Joba looked rusty yesterday, needing 33 pitches to get through an inning and a third. He managed to walk 3 and give up 3 hits while doing it, which I guess is impressive because you'd think you'd need more pitches to allow that many baserunners.
Hughes missed his spot with one pitch, a solo homer, and walked another, but otherwise looked decent.
Calm down, it's the 6th of March. We've got a month before we need a 5th starter.
I've always been fascinated by the art of scouting, in part because detailed scouting reports have always been such a realm of mystery. Baseball teams guard their reports the way football teams protect their play books.
Frankie Pilliere of Fanhouse is a former scout, and he gives a full breakdown of Aroldis Chapman.
Chapman has the makings of three plus pitches, and a chance to be very durable given his large frame and how easily he produces velocity. He should be developed in the minors for a period of time as a starter. Backing up third base, not getting lazy with his mechanics and learning when to slow the game down when things go wrong -- these are all things Chapman has to work on and struggled with in his spring training debut. He has flaws that should be fixed.
The pitching-rich Yanks chose to pass of Chapman because of those flaws and his asking price. There are plenty of projects already in the system. I wish the best for Chapman, but I hope I don't have Fred McGriff moments every time he takes the mound.
Don't forget, the Hot Stove never ended for some players this off-season.
Some interesting pieces:
Position Players: Joe Crede, Nomar Garciaparra, David Dellucci, Gary Sheffield, Rocco Baldelli
Pitchers: Noah Lowry, Braden Looper, Pedro Martinez
Not saying the Yanks would, could, or should sign any of these guys, but I'd have never though names like this or talent like this would be on the outside of Spring Training looking in.
Through MLBTR, comes a link to an article in Spanish called "The New Jonathan Albaledejo" about why Jonny Alby trimmed down this offseason.
My Spanish isn't great, but here goes nothing:
La decisión de trabajar en su físico vino luego que los Yanquis le negaran el permiso para ver acción en la liga invernal boricua. Imposibilitado de lanzar en la Isla, decidió trabajar arduamente en su físico.
The decision to work on his shape (conditioning?) came after the Yankees denied permission to see action in the Puerto Rican (boricua) Winter League. Stopped from pitching on the Island, he decided to work arduously on his shape.
You hear about how the Winter Leagues help players stay in shape, but the Yanks decided to switch things up for Alby. Will see if action translates into results; remember all those years Jeter tried to bulk up?