Pete A at LoHud reports Jeff Karstens is feeling well and anxious to do a few rehab appearances.  Phil Hughes will not be ready to throw for a little while, but it won't be long.  Ian Kennedy is coming back.

So in a couple weeks our starter list looks like: Wang, Pettitte, Moose, Rasner, Kennedy, Karstens, Hughes, Joba?.  That looks a lot like eight to me, for 5 slots.

Last nights loss followed Pettitte with Britton, Veras, and Edwar Ramirez.  To me Britton looks like he deserves some more innings, as does Ramirez.  Veras has had a good outing and a shaky one, but has the kind of arm which should get him a decent look.  Even with Bruney and Albaladejo hurt we have more arms than slots, with a bunch of talent rehabbing from Tommy John. If Joba leaves the pen some starter in the list above has to go to the pen or the minors.

Pitching in the minors can help with developing talent but there are limitations.  Once a pitcher gets where the Trinity were last year or Rasner was this spring they need to face Big League hitters.  They are different than minor leaguers because they are so much better and smarter.  To keep developing these guys need to pitch in the majors.

So, what are we going to do with them?  I hate seeing Chris Britton on the Scranton shuttle.  He has too many walks but I think he can pitch in the big leagues.

I wonder if there will be any market for Hawkins.  Is there any  market for turning several of the more marginal guys into a top guy somewhere?

The Yankees do have needs for the future in the outfield and at catcher, but I really like Cano and Gonzalez and Arod for a long time.  I think Jscape is right that Jeter or Posada will end up playing first.  Derek could play outfield if he would.

The current baseball world is one of parity.  It is not clear how the Yankees will be able to find another period of dominance.  Maybe part of the answer is the glut of young talent, at least on the mound.

We just saw some guy with low to medium velocity win his 350th game. 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=280510125

We know Maddox is a first round hall of famer.  But we, and almost everyone else, fall into the trap of thinking "Rasner does not have the stuff to get out major league hitters consistently."

I know it's only 2 games but he has looked like a front line big league starter.  He gives us 4 guys we can start and hope for a quality start.  Who would have guessed our best 4 May starters would include Moose and Rasner?

So, how is he doing it?  I guess it's good control, maybe very good control.  It is very efficient pitching.  By that I mean strikes and keeping his pitch count down.  I think he's in the rotation for a while.

We are still short one starter.  I do not think I'd bring IPK back after only one start, or on short rest for Friday.  So we have a game against the Mets to do something with.  I'd like to see Dan Giese, but I know it's a gamble.

Meanwhil as we move toward the return of IKP and Hughes gets of the DL and Joba gets ready to start we have a lot of decisions to make.  The old saw is you can never have too much pitching, but this is going to give us a lot to talk about.

Hey everyone,

I have never been to Yankee Stadium and am planning on going this summer to add it to my list of stadiums before it's torn down

I wanted to go on the tour on July 8th, but they are sold out. Does anyone know any tricks or tips that I can try so I can get on the tour? I really don't want to miss out on a YS tour, so any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!

Also, since tickets for the 8th and 9th are sold out, I am scalping a ticket. I don't want to spend a lot of money, and the prices look like that means staying in the upper deck. My question is what's best, and what should I avoid?

Any advice or assistance with my questions would be fantastic!

Thank You!

-StadiumGuru

Clearly it's because his performance at Scranton made him the obvious choice.  Well, I guess that's not it.

Then it's cause we needed someone and he was the best available?  Well, no, a look at the Scranton pitching stats seems not to support that.

He's lefty, and we really wanted a lefty!  Well, no, Henn had better SW stats and we DFA'd him.

Has anybody got any idea what these guys are thinking?  I know we spent on him, but letting him pitch in the bigs just reminds us how bad that decision was. I can forgive signing him.  I cannot forgive letting him blow more games.

He's had enough time to straighten out.  He's not a young, inexperienced player.  If he were going to make it we'd know by now.

Let's get this guy off the 40 man and get IPK, or Giese, or White in for that next start. I'd rather see Wells than him.

Really, enough is enough.

