nykgeneralmanager wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
I'm not sure what hype there is around Kennedy, other than some created by mainstream media. Every Yankee fan is fully aware that his ceiling is only a #3 starter.
Also, nobody ever proclaimed him to be untouchable. Not even the Yankees. But when you add Wang, Melky, and Austin Jackson to the deal, then the trade becomes untouchable. Wouldn't you agree?
The media was reporting that the Yankees brass held Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy together as 'untouchable'. Now perhaps Cash was simply trying to up his value to send him elsewhere in a trade but ultimately, Cash held onto him. So I am curious as to how much they believed it and how much was intentionally leaked hype (something teams do all the time).
In that situation, the trade itself becomes unmanageable, even for a Johan type talent. But there were reports coming out that he was, if not untouchable, considerably overvalued by the front office staff. I still think today, as I did then, that a Hughes/Kennedy/Jackson for Santana deal is a no-brainer because I didn't buy the hype around Kennedy or Jackson, who's OPS is below .800 right now. He has a nice skill set too, I just never bought the power hype because his SLG at Tampa was inflated by one hot month.
All I'm saying is what the Yankees said to the media and proceeded to actually do makes me think that they drank the Kool Aid on Kennedy a bit too strongly and didn't realize how small of a margin of error he actually has.
Chach wrote:And to the poster who said that young pitchers struggle at first in the majors, there is a young starting pitcher in the AL East who is sporting a 2.86 career ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in his first 56 career big league innings. Just sayin
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I need to learn to shut the hell up before he blows out his elbow. Although my hubris didn't rear its ugly head last season when I called him the best pitching prospect in baseball. mahalo
~Chach~
