Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Rochester, New York's own Tim Redding makes his Yankee debut tonight, taking the hill against ex-Yank David Wells. Here's what I wrote about the 27-year-old righty when the Yankees picked him up in the Paul Quantrill trade that is suddenly the source of half of their active rotation:
Redding has been absolutely terrible this year (9.10 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, .328 BAA) and was on the Padres 15-day DL with shoulder problems at the time of the trade. At the same time, those shoulder problems could explain away the terrible line. Here are some interesting snippets from his ESPN.com scouting report:During an impressive rise through the minors, he was expected to one day be one of the [Astros'] best pitchers, with a two- and four-seam fastball, hard-breaking curve and slider. . . . Astros officials still believe he has great stuff and can be a strong No. 4 or 5 pitcher.Redding turned in a solid season for Houston in 2003, posting a 3.68 ERA and 5.94 K/9 in 32 starts at age 25, and he holds a minor league career K/9 of 10.80. The problem is his control of both his pitches (career 3.71 BB/9 in the majors, 4.45 BB/9 in the minors) and his emotions (think Jeff Weaver). Still, at age 27, having now passed through two organizations in a matter of months after spending his entire career in the Astros system, there is hope that Redding can put it all together. Certainly the Yankees haven't risked anything to find out if he can.
Redding actually had one strong outing for the Padres this year. Starting against the Rockies in Petco Park (not exactly the Red Sox in Fenway) back on May 3, Redding posted this line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, 71 percent of 95 pitches for strikes. In his final outing as a Padre (just his second since being activated from the DL), Redding came on in relief against the Dodgers in LA and pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings allowing just one baserunner via a walk and striking out two. So there's some lightning in this bottle, though the fact that I felt that his relief appearance in LA was worth mentioning should tell you something about how likely it is we'll see a flash tonight.
How about Sheffield/Matsui/A-Rod/Giambi if alternating L and R is the goal?
Hope Steve is feeling better.
Oh Cliff, thanks for the info on Pavano, I must have missed it.
Marcus, it was really a Melky error (and an awful one).
Hey, maybe the Sox hitters will be too tired from batting 90 times tonight?
well... i suddenly wish i did have cable - so i could watch another game.
And, yes, who do they have up their sleeve to pitch on Sunday if May is pitching now? Mussina on not quite 3 days rest? Good god.
Meanwhile, Nixon's inside-the-parker was a sinking fly to center that Cabrera charged and made an awkward dive for. The ball knuckled at the mast minute (not that he seemed to have it measured anyway) and missed his glove entirely, rolling all the way to the wall in center. Nixon didn't run out of the box (can't figure out why) and still came in standing at home without a throw. Dreadful play by Melky, though I didn't notice Sheff backing him up at all.
Watching this game makes me think the Yanks will be lucky to finish ahead of the Rays.
Nice grab, Cano! Hope you're with the Yanks in two weeks.
Cliff, 15 runs? More like 20 runs.
I say we do that Chang-for-Kotsay deal after all.
and lucky me!!! i get to watch tomorrow's game on TV as well!!!
Bottom line: If RJ is the old RJ, we get a split on the series. Considering we are in Fenway with FOUR pitchers out, a split is just fine.
We need to just stay close for 2 weeks until we get some pitching back. We just need a win tomorrow.
If Leiter is cheap lets het him. Can't hurt. He's got game and knows NY.
Cliff, I couldn't find Goldman's email on his blog. The only place to comment is on message board. Does he check it?
The only good news is that Kevin Brown appears to be slated to pitch Monday according to Klepner. If that's true, that's three decent starters with Pavano hopefully back soon. Start praying for rain. Who goes for the Sox tomorrow night? (Please, please, please not Wakefield)
oldprofessor@wholesomereading.com.
I agree with Cashman's public statement about Leiter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/sports/baseball/16pins.html
[...]
If they chose, the Yankees could probably make a trade for Al Leiter, who was designated for assignment by Florida on Thursday. But trading for Leiter now, before the Marlins release him, would force the Yankees to take on the rest of his $8 million contract, which seems unappealing.
"I haven't had any conversations with Florida," General Manager Brian Cashman said. "We'll just leave it at that."
TommyL, the Upcoming Schedule on the sidebar may have stand-in Yankee pitchers, but it has the Red Sox probables right.
Yanks expected to obtain Leiter
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