What on earth did the Yankees scouts see in this guy that amde them think he was worth a 25 million dollar posting fee? Unless for some reason his stuff has regressed signifcantly in America. He has a pretty fringy fastball and not very good control of it, a little above average change thats not quite as effective cause the fastball isn’t all that fast, and from waht I’ve seen a show me curve at best. It’s not like his command in the strike zone is great and it would have to be great for him to get away witht eh kind of junk he throws most nights. I heard a Kaz Ishii compa nd it seems fairly accurate although Ishii has a better curve and Igawa has a better change.

Igawa’s terrible.  He could easily have given up 6 runs instead of 3 last night.

Anyone heard Proctor to Oakland for Dan Johnson rumors?

Sign me up for ‘no.’ When he’s got it together, Proctor is a good part of the pen. I’m convinced his ‘streakiness’ is a result of Torre ‘moron-ness.’

Give Igawa a little more credit.  He is a lefty who can consistently throw 91, which automatically makes him useful.  He also showed a very good slurvey looking curve at times in yesterdays game.  He just lacks consistency and his changeup is not going enough to be a ‘putaway’ pitch.

He spotted the fastball very well when establishing strike 1 and strike 2.  Wasn’t he 0-2 on like half the batters he faced?  Then he would fall behind as hitters fouled off all his offspeed junk.  Culminating in either: a hit off of a misplaced fastball, or a walk as he bounced a changeup or threw a curveball over posada.

What did Scouts see in Igawa?  Well in the J-League they would have seen a guy who was a cy young winner, that routinely topped the strike out charts, worked quickly, threw strikes, didnt walk anybody, and possessed some sort “5th gear” that allowed him to throw 2 hour complete game shut outs because a new video game was coming out that day.

There was nothing to suggest that he couldn’t be a capable 5th starter.  4 million a year is a bargain for a 5th starter, but unfortunately he hasn’t even lived up to those very low expectations.

yeah, Igawa looks like a bust, but it was fairly predictable that Glaus would give him problems.  and the best ball that Glaus hit last night was off of Mariano.  that was crushed. 

also, he had Wells struck out before Glaus’ first HR.  that pitch was right over the plate and belt high.

he was pretty lucky in other instances, so that stuff evens out.  but it seems like he comes unglued at the first hint of trouble.

He’s a fashion emergency.  Someone should hide his glasses and cut his hair, then the real Kei Igawa will come out.  I think he has the Yankee/NY thing working against him mentally.  He has the stuff to be a decent #4 or 5 one day and his track record in Japan was strong.

“Give Igawa a little more credit.  He is a lefty who can consistently throw 91, which automatically makes him useful.”

Not if he has crappy command of that fastball, which he does, at least to my eyes.  He can throw strikes or throw balls.  He cannot, however, pick a particular strike to throw, or throw one *just* off a corner.  That’s the reason he gets rocked.

Torre also said he had not considered giving Viz the 8th inning role.  “Farnsie has the most experience doing that in the eight and the ninth; he was a closer too” adding “I’d have to see something really bad from him where he was very inconsistent, and I haven’t seen that.”  Huh?

Torre is just trying to prop up what little trade value farnsworth has.  they are trying to shop him.  even torre can’t be that dense.

So, where was the proctor trade brought up?  Do we really need another mediocre first baseman?  I don’t see what this guy would bring to the table.  He seems to be about as productive as we can expect from a slightly pessimistic outlook of Phillips.  Why would the yankees trade proctor for that?  I actually like him and would be really dissapointed if that happened.

“even torre can’t be that dense”

Miguel Cairo, everyday 1st baseman
HR-prone Javier Vasquez coming in with the bases loaded
Jeff Weaver to pitch the 10th inning
Jose Vizcaino, lead-off hitter
Tanyon Sturtze
Enrique Wilson
comments?

Miguel Cairo, everyday 1st baseman, sometimes batting second

Yeah, the first baseman thing was aggravating, but batting second?  That almost killed me.

He seems to be about as productive as we can expect from a slightly pessimistic outlook of Phillips

i would agree if you swap pessimistic for optimistic.

how good do we think phillips is that an OPS+ of 105 over 900+ ABs is pessimistic for phillips?

but i don’t think the Yankees can actually afford to trade Proctor.  he gives too many quality innings.  but i think Johnson would be an upgrade at 1B that could help the team.  at the least, he’d be an upgrade at DH right now.

lol, the Frog.

