It was a mixed bag for the Yankees’ farm teams today.   Overall, there was a fair amount of offense (except in Charleston…), but errors in the field hurt the lower level teams.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees drops third straight to Norfolk Tides 7-3:

Scranton leapt out to an early lead when Jesus Montero led off the second inning with a solo homer, followed by a triple by Mike Lamb who scored on a single by Brandon Laird.  Scranton hurler Adam Warren struggled in the bottom of the third, giving up a lead off single before issuing a walk and hitting Jake Fox with a pitch.  A singly by Brandon Snyder was followed by a double by Ryan Adams and Norfolk took a 4-2 lead.  Andrew Brackman’s struggles continued when he relieved Warren in the bottom of the sixth and gave up a two-run homer to Matt Angle.  Lamb hit a solo shot in the top of the seventh, but Norfolk got the run back in the bottom of the inning as the Yankees took a 7-3 loss and will look to avoid the sweep tomorrow.

General Notes:

• Jesus Montero (C), Jorge Vazquez (1B) and Kevin Whelan (CP) were all elected to the International League All-Star team today.
• Moving to the bullpen has done little for Andrew Brackman whose ERA is up to 7.91 now.  He’s given up 49 walks and struck out 51 this season.

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C.C. Sabathia wrote a little love letter to the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon.  He got a little nostalgic.  Remember when I came to Milwaukee in 2008, he said.  Remember when I threw three consecutive complete games and went 4-0 during my first month in a Brewers uniform.  Remember how I posted a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts against NL teams.  Remember how I threw five straight games on three days rest, including a complete-game shutout which clinched your first postseason appearance in nearly two decades.

Yes, I remember, said the white-hot Prince Fielder as he struck out on three consecutive sliders with the bases loaded in the third inning.

Yes, I remember, said Rickie Weeks, the likely All-Star starter, each of the three times he went down swinging.

Yes, I remember, said Corey Hart, as he became The Big Sleep’s eleventh victim at the end of the sixth.

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I get accused of hating Derek Jeter a lot. I don’t really think it’s a fair assessment because, well, I don’t hate Derek Jeter. Sure, I can be pretty critical of decisions pertaining to Jeter that are made, but I think that’s an entirely different matter than whether or not I like Derek Jeter, all else being equal. Anyway, the next time you think I’m being too hard on the ‘ole Captain, remember this Steve Goldman post at Pinstriped Bible:

In any case, it seems to me that Jeter’s impact on the 2011 race, the impact of his chase for 3000 on Joe Girardi’s decisions, and his impact on the future of the franchise given his everlasting gobstopper of a contract is THE story this year, and it’s what I’m interested in more than anything else. Paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln, Jeter, in how the rest of his season plays out, shall nobly save or meanly lose the 2011 pennant. And then 2012 as well. Also, 2013.

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The Yankees took their sixth series in a row as they beat the Brewers 5-2 last night. They’ve won all five interleague series now, and against some pretty good opponents. This one got off to a bit of a slow start, as AJ Burnett walked Nyjer Morgan right before Ryan Braun was due up. Morgan stole second, and Braun promptly hit an RBI single to put the Brewers up 1-0 early. The dangerous Prince Fielder then hit into a double play to end the inning.

The Yankees downed the Brewers once again tonight, taking the second game of a three game series 5-2 from the Brew Crew. Russell Martin and Jorge Posada hit home runs for the Yankees, and A.J. Burnett was what we’ve come to expect from him as often as not in 2011, allowing 7 hits and walking 2 while striking out just 4 batters, but pitching 7 innings and allowing just 2 runs. The victory is the 4th in a row for the Bombers.

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Manny Banuelos, Dellin Betances, Corbin Joseph, and Austin Romine were chosen to attend the Double-A All-Star Game. Melky Mesa’s rehab with High-A Tampa is over, and he has returned to Double-A Trenton, with Addison Maruszak earning a promotion to Triple-A Scranton.

There are many good reasons to partake of this week’s series with the Brewers.  Milwaukee is among the most entertaining clubs in the league.  They have an incredible power-hitting tandem in Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun.  They’ve got a stable of power pitchers, both in the bullpen and the rotation.  They’ve got two of the most rangy outfielders in the game.  And they are rich with boisterous personalities (Nyjer Morgan may become baseball’s version of Chad Ochicinco or Metta World Peace).

But there is one incredible curiosity in the Milwaukee clubhouse which you are unlikely to find in their promotions or highlights.  Nearly every day, they trot out the worst player of the era.

In 2005, after a harrowing and complicated defection from Cuba, 23-year-old Yuniesky Betancourt signed an amateur free agent contract with the Seattle Mariners.  The Mariners rushed Betancourt through the minors, despite mediocre numbers, perhaps in part because they were seduced by whispers of his exploits in the Cuban leagues, but probably mainly because their incumbent shortstop was Wilson Valdez.

Betancourt was hardly exceptional in his first two full seasons as Seattle’s everyday shortstop, but he hit for a solid average (.289), showed a little power (.410 SLG), was quick and durable, and drew some rave reviews for his defense, even though the advanced metrics judged him to be basically average.  It was enough to convince Seattle to extend him for four years and $13.75 Million, perhaps foreseeing how scarce middle infield talent was becoming.

Since signing that contract, Betancourt has posted a slash line of .258/.283/.379 and has made the most errors of anybody in baseball.  And that’s just the beginning.

