organization. Justin Maxwell was doing big things before he got hurt. Whelan, on the other hand, landed on the 40-man roster by finally improving his control and taking advantage of good stuff that’s always led to low opponents batting averages. Now the question is whether the Yankees were impressed enough to keep Whelan on the 40-man this winter. It might be telling that he didn’t get a September call-up.

Disappointing numbers: RHP Andrew Brackman
After last season, and strong first impression this spring, things seemed to be back on track for the former first-round pick. But the wheels fell off again this season. Brackman seemed to fall back into his old rut of high walk totals and erratic production. There is a bright side to his 6.00 ERA: In the second half, Brackman’s ERA was a much-improved 2.35 with a .149 opponents batting average. In his last nine outings — coming immediately after a nine-walk disaster — Brackman had a legitimately good pitching line: 20.1 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 17 K.

Top prospect watch: C Jesus Montero
There were quite a few prospects on this roster, but obviously none stands out quite like Montero. The Yankees top young hitter finally emerged in the second half and made an impact down the stretch. Overall, it wasn’t the dominant season some predicted — .288/.348/.467 — but he had a good July and a terrific August, and he might be finished with the minor leagues altogether. Of the regular catchers in the league, Montero had the lowest caught stealing percentage at just 20.5 percent. Montero was the only regular catcher below 25 percent and he was well behind league leader Raul Chavez who threw out 47.1 percent of base stealers.

Noteable: 3B Brandon Laird took a step back from last year’s breakout season, but still showed some of the power that makes him an intriguing corner man… Two of the true breakout prospect performances this season came from RHP Ivan Nova and RHP Hector Noesi, but they combined for only nine Triple-A appearances because they spent so much time in New York… OF Justin Maxwell spent most of the year on the disabled list, but before he got hurt, he had a .358 on-base percentage and a .588 slugging percentage. He’s still on the 40-man, and given the Yankees lack of upper-level outfield depth, his 48 games do standout a little bit… RHP David Phelps would have led the team in strikeouts with a relatively low walk total if not for a late-season injury. He’s now getting innings down the Arizona Fall League… If he had a spot on the 40-man, OF Jordan Parraz might have won a call-up with his .289/.362/.440 slash line. Truth be told, he outhit both Greg Golson and Chris Dickerson down in Triple-A… This team used 40 different pitchers. Forty!

Maybe tonight’s game would have been more interesting had the Rangers lost Game 4, if only because it would have been interesting to see C.J. Wilson perform with the series on the line.

It’s been an ugly postseason for the Rangers ace, and that’s left a sour taste for the guy labeled as the best starting pitcher heading for free agency this winter (assuming CC Sabathia never gets there, of course).

“I’m somewhat of an optimist,” Wilson said, “but at the same time being a realist, obviously it hasn’t gone as well as I would have liked… But there’s a lot of good that’s come of it in terms of personal development. I feel like I’ve learned a little bit more mechanically. At this point in the season, I’ve thrown 250 innings or something like that, so it’s the refinement that you get as a starting pitcher from continually going out there and throwing.”

Even before his 7.17 ERA this postseason, there were already questions about whether Wilson should be considered a true top-of-the-rotation starter. Those questions came despite consecutive outstanding regular seasons, and despite solid results in last year’s playoffs. This October, Wilson has played into the critics’ hands, and he’s gained some critics even in Dallas-Fort Worth, where a local columnist wrote today that the Rangers should not pursue Wilson this winter, not even a little bit.

What about the Yankees? Should they be scared off by Wilson’s October?

Brian Cashman has made it clear that starting pitching is a priority, and the free agent market is thin. Yu Darvish is unproven, Mark Buehrle turns 33 in March (and has never been a prototypical ace), and there is that lingering chance that Sabathia won’t return.

Could Wilson show enough tonight to ease concerns about making a long-term commitment to a guy who’s only been a starting pitcher two years and is quickly developing a spotty postseason rotation? There is not a lengthy rotation track record with Wilson, so one rocky October carries weight.

Associated Press photo

CC Sabathia has until three days after the World Series to decide whether to opt out of his contract, and Brian Cashman has said he wants to begin contract talks with his ace before the Series ends.

Last night’s Rangers win guaranteed that window will stay open at least two extra days.

With the series tied at two games apiece, there will be an off day on Tuesday and a Game 6 on Wednesday. That gives Sabathia through at least the weekend to make his opt-out decision, and that should give the Yankees some time to talk to their ace about a new deal.

Can a deal be worked out before the all-but-inevitable opt out?

“I wouldn’t be able to predict,” Cashman told Bryan Hoch late last week. “But we’ll see.”

The Cardinals are back in front after Albert Pujols put on a show in Game 3, and now the Rangers need a win in tonight’s Game 4 to avoid falling to the verge of elimination. The Cardinals start mid-season addition Edwin Jackson against Rangers lefty Derek Holland.

• Last night, Pujols joined Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players to ever hit three home runs in a single World Series game. Pujols night is already being called perhaps the greatest hitting performance in Series history.

• Of course, the Cardinals also benefited from a blown call in last night’s game. Isn’t there one of those every series? Aren’t we always talking about umpires at some point in the World Series?

• Some idiot threw a Whiffle ball onto the field. But that’s alright, it’s only the World Series. Not like there are a thousand cameras to catch every little detail. I’m sure he got away with it…

• The World Series is going a little indie with Zooey Deschanel singing tonight’s Anthem.

CARDINALS
Rafael Furcal SS
Allen Craig RF
Albert Pujols 1B
Matt Holliday LF
Lance Berkman DH
David Freese 3B
Yadier Molina C
Jon Jay C
Nick Punto 2B

Edwin Jackson RHP

RANGERS
Ian Kinsler 2B
Elvis Andrus SS
Josh Hamilton CF
Michael Young DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Nelson Cruz RF
David Murphy LF
Mike Napoli C
Mitch Moreland 1B

Derek Holland LHP

In their search for a new general manager, the Angels seem to be interviewing everyone in baseball. Today, the Los Angeles Times reported that former Mets GM Omar Minaya will be among the candidates.

Despite last week’s indications that the Angels are especially high on the Rays Andrew Friedman, Yankees amateur scouting director Damon Oppenheimer is still in play and generating some interest.

Heading into the weekend, FOX Sports Frankie Piliere tweeted that Oppenheimer has the “most buzz” for the job, and Ken Davidoff wrote in today’s column that he believes Oppenheimer is the “best choice” for the position. Davidoff wrote:

(Oppenheimer) is widely respected throughout baseball for not only the Yankees’ recent drafts but the order and leadership he has brought to the process.

Billy Eppler, head of the Yankees pro scouting department, is also known to be a candidate for the Angels opening. Eppler and Oppenheimer are routinely mentioned as GM candidates, and even Brian Cashman has publicly said that he believes those two are ready for such a position.