I think the play right now is for bullpen help. I wonder if Karstens/Rasner can fit in at some point?

I like Rasner much better then Karstens.  I think Rasner might be a serviceable #5 starter or long relief guy whereas I don’t think Karstens is major league material based on his minor league stats.  Am I wrong?

What would Linebrink and Bard from San Diego cost?

What would Linebrink and Bard from San Diego cost?

We could try and get Meredith and Bard for Wil Nieves.  He’s only a little worse than Mirabelli…

We could try and get Meredith and Bard for Wil Nieves.  He’s only a little worse than Mirabelli…

Ha… Epstein should have been demoted to hot dog vendor after that move. Good under 30 catcher and a 23 year old pitcher for a sucky knuckeball catcher.

Unless a trade is made I’m betting Edwar gets sent down when Desalvo comes up, if not before.  Why not Torre doesn’t seem interested in finding out what he’s got.  At the very least I’d bet he’d be much more effective against lefties then Myers; who wouldn’nt.

The Proctor/Johnson deal is being talked about in the wake of the Kendall deal. Kendall is in the last year of a mistake contract by the Pirates. Backloaded at 13 million this year. The story is about how the A’s are in a re-tooling mode and Johnson is obtainable. Isn’t he a former Nebraska player? How’s his defense?  As for Igawa, he will be the best paid AAA player next year-hopefully. All this business about projections making the sense to acquire him doesn’t rub out the results. He is a gopherball machine. What really irritates me is the club acted on the wrong lefty from Japan and Boston locked him up. Terrible expensive scouting miscalculations. I am ready to swing one deal, Brian Cashman for John Schuerholz straight up.
As to dealing Proctor. This one could come back and bite. His biggest problem to me compared to last year is a slower fastball. He used to throw 95-6 with ease a year ago. Now it appears he’s rushing it to get to 93. That little bit of lost mph can be a difference maker when command becomes a casualty. It’s possible that he may regain it with rest either over the next month or two-if he gets some rest, or over the winter. I would only go for Johnson if the team was sure he’s the guy for the next few years. I’m not sure that he is. Personally I’m warming to the guy who jipped Jeter for the MVP. I guess he didn’t- some stupid writer from New Jersey did.

Trading Proctor would be a bad move right now….Farnsworth is the player that Cashman is trying to move…..Proctor is far more effective and reliable….Indeed he has moments that make you scream, however overall he’s really not that bad….The issue is how he’s used and how often he answers the phone….If St. Joe ever learned how to utilize his bullpen properly we’d see that the quality in the pen really is rather good…..But he’s always been fixated on a 3 man rotation ever since the Nelson, Stanton, Rivera haydays…..Igawa has become a head case right now….He’ll be better in year 2, as he’s finding out that MLB players are far more patient and selective than the hitters in his home land….More than anything else, he needs to keep the ball down…As we all know mistakes upstairs become big fly’s…..He’ll be an effective long relief, spot starter once he makes all the needed adjustments….Also he has to forget all the Dice-K hype…..

“More than anything else, he needs to keep the ball down…As we all know mistakes upstairs become big fly’s”

I don’t think he needs to keep the ball down, I think he needs to keep it out of the middle of the plate. He had plenty of swings and misses on his change up and away. The first HR Glaus hit was thigh high, but it was over the plate. Lots of his K’s come on high pitches, because when he hits his spots up there, his stuff is effective. His problem is that he can’t hit those spots with any sort of regularity and once his pitches come over the middle of the plate, it’s batting practice.

You’re right Cowboy to a degree..His K’s are a result of being ahead in the count and of course his change ( which is good ) expands the zone….It’s when constantly dicks around with nibbling is when he’s prone to get drilled….Also his setup pitches when he’s ahead in the count, are shit fastballs either in the dirt or so far removed from being hittable it’s really a waste…Frustrates the shit out of Posada, Guidry and all of us who watch him go into self destruct mode….I personally think he can be as good as Jamie Moyer and the likes of….He needs to understand & learn how to pitch in the Bigs…..

joeln—Proctor was hitting 95-96 last night.

The Yankees have officially signed Erubial Durazo btw:

http://pinstripespa.blogspot.com/2007/07/yankees-officially-sign-durazo.html

Cutter: I’m up for the liveblog tonight if you need it.

The Yankees have officially signed Erubial Durazo btw

get him a bat and let him DH for the next month.