Minor League Notes

A couple minor league notes as we steam on towards game time:

Last year's first round pick, Slade Heathcott, was promoted from Extended Spring Training to low-A Charleston. He made his 2010 debut last night, going one for five with a single. He made his lone hit count though, singling with the bases loaded in the tenth to give the RiverDogs a walkoff 5-4 win. Heathcott played center field, and batted leadoff.

This is similar to the plan the Yankees have used with last year's second round pick JR Murphy. Murphy was sent to Charleston in mid-May and has been splitting time between catcher and DH. The organization has said they wanted Murphy to get some experience playing in minor league stadiums and under lights before sending him to Staten Island when the short season NY-Penn League starts up this summer. Heathcott is likely getting the same treatment.

Elsewhere in the minors yesterday, 2007 first round pick Andrew Brackman continued his recent hot streak. He went five scoreless innings last night, giving up just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. Over his last five starts, he's posted a 1.65 ERA over 27.1 IP, allowed 22 hits and 5 walks, and struck out 26.

Hillman Fired; What's Next?

In the season's least surprising turn of events thus far, yesterday the Royals sacked skipper Trey Hillman, just days after he was given the dreaded vote of confidence from GM Dayton Moore. In two plus seasons at the helm, Hillman was just 152-207 (.423), including 12-23 this year, good for the second worst record in baseball.

Hillman certainly wasn't chiefly culpable for the mess that is the Royals, but he wasn't doing much to help either. Even with the bad hand he was dealt in KC, Hillman didn't do himself any favors. Perhaps it was his lack of prior Major League experience. Perhaps it was a bad attitude. Perhaps it was his poor relationships with his players. Perhaps it was simply his pattern of questionable or downright indefensible decisions. Perhaps no one could take him seriously while he sported such a badass 'stache.

Whatever the cause, Hillman deserved the axe sooner or later. His contract was set to expire at the end of this season, and barring something wholly miraculous, he had little to no chance of returning next season anyway. It was probably in Kansas City's best interest to make this move now rather than wait until the end of the season. But make no mistake, a change of managers isn't going to magically cure all that ails this organization.

All of this is a far cry from when Hillman was hired following the 2007 season. After a successful twelve year career as a minor league manager, Hillman took over the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan's Pacific League in 2003. In five seasons in the Far East, Hillman's club made three post-season appearances, twice reached the Japan Series, and took home the championship in 2006. He was something of hot commodity when the Royals inked him to a three year deal on October 19, 2007.

The day before, Joe Torre refused the Yankees' one year offer to return as manager in 2008, and for the first time in twelve years, the Yankees' managerial job was open. Had Hillman not already been past the point of no return in negotiations wth the Royals, he likely would have joined the trio of Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly, and Tony Pena as candidates for the Yankees' job.

Two and a half years later, it's easy to look back and be relieved that Hillman never made it into that mix. I certainly wouldn't trade out Girardi for him, or for either of the other candidates for that matter. But that doesn't mean that Hillman isn't a good baseball man, and it doesn't mean that he won't be of some future value, in another role, to a different organization.

Hillman joined the Yankees organization as a minor league coach in 1989. The next year he was promoted to manager of the short-season Oneonta team, where he won the NY-Penn League championship. He spent twelve years as a manager in all levels of the Yankees' system, with stops at Greensboro, Prince William, Tampa, Norwich, and Columbus. He had three first place finishes, three playoff appearances, and one championship. But more importantly, he oversaw the development of future Yankee stalwarts like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada, as well as one-time prospects like Carl Everett, Ricky Ledee, Ruben Rivera, Mike Lowell, and Eric Milton.

He's still well-regarded in the Yankee organization, has a good relationship with Brian Cashman, and prior to getting hired by the Royals, was in regular contact with the Yankees G.M. His time in Kansas City can't be considered anything but a failure, but that doesn't mean he isn't still a good baseball man. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him end back with the Yankees in some sort of roving instructor or player development role.

Minor League Round Up

Good morning Fackers. Full season minor leagues had their Opening Night last night, and the Yankees had their AAA, AA, high A, and A teams in action. The organization went four for four on the night, sweeping their slate of games.

• Jesus Montero made his AAA debut, catching and batting sixth. He doubled in his first at bat, then went 0 for 2 the rest of the way. Scranton beat Buffalo, the Mets' affiliate, 1-0 behind a David Winfree home run and a combined shutout from Ivan Nova, Mark Melancon, Boone Logan, and Jonathan Albaladejo. For Opening Night at least, the infield was Kevin Russo, Eduardo Nunez, Reegie Corona, and Juan Miranda from third to first. Colin Curtis, Greg Golson, and Winfree were the outfielders with Jon Weber DHing. Here's the full Scranton roster at present, courtesy of Pending Pinstripes.


