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By TERRY NAU Sports editor The contrasting plights of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox this season are mirrored by the way their two Class AAA minor league franchises have helped out their parent clubs this season.
While Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Pawtucket have been running 1-2 virtually the entire season in the International League’s North Division, and are scheduled to face each other in the first round of the playoffs beginning next Wednesday, this success on the field has not carried over to the developmental process for Scranton/WB.
And now that the Yankees have been virtually eliminated from the American League playoff picture, their lack of success this season on the field has already given Scranton a major lift at the Triple-A level. Who would have guessed at the beginning of April that Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Kei Igawa would be key players for the Little Yankees in late August? Not Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ GM. That’s for sure.
Pawtucket has done its job by sending several productive players to Boston. Jed Lowrie, Justin Masterson, Brandon Moss and Jeff Bailey have all contributed to winning games for Boston in 2008.
Scranton/WB has actually benefited from several of Cashman’s ill-fated decisions this season. I’m fairly certain he didn’t spend $46M on Igawa two winters ago so that Scranton could have an ace lefthander in its rotation. Nor did he expect young pitchers Kennedy and Hughes to end up in Scranton while the American League playoff race was being lost in August. But that’s what happened.
Boston, which still trails first-place Tampa Bay in the American League East as August fades away, has seen most of its prospects continue to improve. Only 23-year-old pitcher Clay Buchholz and ex-Red Sox reliever Craig Hansen have floundered this season. Buchholz, of whom so much has been promised, went 2-8 in Boston this season and is now working out his mechanical issues in Portland (where he figures to help that team in its Eastern League pursuit of the first-place Trenton Yankees).
Hansen, of course, ended up getting traded to Pittsburgh, which only this week farmed the erratic right-hander out to its Triple-A farm club. Trading Hansen helped bring Jason Bay to Boston so in the end, the Sox put whatever value Hansen had remaining to very good use.
The Yankees aren’t done helping Scranton/WB out this season. It’s quite possible rehabbing pitcher Joba Chamberlain will throw a few innings for the farm club next week before he joins New York. Those innings could come next Wednesday or Thursday when Pawtucket, in all likelihood, will host Scranton/WB in the first two games of a best-of-five playoff series.
Scranton/WB may end up winning the Governor’s Cup but Pawtucket has done the better job of developing its big league prospects (except for Buchholz and Hansen) this season. It all began back in March when Boston borrowed Brandon Moss for its trip to Japan and the kid promptly hit a crucial ninth-inning home run that helped turn a certain defeat into victory. Moss soon thereafter rejoined Pawtucket, then went back to Boston for another productive stint before he was traded to Pittsburgh in the Jason Bay deal.
By way of comparison, the only outfielder Scranton/WB sent to New York was Brett Gardner, who ended up replacing Cabrera on the 25-man roster.
In perhaps the most significant developmental project completed by the PawSox this season, Jed Lowrie played 53 games in Pawtucket before getting the call to Boston … where he is now the starting shortstop in the middle of a hot pennant race for the defending World Series champs.
PawSox manager Ron Johnson and pitching coach Rich Sauveur helped Masterson with the transition from starting pitcher to reliever when Boston send the big right-hander down to Pawtucket in July. Masterson pitched four times for the PawSox before heading back to Boston and he is now filling that 7th-inning hole in the bullpen that had been an iffy proposition for the Red Sox until Justin plugged it.
The Yankees have not had the same success with their young players. In fact, things have gone in reverse for New York, which sent starting centerfielder Melky Cabrera back to Scranton earlier this month to correct some bad habits he had developed at the plate. Critics are now leaping on Cashman’s decision to “rush” Kennedy and Hughes to the big leagues. Cashman not only rushed the kids, he tried to build them into his rotation out of spring training, based on their brief success with the Yankees in 2007.
Pawtucket also served as a rehab center for several injured Boston players. You know the names – David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and Mike Timlin were all here for a few games. Lowell might even be back for a short stint this week or next when he’s ready to test the strained oblique muscle in his ribcage. And don’t forget Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched one game on the road for Pawtucket back in June.
There’s certainly a lot of pressure on Ron Johnson and his coaching staff when one of the Boston players comes to Pawtucket. It’s not as simple as writing David Ortiz’s name into the lineup and watching him bat four times. As third base coach, Johnson has to make sure Ortiz, or Lowell, doesn’t get hurt running the bases, or doing something crazy like go from first-to-third or second-to-home and end up in a harmful collision.
Same goes for the pitching coach, Rich Sauveur. He’s got to be extra careful with any pitchers who come down to Pawtucket from Boston, making sure they stay within the program prescribed by the organization’s medical and coaching staffs.
Sure, it would be nice for Pawtucket to win the Governor’s Cup next month to cap another successful season for our local minor league franchise. Truth is, the season is already a success.
And when some big league clubs fire their managers at the end of this season, as they inevitably will, it would be nice to see Ron Johnson get an interview or two. RJ possesses all the qualities necessary to manage in the big leagues. He knows the game and has adapted to the computerized methods of tracking players and statistics. He’s patient and understands his role in Pawtucket. He’s great with the media, which is important in a big league market and appreciated at the minor league level, too.
RJ is the best PawSox manager we’ve seen since Ken Macha held the job here a decade ago. Macha ended up managing in the big leagues. Maybe Johnson will get lucky and land a job some day. Or maybe not. Macha played in the big leagues and had a lot of connections. RJ only had a cup of coffee with the Kansas City Royals.
Just like in real life job-hunting, getting a big league job usually comes down to who you know.
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