Yanks Aquire Eric Hinske From The Pirates
Posted by Steve L. on June 30th, 2009 · Comments (34)
It will be interesting to see who leaves the major league roster to make room for Hinske this evening. Considering that the Yankees gave up two suspect prospects for Hinske, there’s little downside if he doesn’t work out in New York.
I’m hoping it’s Ransom, but it’ll probably be Pena.
Too bad.
….or maybe they read your most recent “Wild Thought”?
Nah; too wild for the button-down Yankees.
Here’s that additional bat you were looking for. Hinske can spell A-Rod at 3b when he needs to rest that hip, he can go in either corner positions for Damon or Swish, he mashes right-handed pitching and has been successful in pinch hitting opportunities this year.
You have no love the move. Even if he flops, like Steve said, we got him for nothing.
It is a nice move. Would have liked a righty bat, but it is not like this prevents them from making another move should it become necessary. Also, his swing is a nice fit for Yankee Stadium. Big time pull hitter, if I remember correctly.
Evan3457 wrote:
I agree, Ransom should be let go. Pena seems to be the better defensive player which, for my money, is all I want to see out of the backup 2B/SS position.
I wonder why they’d let pick Ransom over Pena anyway? What does Ransom do that Pena can’t do?
Tomko, maybe?
MJ wrote:
Absolutely nothing. Pena’s bat has begun to improve and his D is better than Ransom IMO. The only thing I can think of is that Ransom has more experience b/c of his age, but that’s not really a good reason to keep him on at all.
MJ wrote:
they think pena is a capable starting short stop so they want him to get more playing time…that’d be my guess, i don’t see him as an everyday SS however but I DO see him as the utility guy of the present/future.
I’m not a fan of Hinske, but in any case, since i have no idea who the guys are that they traded for hinske, so it doesn’t hurt.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
we can only hope
MJ wrote:
I’d say there are a couple of reasons:
1. Pena has options.
2. He’s 23 and would benefit from playing on a daily basis (and maybe even develop a bit more though it’s a long shot).
But I do agree with you. I’d much rather seen Pena on this team than Ransom this year and going forward. But, at only 23, there is a chance he could learn to handle the stick a bit more. He was brought up straight from AA so a stint in AAA couldn’t hurt at this point.
Corey wrote:
Of course, that leaves you with 11 pitchers. Not impossible – but, not likely something they would do…
Interesting tell: When Jeter was out for the Mets games, in Citi, who played SS? Not Ransom. So, Cody’s days could be numbered.
Now, watch him pull a Nick Green and become a star somewhere else.
shaked wrote:
Sherman is saying that the Yankees are sending him down, not only for those reasons, but also because they want to get him some time in the OF so he could be used in a super-sub role in the future.
Besides, when you have Yurendell DeCaster who needs Cody Ransom!
I’d rather have Tomko gone than send Ransom or Peña down. With Hughes and Aceves there, Tomko’s at best redundant.
For the record, Hinske is supposed to be a quality character guy. That said, personally, privately, I always wondered if he was a PED user. But, that’s just careless speculation on my part.
Sherman is reporting that Pena will go, because the Yankees want him to play some outfield in the minors, so they can use him as a super-sub type next season.
It’s too bad that the Yankees don’t have coaches who could hit fly balls during BP for Pena to shag and learn the OF at this level, huh?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
same here
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Just because one is a character doesn’t mean that they have character
yes, I am a fan of Pulp Fiction
Pretty sure they want him to get game time in the outfield, but I guess you knew that from your wink. I’m terrible at interpreting smilies.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Yep, especially since they tried Womack out there (has it really been) 4 years ago.
Now, watch him pull a Nick Green and become a star somewhere else.
———
I assume you were kidding Steve. Right?
@ Steve Lombardi:
you dont really learn how to play the outfield by just takin fungos you really do need to see live flyballs. ball comes off the bat completely different in a gaqme then off a fungo. if you could learn to play outfield just by takin some fungo flyballs everyone would be a gold glove outfielder
Did Robin Yount go to the minors for a year when he made the move from SS to CF? Not really…
MJ wrote:
Of course – ‘tho, I am tired of seeing those Green highlight clips on MLBN and ESPN when the Red Sox win…
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Stop baiting, Steve.
Of course – ‘tho, I am tired of seeing those Green highlight clips on MLBN and ESPN when the Red Sox win…
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You and me both. The nice thing is that it’s a testament to how bad Julio Lugo sucks and what a crappy signing that was.
bfriley76 wrote:
Didn’t Tony Phillips learn to play the OF at the big league level too?
@ Steve Lombardi:
what about sheff? he started out as a SS shifted to 3B then to the OF all in the big leagues
Corey wrote:
Sigh…OK Fine
I like Pena, but we aren’t talking about Ryan Braun here. It’s not a guy who’s bat you HAVE to have in your lineup every day. In fact, you probably don’t want it in the lineup everyday, at this point. I mean he’s a part-time player at the position he’s GOOD at, why would he rate time at a position he’s never played before. I mean the guy has a total of 23 hits in the majors.
Sending him back down to AAA not only lets him learn the OF, but it also allows him to play every day and, hopefully, improve his hitting.
And, for the record, I’m pretty sure Yount switched to the outfield between seasons, meaning he’d have Spring training to learn the .position
From Baseball Reference:
1984
120 Games @ SS
39 Games @ DH
1985
108 Games @ OF
12 Games @ DH
2 Games @ 1B
the part i find amusing about this deal is that they made the pirates give us 400k in cash for the deal to happen.
Corey wrote:
Definitely a strange twist in this Hinske saga. The Pirates are giving the Yankees money? Is this the Bizarro world or something?
@bfriley. Pena might be their future SS if Jeter moves position. It stands to reason that Pena would learn the outfield in a more appropriate manner(in the minors) than doing it on a team in the middle of a playoff hunt. Does anybody remember how the unlearned Irish Hammer ,Murphy, was in the outfield for the Mets this year? I also don’t want to hear people complain that Cash Man made him learn in the majors when the Rays are heating up and they need to win games not experiment in the outfield. A first from Butch, I gave the Yankee GM a compliment!