• Recently acquired Chad Huffman was not in Scranton's line up last night, presumably because he hadn't arrived yet. Padres' assistant GM and Moneyball superstar Paul DePodesta had some comments on Huffman yesterday, and Rob Neyer extrapolated on them.


• Back to Montero, RAB's Mike Axisa, in his other gig over at MLBTradeRumors, took a look at Montero's status as a blocked prospect.


• Elsewhere in Scranton, Kei Igawa is heading to the bullpen. While Bronx Baseball Daily's Chris Barrows is in favor of the move, I don't like it. Igawa would be no better than the club's third best option for a lefty reliever, behind Boone Logan and Royce Ring. Behind them at AA are southpaws Wilkins Arias and Wilkin De La Rosa. Igawa is of even less value to the Yankees as a reliever. He's proven to be a successful starter at the AAA level, but a disaster in the Bronx. By no means should he be in the Scranton rotation ahead of more viable prospects, but if nothing else he can serve as an innings eater there. If he's of no value doing that, it's high time the Yankees flip him to a lesser club that has some use for him. He's not going to hack it in the Bronx; his posting fee and contract are sunk costs; the club might as well take a flier on a C-level prospect in exchange for him.


• Ivan Nova left his start last night after only four innings, but don't fret, he was pulled after a rain delay. Trenton wasn't quite so lucky with their starter, as their 4-o victory was marred by a sixth inning elbow injury to starter Christian Garcia. It's just the latest in long line of injuries for Garcia, and unfortunately the early returns are that it's pretty serious. Garcia has always had great stuff, prompting this glowing review from former scout Frankie Piliere earlier this spring. But since being drafted in 2004 Garcia has topped 65 IP just once - in 2005 - missed all of 2007, and threw just 25 innings last year. He's on the Yankees 40 man roster and since he was injured in minor league play, he cannot be transferred to the 60 day DL to clear a roster spot. If he is indeed out for the year the Yankees would either have to recall him and DL him, or DFA him to clear the spot.


• Prospects Austin Romine, David Adams, Brandon Laird, and Damon Sublett all made their AA debuts last night. Romine and Adams had a base hit apiece, Laird had two, and Sublett took the collar. Reid Gorecki, the odd man out in Scranton's outfield crunch, is also on the Trenton roster after seeing action in 31 Major League games for the Braves last year.


• High A Tampa also won via shutout, taking a 4-0 victory over Lakeland. Hector Noesi, added to the 40 man roster in the off season, went six strong innings, allowing two hits, a walk, and fanning six. He's the most likely candidate to take Garcia's spot in Trenton.


• Charleston was the only affiliate to allow a run last night, beating Lexington 5-2. Charleston's roster is comprised mostly of last year's draft picks who played at short-season Staten Island last summer. Slade Heathcott is not amongst them at present, as he'll begin the season in Extended Spring Training.

We don't do a ton of minor league coverage here, but with last night being Opening Night and the big club having an off night, today was a good day to go through this. For day-to-day minor league coverage be sure to check out Mike's nightly Down on the Farm post at RAB as well as Greg and Sean's work at Pending Pinstripes. Further, both Scranton and Trenton have excellent beat writers providing great coverage. Donnie Collins takes over for LoHud's Chad Jennings at The Times-Tribune, and Mike Ashmore maintains Thunder Thoughts.

Minor League Run Scoring Environments

Over at the Hardball Times, Justin Inaz put together an excellent piece on the run scoring environments throughout the various minor leagues. If you pay attention to minor league ball, you know that the Pacific Coast League is notorious for being a "hitter's league", while the Florida State League is a much tougher run scoring environment. Thanks to Justin's work, we now have a snapshot of what the differences were in aggregate from 2007 to 2009.

The Yankees have teams in the Florida State League (High A Tampa), Gulf Coast (Rookie - also Tampa), International (AAA Scranton) and NY-PA (Short Season Staten Island) Leagues, which are the four lowest scoring leagues in the minors. They also have teams in the Eastern (AA Trenton) and South Atlantic (Low A Charleston) which are in the lower half of the bunch as well.

This means that Yankee pitching prospects who put up excellent numbers generally aren't quite as impressive as a hitting prospect who is doing the equivalent on the other side of the ball. And also that a pitcher in the Pacific Coast League with the same numbers as a Yankee farmhand in Scranton is likely to be pitching a whole lot better.

