Yankees: Looking for the Future

Over the past week the organization has had a bunch of injuries and/or transactions. So, I’ll list the earliest and arguably, for some of them, the least important ones here. The important ones are in bold, with reaction below.

06/11/08, AAA: RHP Jeff Karstens activated, RHP J.B. Cox placed on the 7-day DL with shoulder soreness
06/17/08 MLB: Chien-Ming Wang placed on the 15-day DL with a strained Lisfranc ligament and a partial tear of the peroneal longus, LHP Billy Traber recalled from AAA S/WB

AA: INF Kevin Russo placed on the 7-day DL with a depressed fractured of the Zygomatic arch near his left temporal bone, RHP Kevin Whelan promoted to  AA TRE
A: C Francisco Cervelli activated from the 7-day DL and as assigned to A TAM

First, let’s go with Cox. He’s coming back from TJ surgery, and, according to Nardi Contreras via Chad Jennings, this is expected with TJ rehabbers. Not much worry, but this is setting him back from a Major League promotion yet again. He should get his chance by year’s end.

Now with Traber. Yes, he’s a lefty with a new slider, and yes the Padres and Reds are chockful of lefties (Brian Giles, Adrian Gonzalez, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Adam Dunn, and Ken Griffey Jr.). But the guy has an 85MPH fastball out of the bullpen with a terrible slurvy curveball and the aforementioned slider, not to mention poor mechanics. David Robertson has been owning at AAA, with, in his last 16IP (covering 10 games), striking out 30 to a 1.06 WHIP. The guy’s stuff is really impressive, particularly the curveball. He isn’t Joba but he is a better option than Traber.

With Whelan and Cervelli, these are two players whose injuries have stunted their development for a while. Whelan was out for more than a month, and Cervelli for about two and a half. Both have questions about them that they have to answer, and the answers may not come this season. For Whelan, it’s control, which has been decent other than his five-walk outing. For Cervelli, it’s power and season-long endurance, the former which is difficult coming off a fractured wrist and is the only element of his game needed for him to eventually be a quality starting MLB catcher; the latter obviously will have to wait until 2009. I’m not sure he’s that much of a top-30 range prospect anymore, but he’s still 23 and this isn’t his fault. We’ll see.