Austin Jackson, Ian Kennedy and the Other Ex-Yankees

Every once in a while it's good to look back at the ex-Yankees and check in on how they are doing. Last off-season featured a lot of movement and turnover, especially for a team that had won the World Series the previous year. Let's start with the Curtis Granderson trade and work our way through and after each player I'll add if the Yankees miss him or not.

Austin Jackson - Jackson may be the best prospect the Yankees have traded in a while. Although he's come back down to earth since his early-season breakout, he's still hitting .308/.352/.412 with a .347 wOBA and 10 steals. His .418 BABIP suggests that average could continue to come down (and his past month has been pretty atrocious at the bat), but even if he does, Jackson is backing it up with Gold Glove defense. His catch in the 9th inning of the Armando Gallaraga near-perfect game stands out, but John Dewan just came out with his top defenders in 2010 and it shows that Austin Jackson has been the best defensive outfielder in baseball*. The Yankees have had the benefit of not regretting many trades in the past 15 years but this one may turn out to be on they regret. Definitely miss. Picture from MLive.com

*Side Note: A lot of us have seen an improved defensive effort from Robinson Cano, but his inclusion on this list  (#8 in all of baseball) shows that his defense has actually been excellent so far in 2010.

Ian Kennedy - IPK is one of those classics of "would he actually have succeeded pitching in the AL East?" I don't think so. But Kennedy has come back from aneurysm surgery and has proven to be a valuable addition to the Diamondbacks team. His 14 game started is tops in the majors and although he's 3-4, he's put up a 3.57 ERA and a solid 2.48 SO:BB ratio. ESPN's Buster Olney wrote this morning that other than Justin Upton, Kennedy is the only untouchable player on the Diamondbacks team. That's pretty lofty status. Alas, some of the stats may be inflated by good luck and an unattainable pace. Kennedy is on pace to throw 219 innings after never throwing more than 39.2 innings in the Majors before and only reaching his previous high of 165 in 2007 (combined between every single level of baseball). The larger problem is that Kennedy's FIP (4.78), xFIP (4.28) and unusually low BABIP (.259) suggests that there is a correction in ERA coming at some point as well. And in his one American League start (against Boston yesterday) Kennedy got charged with 6 runs in 6 innings. Miss only because of lack of depth. Picture from AZCentral

Phil Coke - The third part of the Granderson deal, Coke has enjoyed a good deal of success in the Tigers bullpen. He's 4-0 so far on the season with a 3.18 ERA and turned around his home run issue from last season (he gave up 10 last year, 1 so far this year). Coke's FIP (3.41) seems to make it possible that his ERA could continue at this point, but when you factor in the home run decrease, his xFIP of 4.15 puts him more in line with last year's ERA. Even if his ERA jumps up a bit, Coke has still been a valuable piece to the Tigers bullpen and a missing piece for the Yankees. Miss in the 'pen.

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Hot Stove Coal: Jerry Hairston Insinuates Yankees Are Waiting For Damon

On SIRIUS XM's MLB Home Plate Channel last night, former Yankee Jerry Hairston, Jr. had an interesting view of the Yankees left field search:

Host/Jim Bowden: “I have to ask you this, and it’s a two part question: Did the Yankees make you an offer and the second part, did you sign with San Diego after [your brother] Scott was traded and was that part of the reason?”

Jerry Hairston Jr.: “You know what, to answer your first question, the Yankees didn’t officially make an offer. We’d been talking with them for about a month or two months and, um, they were kinda, I guess, waiting for a certain left fielder’s price to come down. That’s what I was gathering. (Laughs) I know Brian [Cashman]’s going to really love me for saying that. But that’s the sense I had and more power to ‘em. You know, obviously Brian has a job to do and Johnny Damon’s an incredible ballplayer. But obviously at that time I said, ‘You know what? I need to do what’s best for me.’ And the best fit for me was in San Diego. 

Now Hairston could have just been wrong about that. Maybe the Yankees were waiting for all left fielder's prices to go down. Hairston got $2 million from the Padres and I'm guessing the Yankees were more than willing to wait to see if his price tag went down from there. Maybe they knew with so many left fielders out on the market, that the price of one would go down eventually and they could scoop up one for under $2 million. Maybe the Yankees just weren't that enamored with the idea of Jerry Hairston, Jr. who is a good role player, but maybe not worth such a generous contract in this environment.

Or maybe Hairston is right and the Yankees are just waiting for Johnny Damon. If that's the case, then the Johnny Watch is back on in the Bronx. I've always said that I think the Yankees are fine going elsewhere but without any great options and with a perceived need to feel in left field, the Yankees seem to be hanging around, seeing if Damon's price will drop to the point they can bring him back for a bargain basement price. And no one seems to want Damon at this point so he seems to be out of options as well. Whether he'll be upset at signing for so low a price and will let it become a distraction remains to be seen. But the truth is that Damon is still the best player available and for the right price, he'd look mighty fine back in Pinstripes.

Update: Newsday's Ken Davidoff tweets: @KenDavidoff: Brian Cashman says it's "right" that he never made an offer to J. Hairston Jr., but "not right" that he is waiting for Damon's price to drop

Possible Injury Concern For Yanks With An IPK Return

Although not on the Giants level, this is potentially pretty bad news for the Yankees. From Peter Abraham:

Jerry Hairston Jr. “felt a pop” in his left wrist while taking a practice swing in the seventh inning. That’s why he came out of the game.

Hairston said he felt a sharp pain. He has been been having wrist issues on and off since diving for a ball while playing for Cincinnati earlier this season. He disclosed that he had an MRI about 10 days ago and then received a cortisone shot to try and calm some inflammation.

“I’m just hoping it’s some scar tissue breaking up,” he said.

Hairston will have another MRI tomorrow. We should hear more then.

This is not as devastating as the Phillips news, but this could be bad for the Yankees. Hairston has been a very useful player for the Yankees. He may be only batting .235 for the Yankees, but he does have a .346 OBP which is higher than Melky Cabrera's and Hairston plays every infield and outfield position.

Luckily for the Yankees, Ramiro Pena is a ready and capable replacement. And with Brett Gardner back healthy, either he or Cabrera will be much better defensive replacements/pitch runners than Hairston.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, they would have been much more versatile had they had both players on the playoff roster (especially since Hairston is a much better outfielder than Hairston). Let's just hope this injury is not serious and they both will be part of the Yankees playoff run.

But one good note from the Yankees yesterday: Ian Patrick Kennedy (also known as IPK) came back from surgery to fix an aneursym and played the Phil Hughes role in the 8th inning of relief. Since Joba, IPK and Hughes all came up together as a trio of starters, it is fitting that each one has now had his shot pitching the 8th inning for the Yankees. Does the "IPK: starter or reliever" debate start today?

Regardless, it was good to see Kennedy back and pitching. As New York Magazine correctly stated, we didn't think we'd see the headline of "Ian Kennedy Pitches As Yanks Win a Series in Anaheim" anytime this season. So congrats to him on making it all the way back.

Ummm....

Yankees respond to the Red Sox Victor Martinez deal...

by getting Jerry Hairston, Jr. from the Reds, according to Joel Sherman.

Not exactly a blockbuster. He has a career OPS of .700. Hmmm...