Yankees Notes and Quotes

There is no pennant race in the Bronx but the news never sleeps:

• Yankees' prodigy Phil Hughes seeks redemption, tonight at the Stadium: "It's kind of almost the same as last year, just missing so much time, being frustrated." " I think it'd be uplifting for him. I think it's important for players to have carrots to reach for going into the off season."--Girardi. It will be "uplifting" for everyone if "The Franchise" demonstrates his alleged high-octane skill set. Should he go the Kennedy route, confidence will be hard to come by.
• Robinson "The Pinata" Cano is the poster boy for the Yankees' failures. It's hard to imagine him thriving in The Big Apple. The reversal of fortune from 2007 is staggering. "when Cano is very good he isn't really all that good, and when he's bad he's terrible. Cano's utter lack of interest in working the count or taking ball four, when combined with his streaky results, so-so power, and lack of speed, means that even at his best he makes a ton of outs and doesn't get on base all that often compared to the average player. The results are still above average, especially when compared with your typical second baseman, but the results are also deceptive and prone to being overrated."--NY SUN (Hattip, Baseball Think Factory) Cano wasn't a highly rated minor league prospect, twice the Yanks tried to package him in trades and were rejected both times. Torre and Bowa, clearly maximized his potential. Talk of trades are fantasy--his value is nill until proven otherwise. The fall from future building block to unmovable liablility is steep. Getting back up, in the Bronx, will be daunting.
• LoHud brings news of another new guy: "Miranda is a 25-year-old Cuban defector who signed with the team in 2006. He hit .287/.384/.449 for Scranton in the regular season with 12 homers and 52 RBI in 99 games. I don’t know that anybody considers him the first baseman of the future but maybe he’ll get a few at-bats down the stretch." Cody Ransom and Wilson Betemit have company on the bench.
• The next time the Yankees suggest austerity is the way to go (Santana/Beltran) remember this: "Although city officials and the Yankees hotly disputed many of the findings, the report concluded that the city and the state invested as much as $850 million in cash and tax breaks in the new stadium, which sits across 161st Street from the team’s historic home in the South Bronx...The use, however, of tax-exempt bonds, will provide the team with savings of about $181 million.."

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