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Yanks Traded Wrong Pitcher to Arizona


By Mike Silva ~ December 23rd, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Yankees.

In March, ESPN’s Rob Neyer predicted that Ian Kennedy would finish with a better ERA than the Yankees fifth starter. Not only did Kennedy make good on Neyer’s prediction, but he finished with better numbers than Javier Vazquez and A.J. Burnett. If you measure his performance based on ERA+ he had a better season than Phil Hughes:

Year Age Tm W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO IP H ER HR BB SO ERA+ WHIP H/9 BB/9 SO/9
2010 25 ARI 9 10 .474 3.80 32 0 0 194.0 163 82 26 70 168 111 1.201 7.6 3.2 7.8
4 Seasons 10 14 .417 4.33 44 0 0 253.2 226 122 32 107 211 100 1.313 8.0 3.8 7.5
162 Game Avg. 8 11 .417 4.33 33 0 0 192 171 92 24 81 159 100 1.313 8.0 3.8 7.5
NYY (3 yrs) 1 4 .200 6.03 12 0 0 59.2 63 40 6 37 43 75 1.676 9.5 5.6 6.5
ARI (1 yr) 9 10 .474 3.80 32 0 0 194.0 163 82 26 70 168 111 1.201 7.6 3.2 7.8
AL (3 yrs) 1 4 .200 6.03 12 0 0 59.2 63 40 6 37 43 75 1.676 9.5 5.6 6.5
NL (1 yr) 9 10 .474 3.80 32 0 0 194.0 163 82 26 70 168 111 1.201 7.6 3.2 7.8
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/23/2010.

As Neyer pointed out, Kennedy has five pitches and a stingy 1.95 ERA during his minor league career. Regardless, the Yankees never liked his attitude, or believed he could be a winner at the big league level.

You know who should have replaced Kennedy in the Curtis Granderson deal? Joba Chamberlain. The production they received in middle relief from the inconsistent Chamberlain could easily be replicated with an inexpensive free agent, or with one of the young arms in the system.

I believe his comments in Anaheim back in 2008 essentially ended his Yankees career. Obviously the aneurysm in 2009 was a huge setback, forcing him to miss nearly the entire season. With only three reliable starters that season perhaps Kennedy would have been given a shot to prove he belonged in the rotation.

Yes, I am playing armchair quarterback, but it wasn’t hard to see as early as 2009 that Chamberlain was the weakest of the trio that included Hughes and Kennedy. I am sure Arizona is quiet happy with a pitcher that can win double digit ballgames, pitch 200 innings, and strikeout over seven per game for the league minimum.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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5 Responses to Yanks Traded Wrong Pitcher to Arizona

  1. Bryan L
    December 23rd, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Are you an idiot? Kennedy pitched in the lifeless NL West while Hughes pitched in the AL East.

    Awful, awful blog.

  2. Phil
    December 23rd, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    Bryan is right on that point. You can’t say Kennedy had a better season than Hughes when the difference in the competition is so drastic.

    And I know you stat-types love to dismiss W-L record, but you’re wrong to do so. W-L record is not the end all be all for a SP but it does have it’s place. Going 18-8 is an accomplishment, one that a first-year starting pitcher should be very proud of. There is an art to winning a game as a pitcher and Hughes seemed to show he had it. I would much prefer a guy who wins games than a guy who can’t seem to make that one big pitch when he needs to (see the Oakland A’s pitching staff).

    Let’s also not forget that up until mid-June/early-July (when you would assume a first-year SP would begin to tire) Hughes was having a Cy Young caliber season. In year 2, now that he should better understand how to deal with that fatigue, I think we should expect big things from Phil.

    But you are right on the Joba point. Kennedy as the 5 starter is a million times for valuable than Joba in middle relief. Stats show that Joba may have ran into a bit of bad luck but I don’t buy it. Consistently losing command of the strike zone and surrendering extra-base hits are bad signs for a pitcher. I don’t expect we will ever see a Joba who even slightly resembles the 2007 version again. I also would not be shocked if he is pitching middle relief for some garbage small-market team or even if he is out of baseball altogether in 3 years.

  3. Phil
    December 23rd, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    One more note, take a look at how Kennedy fared against AL East teams this year:

    Boston: 6IP 9H 6ER
    Tampa Bay: 5.1IP 2H 4ER

  4. Stu B
    December 23rd, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    Phil, have you ever taken a statistics class? If you did, you should know that 11.1 innings pitched is not a statistically significant sample and thus no basis for an argument – you’re basically talking 2 games.

  5. Mike Silva
    December 23rd, 2010 at 10:30 pm

    Even if you bump Kennedy’s ERA to 4.20, his innings (194) and strikeout rate make him a good back end of the rotation starter. Can’t you see him in the mold of Carl Pavano? The version in Minnesota of course.

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