The difference between the Gulf Coast and Pioneer Leagues, which are both Rookie circuits is over 1.2 runs per game. Part of the reason is location. While the Gulf Coast League plays its games at or near sea level in humid conditions, the Pioneer League calls cities like Casper, Wyoming; Helena, Montana; and Idaho Falls, Idaho home, each of which is situated in the arid Northern Rockies at over 3,500 feet of elevation.

Of course, the size of the ballpark is also a major factor. Many clubs try to match their Big League parks to their minor league ones. This helps teams determine what kind of talent they have both offensively and defensive in the minors and eases the transition a bit when they finally call up their prospects.

The article at the Hardball Times also has a more detailed chart that includes the slash stats, home run rates and other pieces of data from the different leagues along with an explanation of the right column in the chart above - Base Runs. Check it out.

Minor Matters

Congratulations to the Tampa Yankees and Staten Island Yankees, who respectively won the high A Florida State League and short-season NY-Penn League Championships last night.

Meanwhile, the AAA Scranton Yankees are on the brink of elimination, down two games to none against the Durham Bulls. If there's any silver lining, it's that Ian Kennedy started last night's game, tossed three perfect innings, and fanned three before Kei Igawa came in to take the loss. The series now shifts back to Scranton for the final three games. If the Yanks pull back even they'll have to face top prospect Nuke LaLoosh in the deciding Game 5.

As always, Chad Jennings has all the coverage you could possibly want on Scranton.

The Big League Yanks have pretty well decimated Scranton's roster with September call-ups. Once Scranton's season is over, we could see Juan Miranda recalled as well, and if the Yankees get creative with the 40 man, possibly Kevin Russo or Austin Jackson too.

Minor League Round Up

We don't give as much attention as we should to the minor league system here. With today being a slow day for us and the minor league seasons winding down, here's a look at a few things going in the Yankees system:

• AAA Scranton won their semifinal playoff series against Gwinnett County (Braves) three games to one and will now face Durham (Rays) for the Governor's Cup. Despite having half their roster in the Bronx right now, Scranton is looking for their second consecutive International League title, as they beat Durham in the final last year. Top pitching prospect Zach McAllister made his AAA debut in Game 4 of the semis, and picked up the win in the clincher. The best of five championship series begins tomorrow.

• AA Trenton fell short in their push for a post-season berth, getting eliminated Labor Day weekend during the final series of the regular season. Trenton's elimination is somewhat functional for the organization though, allowing them to redistribute Trenton's roster to other levels, particularly AAA, where help is needed.

• High A Tampa is tied 1-1 in the best of five Florida State League Finals against Charlotte. In a surprise move, Ian Kennedy was activated to pitch Game 1 of this series. He was due to throw a simulated game that day anyway, so apparently the organization decided to let him face live hitters instead. He went two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and recording a K. Next stop for him is the Arizona Fall League as he returns from his aneurysm.

• Low A Charleston did not qualify for the post-season.

• Short-season Staten Island is in the New York-Pennsylvania League finals. The best of three series against Mahoning Valley (Indians) begins tomorrow.

• The Rookie League Gulf Coast Yankees lost their one game semi-final against the Marlins.

The Mascot Mystery Has Been Solved

Pssst. Fackers... Sorry, didn't mean to wake you, but I have some important news.

An anonymous commenter yesterday cracked the puzzle and identified the mysterious blue bastard in the stickball video. It's the mascot for the Tampa Yankees and it's name is simply "Blue".
Some other "interesting" "facts":

DOB: July, 4th 1923
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Weight: 401 LB
Favorite Movie: 61* and Pride of the Yankees
Favorite Music: Plutonian classic rock
Favorite Food: Scooter Dogs
Favorite Drink: Saturn Soda
Favorite Song: Take Me Out To The Ballgame
Favorite Color: Yankees blue
Favorite Player: Derek Jeter

Some more pertinent information:

Q: What is Blue?
A: He is an alien from Pluto who loves the Tampa Yankees

Q: Why can't Blue talk?
A: Although Blue is a huge Tampa Yankees fan, he has not mastered the languages on Earth

Q: Can Blue play baseball?
A: He was a 2004 Plutonian All-Star shortstop back at home but would rather watch and cheer on the Yanks now. (His big feet slow him down)

Q: What does Blue do when there is no game?
A: Blue visits children in the hospital, goes to schools, and loves to play catch!

Q: Where does Blue live?
A: In a secret hide-away under the stadium

Minor league teams need to do all they can to cater to families and such so I can't say I have much of a problem with this.

Okay, that is all. You can go back to sleep now.