Pitcher Problems: Igawa & Albaladejo

“The plan is for him to start again in five days, but sometimes … I mean, that’s the plan,” Girardi said.

Hmm, words of confidence from Kei Igawa’s manager.

So the Yankees tried something new, giving Kei Igawa a shot against the Tigers, only to see him give up 6 ER in 3 IP. Igawa looked awful as the Tigers tee’d off against him and you could tell from the get go that it was going to be brutal. Anyone who gives up 11 hard hits in 3 IP isn’t going to do well now and they probably won’t do well later. I think the Yankees know that and after watching tonight’s game, I doubt they’ll have Igawa start next week. In fact, I’ll be surprised if he isn’t traded in the next month or so (to the San Diego Padres). The Yankees will likely ship him back to Triple-A and recall another. Hopefully, with a few good starts in the minors the team will be able to build Igawa’s trade value so that they could at least get a bag of balls for him (or maybe some towels for the clubhouse).

I was all for bringing Igawa up, not for him to get a chance to pitch, but for him to give the bullpen a break after it was abused by rookie ineffectiveness and he couldn’t even do that. In fact, Jonathan Albaladejo who has been fairly solid this year when the Yanks needed him, actually injured himself after relieving Igawa and he’ll be placed on the 15-day DL (Chris Britton will finally get a chance to pitch for an extended period of time). So, in the end, the Kei Igawa experiment (much like the Carl Pavano, Jared Wright, Randy Johnson, Jeff Weaver, Javier Vasquez, Kevin Brown, etc., experiments) looks like it’s coming to an end in the not too distant future.

There’s really nothing left to say other than good riddance.