Shelley Duncan Called Up
This morning, Bill Madden wrote:
While acknowledging that Damon is “really frustrated,” Torre said he intends to stick with him simply because of past performance. Apparently, there is still no inclination on the part of the front office to summon Shelley Duncan from Scranton in hopes of providing a jolt of power in the DH spot until Jason Giambi gets back in a couple of weeks.
But, Duncan is swinging a hot bat. From the Times Leader -
Shelley Duncan isn’t likely to forget his most recent trip to Victory Field.
In four games, Duncan had eight base hits in 15 at-bats. Two of those hits were home runs, giving Duncan the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre single-season record for home runs at 25.
I guess setting the record was enough to give the Yanks an inclination…as Duncan has now been called up. Let’s see if he bats as often as Edwar Ramirez pitched when he was recently called up.
I thought it was interesting that the SWB single-season record was so low. But I guess most other times, someone hitting 25 homers at AAA would warrant a callup. That, plus many minor leaguers skip AAA entirely during their ascension. Ryan Howard never played a full season at SWB, but hit 16 homers in 61 games in 2005. Pat Burrell only had 11 at bats for SWB. Utley seems to be the slugger with the most homers in recent memory, 18 in 2003 for SWB.
Anyway, congrats to Shelley Duncan. I will drink a ceremonial Cup of Coffee in his honor.
This is good news, but it comes with a “but.”
It’s good, but if Torre doesn’t use him, then don’t bother. It’s not TOO big of a deal to sit a guy like Kevin Thompson on the bench, because even though he has some skill, he’s not going to be a major leaguer more than likely. And even though Shelly isn’t a real prospect, there’s no reason to bring him up if Joe is going to still use Damon as the DH.
If Shelly ends up rotting on the bench, this will just be one more reason to be frustrated with Torre.
The sad part about Eddie is that he’ll almost certainly get sent down to make room for Matt DeSalvo. So he dominated the minors, got his callup, and basically pitched about two innings. They wasted his time for two weeks. Hope he doesn’t go back to AAA so rusty that he gets bombed and you never hear from him again.
and it’s not even like Edwar pitched poorly. 2.1 ip, 4 Ks, 1 er = 3.86 era.
if Damon is not going on the DL, then he should only be used as a pinch-runner until he heals properly. Duncan is being called up to PLAY, not to ride the bench.
~if Damon is not going on the DL, then he should only be used as a pinch-runner until he heals properly.~
Heals from what? As far as I know, Damon hasn’t claimed to be hurt. Has he?
afaik, he’s had foot problems and an abdominal strain that he plays(ed) through.
from the Daily News, July 10
“Johnny Damon: D
Damon’s nagging injuries have hampered him, though the move to DH has helped him stay in the lineup.”
I don’t doubt he has nagging injuries, I’m confident every player has nagging injuries by mid-July.
Thanks for ruining Edwar Ramirez, Joe Torre, you piece of garbage.