Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Yanks Better Be Right on Granderson

Yanks Better Be Right on Granderson


By Mike Silva ~ March 29th, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Yankees.

I wouldn’t go as far to say, as Steve Lombardi of Was Watching speculates, the Curtis Granderson deal could be a modern day version of Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps, but the Yankees better be right.

For all the star power on the roster, the team traded away a great deal of depth that could help this season. In exchange for Boone Logan, Javier Vazquez, and Granderson they sent Ian Kennedy, Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, Michael Dunn, and Arodys Vizcaino. Jackson, Coke, and Kennedy are three individuals that could have helped this season and all three were dealt for Granderson. Jackson was named the starting centerfielder and leadoff hitter in Detroit this weekend. We have to be careful with spring training numbers, but this is how they have performed to date:

Austin Jackson: (1 HR, 4 RBI, .967 OPS, and .339 Batting Average) - won the starting centerfield job for the Tigers and will lead off.

Ian Kennedy: (2-1, 2.79) has walked only 4 and struck out 13 in 19 innings.

Phil Coke: (5.00 ERA in 9 innings) Numbers are ordinary this spring, but lefties only hit .195 against him last year.

Jackson profiles as a similar player to Granderson and doesn’t have the same extreme platoon splits. The Yankees pitching depth consists of Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves. I like Aceves, but Mitre is nowhere near a league average pitcher. I realize the Yankees have Zach McAllister in the minor leagues, however Ian Kennedy would be some good depth to have. Of course, Phil Coke was the most expendable, that was until Michael Dunn and Zack Kroenke were traded and left unprotected respectively.

There is no one in that group that can’t be bought, especially with the Yankees money, but if Granderson doesn’t pan out like everyone expects, and what we see in the spring from that group continues into the regular season, than it won’t be Phelps for Buhner, but not exactly the best Yankees deal in history.

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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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6 Responses to Yanks Better Be Right on Granderson

  1. Viper
    March 29th, 2010 at 10:54 am

    I liked Kennedy, but he’s better suited for the NL.

    You’ll see his numbers improve dramatically and all the mediots who didn’t think he was worth crap a year ago will opine in their little columns (and talk shows) why the Yanks traded this kid away.

    That would be typical of the NY media.

  2. Andrew Yankee Fan
    March 29th, 2010 at 11:00 am

    I think by June, Granderson’s numbers are going to just destroy Jackson’s. I was one of many yankee fans who did like Jackson and was sad to see him traded, but Jackson had a alot of question marks about his overall game (lack of power and lots of strikeouts).

  3. Don
    March 29th, 2010 at 11:10 am

    Ken Phelps was 33 when the Yanks acquired him for Jay Buhner. This comparison is laughable, as is most of what comes from Steve Lombardi.

  4. Rob D.
    March 29th, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    Lombardi is clueless. There is no comparison between these two situations whatsoever. Why anyone even bothers with his garbage is beyond me.

    Jackson’s absolute ceiling might be what Granderson is now (and it’s probably not even thatg high), but he has a very long way to go to reach that. Granderson is better now and is likely to better well into the future.

  5. Andrew Yankee Fan
    March 29th, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    waswatching.com is the biggest joke of a website offering opinions. Lombardi has a creepy obsession with Brian Cashman. Maybe he spurned him in the past or something. Lombardi always critcizes every move Cashman makes, and if it doesn’t work out he’ll continue to write about it and say, “Oh am I so smart”. But, when a move he criticized does pan out (i.e. Nick Swisher trade), he remains quiet and just brings up random stuff on why he hates Cashman.

    Is Brian Cashman perfect? Absolutely not. He is fair game to criticism? Absolutely. But when someone creates a site and acts as an arrogant, condenscending bigot and offers no objectivity, it gets old and stupid very quick. I’m surprised the site has been up since 05 and people actually visit it.

  6. Dhupads
    March 29th, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    The Yankees are a win-now team, and they will be in 2011 when Montero comes aboard. Did they want to deal with 2 youngsters in their lineup with Montero and Jackson (3 if you include Gardner)? Probably not.

    The best aspect of this trade, Granderson hits left handed, Austin Jackson hits right.

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