NOW IS OUR SEPTEMBER!

As you know by now, the Yankees called up first baseman Greg Bird, a powerful hard-hitting prospect who impressed during the spring, and who is hitting .301 at AAA Scranton. Read BIRDMAN COMETH for more. It’s a much-deserved call-up and I’m excited about its prospects.  However, the promotion raises some additional questions that I’d be more than happy to pose to GM Brian Cashman if given the opportunity.

If this call-up is being done with the hope of giving a spark to what has been a recent lifeless offense, then why aren’t we also seeing Jose Pirela, Rob Refsnyder or Slade Heathcott being called up as well?  God knows that the Yankees’ 2nd base and outfield positions have been gathering hits at about the same rate as the Sahara desert gathers rain water.

Pirela, for one, has been perhaps the hottest hitter at Scranton, batting .394 over the past 10 games (as of this writing) and hitting .341 overall for the RailRiders.  Both Refsnyder and Heathcott have already shown they can handle big league pitching, and at the very least offer the Yankees a legitimate chance for production from the second base and center field spots.

Also called up in the past week was Chris Capuano.  He apparently is Brian Cashman’s Scott Proctor version 2.0.  I can only wonder what about his prior 5.12 ERA with the club was appealing enough to want more?  

In the meantime, as Capuano enjoys his front seat view of real big league pitchers, Scranton has a 24-year-old left-handed reliever by the name of James Pazos who carries a 1.35 ERA and has struck out 28 in 26 innings over 16 games.  He was promoted from Trenton where he had thrown for a 1.86 ERA.  Clearly he’s on the fast track.  Why not bring him up where he’ll offer more of an option for manager Joe Girardi than “Proctor Junior”?

Look, the Blue Jays are legit.  They did what it takes to win prior to the trade deadline while the Yankees stood pat.  It’s not so much that the Yankees didn’t make a deal that has me perplexed as it is that the Yankees haven’t made any changes to the status quo in house.  They’ve wisely decided to save their prospects while at the same time ignorantly passed on giving those prospects an opportunity to show their worth.

We can’t wait for the September call-ups to hope for our boost of energy.  The 6 ½ to 7 ½ game lead in the AL East we once enjoyed has evaporated, and now we are in the position of having to be the “hunter” rather than the “hunted”.  We fell asleep at the wheel and Toronto blew by us.  We can’t remain asleep or soon they’ll be out of reach. Last night, Carlos Beltran reminded up all, that we can do this!

Our veterans have carried us well into the dog days of summer, but their tanks are now quickly approaching “E”.  We need the influx of the stars we have in Scranton to give the team the energy for a final run to the division crown.

NOW is our September.


    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1




 
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