Consider me the lone voice of dissent in saying that while Wells himself is not the right move, throwing the young guns into the mix to see if one of them can handle the challenge isn't either. Let's see IPK string another couple victories together in Scranton. White and Marquez aren't ready yet either; otherwise, nobody in their right mind would have put Igawa on the mound yesterday. Rasner did well last go-round, and hopefully he can fill the #4 slot for a bit. McCutch and the rest: Let's discuss in July.

Here's the point:

The idea of bringing in a veteran, in my view, is about letting the young guns develop at their own pace. This is not Tampa, and we're not the Rays. I saw the long list RAB put up the other day, laying out all the in-house talent they'd prefer to give a shot over Wells. While I'd probably pick AAA talent over tub-o-goo, let's get real about how one a.) develops young talent and b.) does it in NYC.

The Yankee organization needs to stop over-compensating for years of larding the roster with overage stars by suddenly putting all of the onus on the young guns.

Okay, the ship has partially sailed. That's a given. And hopefully, IPK can get back into the swing, Rasner can hold down the fort and Hughes can get his mojo back. But organizationally, this focus on throwing kid after kid into the breach is sort of like trench warfare. Yeah, sooner or later, somebody's going to get through, but the attrition rate is too high.

Let's be smart about it. And let's give these kids a lot bigger net. Because it's all a game of expectations. Last year, IPK and Hughes had far less, and they won the expectations game. This year? Not so much.

Has anyone watched ESPN today? They were reporting that David Wells had approached Hank about pitching for the Bombers for stint number 3. The report also said Hank approved but had yet to approach the rest of the brass about Wells. It also said he lost 25lbs which i thought was funny but i dont what to think about this. Good? Bad? What do you guys think? God knows we could use a little help in the rotation, i mean who couldn't, but David Wells? Is that the answer?

Pilgrimage with my dad to Shea and Yankee Stadium in June 29th & 30th - Yankees at Mets and Rangers at Yankees....

Subway series is sold out, so I'm looking at ticket brokers.

Never been there.  Tickets are expensive, so I don't want to get seats that stink.  Any advice on best seats or better yet, what to avoid?  ie:  obstructed views, etc.

Also, is the Yankee Stadium tour worth it?

I would appreciate any input you may have

Thanks!

Ed got me thinking about why I'm a bit disengaged this year. The process of developing young talent is always a bit of a trial, no matter how strong a fan one may be.

But that, I think, is really only part of the issue. I can live with a young group of players. However, we're also breaking in a new pair of owners and a new manager. The whole organization, in my view, is up in the air a bit. In fact, there's an argument to be made that the Yanks have the third best organization just in the AL East.

Curious what everybody else thinks...

Nady can play 1B and is better defensively in RF than is Abreu.  He's also on a hotter offensive tear than either Abreu or Giambi (though Abreu has still been one of our better hitters so far this season).  There are often rumors he could be traded to a contender.  Should it be our Yankees?

And to fill up the stupid length requirement, I will just type another sentence that is nineteen words long.

The test a quote from "Damn Yankees", that's what the team needs.

The Yankee offense is struggling.  Arod is our only real righthanded power threat.  Posada hits right against lefties and fills that need too.  So having them both out at the same time is a problem.

This makes it a very bad time for Shelly to slump.  Frankly, much as I like the kid, I'm not sure he's a big league hitter. Molina never figured to hit.  Morgan Ensberg has been a good right hand hitter, but that's a while ago, and he's hitting about .220 this year in light duty.

Derek is doing a solid job but with no righties for the lineup and Giambi and Cano both looking as hopeless as Shelly the wait for Arod and Jorge looks to be long and quiet.

It is a hard time of the year to trade for a good player.  I do not want to sign the obvious right hand hitter with no team.

What do you guys think of giving Matt Carson or Justin Christian a few at bats.  Is this a better idea than playing the current crew and waiting for somebody to snap out of it go on a tear? 

For years I have watched teams giving slumping players a couple days on the bench to give them a fresh start.  I think this offense will be OK in the long run.  But I am starting to doubt it will produce the 900 runs our preseason optimism was based on.  Right now we need a spark from somewhere.

I saw the Tuesday game vs Cleveland and the team looked flat, or tired.

I saw a pieace where Damon was taking responsibility.

Damon is a stand up guy (who loves the spotlight) but he's not the problem.  Niether is Jeter, Matsui, Abrue, Melky.

What we really need is Joe Hardy.  If the wrong guy made me the right offer.......