1) They thought (and I agree) that A-Jax would never amount to what Granderson already was, and Granderson was still young and on a friendly contract.

2) Kennedy showed absolutely no signs of being even remotely as dominant as he’s been this season. And lest we forget he is pitching in the NL West. I take nothing away from him, but do you think he’d have those numbers in the AL East?

Obviously the Yankees need another starter desperately, but at the time the deal was made, Kennedy hadn’t shown he could be that starter. Hindsight’s 20/20, but it was the right move at the time.

I have a feeling there is a culture developing around here that somehow you can pry away somebody’s star without giving up a prospect and that is wishful thinking. You want to win? Be prepared to give up prospects, it’s always been that way. But hey if you can get a steal by all means i’m sure EVERY GM thinks that way. But if you think you can make moves without giving up prospects the rest of the league will know that in a nannosecond.

I originally thought Granderson would rake in 2010, but I also thought they gave up too much in prospect value.

Now that Granderson is raking finally, it looks like a nice pickup, but they also gave up Ian Kennedy in that deal. Do you think another ace-quality starter or a power bat is the Yankees biggest need right now?

As for Posey & Davis. I don’t blame Davis/Posey for their injury obviously, just I see the Sophomore slump as basically bad things happening to them. like a curse or something. But yes well agree to disagree Lol.

Davis was a big blow. I was very upset when the injury to Ike occured. Not to mention I had alot invested in the rookies of 2010 this year…My fantasy teams are in ruins between Davis, Posey, Heyward and Alvarez! Lol

Heyward is going to be a very good MLB player in the long-run.

This is an interesting article which would seem to lend credence to the fact that Mets shy away from pitchers with inverted-W style mechanics.

If so, good for Omar or whoever orginally nurtured this concept.

The body can take only so much abuse and apprently he reached his limit! LOL

For his sake I hope the speed isn’t all he has because he is probably going to lose some after he gets back due to the surgery.

What makes him good is he has control at those velocities which is great. But I would have coached him to use that extra level as another surpise not the norm.

Throwing a fastball 100 MPH is hard to catch up to but if you see it enough you can still time the swing to hit it.
Changing speeds is as good as having another pitch if you ask me.

Posey was holding his own, Davis was raking, Strasburg without a doubt would be in Cy Young contention this year if not for the TJ surgery. I included these three because injuries hampered their sophomore campaign. Not taking anything away from the small amount of time they had before the injury, but I think the devastating injuries contribute to the sophomore slump.

If I was running a MiL development I would fine any kid who tried to throw 100MPH because there is no need to throw that hard. Certainly not every pitch! You make that pitch when the timing is right not as if it’s just another slider or split finger.

Unfortunatly (and Darling has mentioned this numberous times on the air) they look for the Radar and not how the kid actually pitches.
It’s why Tommy John and rotator cuff surgery is as common as a cold in the MLB.
a 96 MPH fastball is just as effective as a 100MPH fastball and MORE effective if you can throw that 100MPH fastball as a strike on an x-2 count!

As for the slump I guess I define it differently…
to me a slump is all the fault of the player not performing, Not based on his ability to to get in games but being in them and failing, but like I said it’s a minor distinction.
From a GM perspective in both cases the player isn’t giving him what he thought he was going to get. So while I disagree it is a minor difference of opinion…

It proves one thing, Kids are UNPREDICTABLE! They can look amazing when they come up but once the league gets a good scouting report on them it can quickly fall apart!

Quick starts are notoriously followed by Quick Ends. Time will tell if those kids will make a counter adjustment and regain their success…

And on a minor Quibbling note I am not so sure Posey, Davis and Strausbourg should be included here. Strausbourg MIGHT, But Posey and Davis were not slumping at the time they got hurt in fact Davis was as hot as a branding Iron when he went down and I think Posey was doing quite well too.

I would not count injury as a slump, as dissappointing yes, but not really the fault of the player…Especially in Posey’s case.