Let The Kids Live

From Joel Sherman (NY Post):

The White Sox’s season was saved by a pair of young pitchers who were a combined 7-18 with a 5.43 ERA a year ago. The 2008 White Sox continued to play into October because when faced with their Phil Hughes-Ian Kennedy situation in 2007, they did not punt.

Instead, Chicago continued to believe in John Danks and Gavin Floyd, who honored that faith by winning games No. 162 and 163 of this season – elimination games for the White Sox. The duo finished 29-17 with a 3.59 ERA in 2008. Danks is 23, Floyd is 25 and suddenly you see why the growing pains were so worth enduring.

Which brings us to Hughes and Kennedy. I have no idea whether they are going to be any good. They might turn out to be latter day versions of Wade Taylor and Jeff Johnson. But I also think it is foolhardy to decide their stories have been completely written based on 2008. Each may get worse. Each may stay the same. Each may blossom.

“They were over-hyped last year and now their demise is being over-exaggerated,” an AL executive said. “Both are young, and going through the natural process, which is usually to struggle when you are young. They could be productive major league starters next year.”

While I like this comparison, I would look to the Twins to see a better one. Their very effective rotation featured a group of extremely young starters like Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn, Glen Perkins and Scott Baker, all of whom have hit rough patches in the past. At the end of the day, just give the kids a chance, seriously. It would be a sunk investment to give up on them now. Let them start 2009 at the minor league level and we’ll take it from there.

Randomness

From Jon Heyman (SI):

There’s going to be a feeding frenzy for Hardy, as the Brewers also have Alcides Escobar, a more classic shortstop, ready to go. Moving Hardy to second base is another option that could be explored. In any case, I wouldn’t be so quick to trade Hardy.

So, if the Yankees move Robinson Cano, how about trading for J.J. Hardy and moving him to second? That’d be an excellent way to recoup on the loss of Cano, especially when you consider how good J.J. is both offensively and defensively. Then, of course, Hardy can take over for Derek Jeter when Jeter’s time is up at SS. Yeah, random, I know, but as Yankee fans, we might as well have fun speculating since, you know, our season is over…

Would You Trade Nady?

Joe P. from RAB (and MLBTR) brings us a pretty fun Xavier Nady rumor. Basically, Mark Bowman wrote that the Atlanta Braves might be interested in acquiring Nady. They were reportedly interested in him before the Yanks nabbed him from the Pirates, so this is isn’t necessarily an unfounded rumor. I actually thought about this idea of trading Nady the other day (seriously, I did!) but figured it was crazy since Nady actually hit well with RISP, when compared to others on the team (and his overall numbers were decent).

To make this short and sweet, I wouldn’t trade Nady unless it was for an established pitcher (and a young one, at that). For instance, if the Royals would give up Zack Greinke for Xavier Nady (if he was open to signing an extension with KC and if Abreu was still available), then maybe I’d consider it (highly unlikely). But, right now, I’d keep the guys who can hit in big spots and Nady did that for us in 2008. Let’s give him a full year to work with. He may not have hit his pinnacle point yet.

Rumors Running Rampant

From Ken Rosenthal (FOX Sports):

The idea of the Pirates adding Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano makes sense; the team could attempt to reconstruct its entire middle infield this offseason, trading both shortstop Jack Wilson and second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

The Pirates, however, would not deal center fielder Nate McLouth for Cano, and they will not move McLouth at all unless it was for “a dramatic overpay,” according to a baseball executive with knowledge of the team’s plans.

These ideas pertaining to Robinson Cano are starting to make no sense. I don’t have much faith in the Cano for Kemp or Cano for McLouth rumors (clearly, according to Rosenthal, the Pirates wouldn’t like that idea and neither should the Yankees, by the way). If Cano is going to be traded it’s going to be for a pitcher unless he’s coupled together with others for a huge deal (a package of players). The Yankees are going to have to do something to get younger, but I don’t see how trading their more established, young position players for other young position players will do that.