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I’ve been unhappy with the way the Yankees have handled top prospect Jesus Montero of late, and have been abundantly clear about it. This fantastic interview NoMaas did with Mark Newman, the Yankees’ vice-president of baseball operations, only furthers my opinion that the Yankees really don’t have any idea what they’re doing at the moment with Montero, and likely don’t have a solid plan for the near future with regards to what to do with him. This is a really complex question at the moment and tends to be rife with a lot of deeply held feelings and charged opinions, so I’m going to try to be as detailed as I can in my case for what the Yankees should do with Montero.

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The Yankees continued to put the hurt on the National League as they welcomed Zack Greinke and the Milwaukee Brewers to the Bronx.  The Yankees offense got going early and knocked the Brewers out of the game quickly as they took a 12-2 win to start the series.

Greinke did not start his return to the Bronx particularly well, as he hit Brett Gardner with a pitch to start the bottom of the first. Curtis Granderson followed with a fly ball to Nyjer Morgan, who misplayed the ball giving Grandy a triple and plating Gardner for the first run of the game.  A groundout from Mark Teixeira sent Granderson home and the Yankees took an early 2-0 lead.

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In the first of three games against Milwaukee, the Yankees torched the Brewers staff and gained an additional game on the Red Sox, who were shutout by Cliff Lee and the Phillies.

Today’s game offered a nice snapshot of Zack Greinke’s season thusfar.  The ‘09 AL Cy Young winner came in with a very mediocre ERA, despite leading the league in K/9, K/BB, and xFIP.  The Yankees scored four runs in the first 1 ⅔ innings, all technically “earned,” despite the fact that they only hit two balls well, singles by Nunez and Cano.  Nyjer Morgan lost his footing on a Granderson flyball in the first, leading to two runs.  Then a poor decision by Casey McGehee extended the inning, forcing Greinke to throw 27 pitches in the opening frame.  A bad-bounce beaning, a passed ball, and a soft single created by a strange defensive shift against A-Rod all contributed to Greinke’s misery before Nick Swisher’s three-run homer brought the outing to a merciful conclusion.  Clearly, Greinke has not missed the American League.  This was his worst start since 2007.

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After another solid outing last night, the Yankees have promoted pitcher Nick Turley from Low-A Charleston to High-A Tampa today. Here’s the roundup of tonight’s action on the farm.

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What if the Major Leagues added two more franchises? The guys over at The Platoon Advantage simulated this exact scenario, asking each ESPN SweetSpot blog to represent their respective teams. I volunteered to do this for IIATMS. The process began by having each “team” submit a list of 15 protected players, according to the 1997/1998 MLB expansion rules. After this first round, we all had the opportunity to protect three additional players. After this second round, we protected three more players.

After it was all said and done, three players were picked from the Yankees: Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Austin Romine. Below are explanations for not protecting these players:

Phil Hughes

When this project began, Phil had just been shutdown. The Yankees ran every test known to man on him, and nothing came up. To me, this signaled that there was really nothing wrong with him at all. And velocity is very important to Phil’s repertoire; last year by far his best pitch was his fastball. A large part of that success is velocity, and if Phil can’t light up the radar guns his ERA will balloon. Basically, I gave up on Hughes and decided he wasn’t worth much. In retrospect, this move may appear short sighted. Phil is currently making rehab starts in the minors and is showing much better stuff. However, research has shown that when most pitchers lose a lot of velocity, they almost never gain all of it back. Given the information at the time, the move was risky, but defensible.

Joba Chamberlain

Relievers are not valuable. Relievers are not valuable. Relievers are not valuable. This is what went through my head when creating my protected player list. I was very tempted to not protect Mariano Rivera too, but due to purely irrational behavior and fear of being struck by a lighting bolt I protected him. With only 15 players to initially protect I had to economical in getting the most value out of our players. Relievers simply do not throw very many innings and the Yankees have a stable of relievers in the minors ready for the call up.  The news that Joba needed tommy john came during the middle of this exercise. In the interest of transparency, I did protect David Roberston.

Austin Romine

Romine was lost due to a communication issue on my part. Nevertheless, not a huge loss. The Yankees have a lot of catching prospects in addition to Martin and Cervelli in the majors, so losing Romine was not that bad. I personally think J.R. Murphy and Gary Sanchez are better prospects anyway, and Montero certainly is.

Other notes

I did not protect Jeter or Posada at any time. I ran out of sentimentality after protecting Mariano.

As I reported here yesterday morning, the Los Angeles Dodgers and four affiliated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday morning in Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The Dodgers’ mess is now in the hands of a bankruptcy judge located roughly 2,800 miles from Dodger Stadium.

Last week I wrote at length on why Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt should be removed as owner of the Dodgers. Absent the bankruptcy filing, Major League Baseball would probably have seized control of the Dodgers later this week, once McCourt failed to meet his June 30 payroll. But the bankruptcy filing changes everything.

To explain what’s going on, I’ll answer questions I’ve seen asked in the media and on the internet.

With the bankruptcy filing in place, what happens now?

Let’s talk first about what doesn’t happen now. The Dodgers’ bankruptcy filing imposes an “automatic stay”, temporarily preventing nearly all action that might otherwise be taken by creditors against a company in bankruptcy. The automatic stay provides a debtor with a breathing spell. It buys time. As Maury Brown of bizofbaseball.com said today, it puts the team into a “holding pattern”.

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