Power Pros Forum

The Rays haven't made the final decision, they were going to check out the market and see a pitcher, but since they probably won't sign anyone, he will be a starters which excites me.


The Yankees do have more depth in ranking of the 3:

1. Rays
2. Yankees
3. Red Sox

I think David Pauley and Charlie Zink didn't do to well in the majors, but I think Zink's one start was a fluke beacause it was the slugfest of the Rangers game where the Red Sox won 19-17 (in fact I got 2 balls from that game) so I'd like to see Zink pitch some more in the Majors.

Statiscally they didn't do well either.

The Yankees aswell have good depth.

It's also interesting how all 3 teams have excellent OF prospects,

Yankees, Jose Tabata, Austin Jackson, Brett Gardner, and Phil Coke (or is he a pitcher?)

Rays, Fernando Perez (blazing fast, amazingly fast, fast), Emeel Salem,(another fast player)
Jason Corder(has potential to have power numbers to Manny and A-Rod according to alot of scouts) Ty Morrison (one of the best athletes in the 08 draft, Ryan Royster (don't know much)

Red Sox, Jacoby Ellsbury(still just a prospect I'd say), Josh Reddick (considered steal of 06' draft), Zack Daeges (amazing disipline at plate), Ryan Kalish (don't know), Che-Hsuan Lin
(don't know)

I'm sure as you can see, I am pretty good with prospects.

Phil Coke was a fantastic long-7th inning reliever in an ERA in the 2s for 2 months. He was originally a starter, but the rotations a bit crowded and his chances of reliving are much better.

The more I thought, the more I remembered Coke being a pitcher, how old is he?

28, he's a good prospect. He's not expected to be amazing, but in the 2 months he pitched, he was fantastic. I see him as a very solid bullpen pitcher and a potential set-up man at best if he continues his work (As in next year considering the lack of a defined one, but there are plenty of good possibilities). I mean it's possible that he'll be a closer, but why even talk about that right now. He hasn't proven himself to anywhere near that point. Here are his stats:
.61 Major League ERA
1-0 Wins-Losses
Only 14ks, not a strike-out pitcher
Only 15 innings pitched (thought it was more like 25).
Still pretty impressive, but again way too early to know for sure.

what do you mean not a strikeout pitcher? 14 K's in 15 innings is almost a strikeout per inning. that's pretty good.

Yeah, but I hadn't realized how many innings he pitched when I said that. I was thinking much higher for some reason. Never mind haha, I was wrong.

At 28, I wouldn't really call him a "prospect" so to speak. Would you say Coke could have major time in the Majors (no pun intended)?

For me (and alot of other people) that once you are older than 26, you aren't really a "prospect" so to speak.

That's not always true. This is an exception, and there are quite a few. He was actually a 49th (50 rounds total) draft pick, so he's done pretty well considering. He just climbed his way slowly and was a minor-leaguer who is yet to establish himself. Prospect isn't always determined by such strong rules considering age (although I wouldn't call a 40 year old a prospect). Remember, Mariano started pitching at 27, and he was definetly a prospect then.

Well no matter what round you are picked in, as soon as you are scouted, you are considered a prospect. No matter how good or bad you may be. It's just that some prospects are better than others.


The reason I don't call Phil Coke a prospect is beacause next year, or 2010 is more than likely going to be his prime.

Well, yes and no. Yes, because physically that's around the time the body is at its strongest (or can be), but no because he is probably not used to the major league level yet. He's a pretty good prospect and you sort of know what you get with him. You know he's major league quality, and he's worked his way up here slowly. Not everyone soars through it in a year like Joba (who was a huge suprise for the Yankees). You know the bottom line. He probably could be a good starter, but that's not what the Yankees need (unless lots of injuries happen, knock on wood). He could be a fantastic long reliver (most long relivers aren't as good, there generally really bad starters.) or a good solid reliver. It will be interesting to see how they use him, but he will probably contribute to the club in some way. Any guesses on the set-up man this year? Here's some of the possibilities:

Outside Chance Joba
Brian Bruney (most likely in my mind)
Veras
Ramirez
Coke
Aceves
Sanchez (really unlikekly)
Robinson (young guy with lots of potential, had a 2.00 ERA for like 20 games then 2 bad games that brought it pretty high)
I'm missing quite a few, but I think these are the main ones.
Spring Traing and the first month will have a big role in deciding who it is, but any of them could be good, but not exellent (except Joba).

You know, you kinda forgot about Kennedy. He could do set up for the time being to improve his stuff and also since Joba is in the rotation.

Kennedy as a bullpen pitcher? No Way! Well, I suppose it's possible, but for him to go from a starter to a set-up man is a giant jump. Maybe, Maybe long reliver, but not a set-up at the turn on a coin. If Joba ever does go back to the bullpen, in two years he might be seen as the future number 5 guy.

Kennedy as a spot starter I would say.

Maybe. Not this year though, they still want him to devolop and they see him as a possibility for the rotation. They want him to start regularly. Same with Hughes, he won't be up unless Pettite isn't signed or an injury accures. Acceves will most likely be the spot starter. Apparantly, Joba might not start every 3 or 4 outings to lower his innings. Then, Acceves might play.

The Yanks could rotate around the 4 guys for the number 4 and 5 spots. So like Hughes and Joba pitch and the other 2 pitch. See which 2 of the 4 does better and they get the next outing. They could do this till they get at least one of them to get more experience and settle in.