Wednesday’s Bits: Giambi, Hughes, Trades

A quick set of notes:

• Remember to keep voting for Jason Giambi. Voting ends tomorrow.
• Phil Hughes is playing catch and should be in minor league games next month.
• Cashman had the following to say about possible trade scenarios:

Cashman said that the Yankees would remain connected to pursue any outside reinforcements that make sense, and he referred to Harden and Sabathia specifically as two that did not, for various reasons. “The two that just came off the board — Rich had been available and had a specific price for quite some time, and Sabathia developed rather late in the last month,” Cashman said. “Those weren’t surprise deals. In other cases, it’s an emerging market where some teams are still assessing what they want to do and should do, the direction they should take. We’ll stay in touch.”

More later…

AP Says One Thing, Hal Says Another

The Boston Herald flashed the following headline across its sport section:

Hal Steinbrenner disappointed in Yankees

After reading the article (an AP story), it was easy to see that at no point did Hal Steinbrenner (the less visible H. Steinbrenner) say that he was, in fact, disappointed with the team’s overall performance or their general level of play. What he did say, without using the term “disappointing” or any sort of phrase like it was the following:

“The young pitchers at the beginning of year,” he said, “it was upsetting at times. It wasn’t what we thought. It didn’t go exactly the way we thought it would go. But, you know, that’s the way it is. We’re highly confident in Kennedy and Hughes and that they’re going to come back strong when they do come back.”

That’s perfectly fine. I don’t like articles that use catchy headlines like, “Hal is disappointed in the Yankees,” when they really have no substance to them. Hal is not really disappointed with the way the team has played, citing injuries as the main culprit for the team’s woes (he does state that the team has been underperforming a bit). He’s disappointed that the Hughes-Kennedy experiment didn’t work (not the team), but as he said, “…that’s the way it is,” and you can’t do much about it as they are two very young starters.

A few moments after reading this story in the Herald, I saw another headline from Newsday.

Hal’s “very confident” about the Yankees’ chances this year

The two headlines (the Herald one, and this one) are basically polar opposites. However, upon clicking the text and reading the featured article, the content (what Hank said) was exactly the same, except without the negative title (negativity sells), as it took a direct quote from Hal’s statement for the Newsday headline. When asked about trading young talent for other players, Hal said the following.

“We’re hesitating to give up too much young talent, particularly, for someone who might be with us for only a couple of months, who we might not be able to sign, long-term,” he said. “It’s a balancing act. We’re doing the best we can. We’re very much in it, still. We’re very confident.“

Well, this Hal sounds “very confident” in his team, especially since he’s unwilling to part with valuable young prospects as the trade deadline nears. Maybe the AP should come up with some accurate headlines for once instead of cherry picking themes in a person’s statement (Hughes and Kennedy) and teasing out your own conclusions. OK, after ranting about that, here are some great statements from Hal about the future of the franchise. He seems to be financially reserved (and very aware of his young talent’s value) yet he’s certainly ready to spend in order to better the team.

While the Yankees have roughly $85 million coming off their payroll this coming winter, and another $26 million after 2009, Steinbrenner said that his family would continue to spend for top-notch talent.

“This is New York, and the fans deserve a team with marquee players,” he said. “We all understand that. I think where we want to end up is a tremendous mix of young talent and veterans.

“The veteran free agents, they cost money, and we realize that. We are going to have money coming off the payroll, and that’s going to give us some options. But believe me, we’re going to use a good portion of that to get this city the team it deserves.”

Yeah, he’s definitely a Steinbrenner. I hope CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira enjoy living in NY, because they’re going to be on this team come 2009.

Not Done Yet

Bobby Abreu’s only hit of the game was a big one. Abreu laced a walk-off double into center field to plate Derek Jeter and give the Yankees a 2-game sweep over the first place Rays. The Yanks have had 4 huge wins in a row, and outside of yesterday’s game (which was still a big win), 3 out of the 4 have been won in a dramatic fashion. Apparently, there’s still life in the bats, as the Yanks continue their mission to right the AL East.

With Hideki Matsui headed to Tampa in order to continue his rehab (another positive step), the team may also get some help sooner rather than later, although his status is still somewhat uncertain.

Bernie Update

From Jack Curry:

Bernie Williams will be making an All-Star appearance, but it will not be at Yankee Stadium. Williams, an accomplished guitarist, will be performing his music at Major League Baseball’s All-Star gala at the Museum of Natural History on Sunday night. He has no plans to be at the Stadium for the game on Tuesday night.
After Williams finished 2006 with the Yankees, he hoped to return in 2007. But General Manager Brian Cashman no longer wanted him. Williams felt that he should have been offered a guaranteed deal, but Cashman wanted to move forward with young players like Melky Cabrera. Since then, there has been a chilly relationship between Williams and the Yankees. Williams has stayed away from the Stadium for the last one and a half seasons.
While Williams is participating in the All-Star festivities, he was invited to perform by Major League Baseball officials, not the Yankees. At some point, the Yankees will probably want to honor Williams with a day at the Stadium and by retiring his number. But, for that to happen, Williams and the Yankees have to be on friendlier terms.

Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll see Bernie on Yankee Stadium’s final day, whether it’s during a special closing ceremony in November or the final game of the season. Hopefully, he and Brian Cashman will end their mini-feud and straighten things out. When you think back on Bernie’s last year (2006), offensively, you’d take that any day over Melky Cabrera’s current production (Bernie was 37 years old).

That’s sort of sad, in a way. Good thing for that glove, huh Melk-Man?

Matsui Tees Off

Hideki Matsui took a positive step in his journey back to the Yankees yesterday, taking 45 swings off of a tee. Afterwards, he reported that he was pain-free. The Yankees can certainly use Matsui’s bat and he stated that he could be back after the All-Star Break. We’ll see how he feels later today and hopefully his body will respond well. Matsui and Joe Girardi have not, however, ruled out surgery as an option if his knee continues to bother him.

Finding Fuentes

From Ed Price:

Colorado lefty reliever Brian Fuentes has drawn interest from the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, among other teams, according to an official from another American League team. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not directly involved, said the Rockies have scouted the Yankees system; one player of interest could be Double-A reliever Mark Melancon.

The Yankees have used just two left-handed relievers this year, Billy Traber and Kei Igawa. Lefties were hitting .318 against Traber going into tonight’s game, and Igawa is back in the minors.

Fuentes has held lefties to a .217 average in his career, including a .200 mark this year, and has not allowed a homer to a lefty since 2006.

I’m a big Brian Fuentes fan (the stats at the end of Price’s post say it all), but I doubt the Yankees would ship Mark Melancon to Colorado for Fuentes. Melancon is a highly regarded prospect that could be a future closer for the team. The Yankees are in a good place right now as their bullpen has really come through for them. They don’t necessarily need Fuentes at this point, especially with Farnsworth having a respectable year, so Melancon is probably safe in the system. However, I do believe that they’ll still go after him (you can never have too many strong BP arms), but for a lesser package or player.