I want to get myself on record about Phil Coke. I have had my eye on this kid for a while now, and I really think he has a chance to be a good pitcher for the Yankees.
People like to take credit for noticing a player before anyone else. Obviously, if a player makes the minor leagues, much less the majors,countless eyes have been on him for years. I am not claiming to be some crazy advanced scout who has discovered a 13 year old Venezuelan playing on a dirt field with a milk carton for a glove. What I am attempting to do by writing about Coke here is to have a written record to back up the fact that I was onto what I believe will be a special player before others in my circle (friends, fans, and the major coulmnists I read/sports outlets I view).
I barely registered Coke when he was a September call-up last season. Many times, guys will come and get thier cup of coffee in the bigs when the rosters expand, and then fade back into the ether. A call-up to the 40 man roster can be a reward for a good season in the minors, giving guys a chance at the big time, albeit briefly. Coke was a lefty who came in and made a minor impression. Good fastball, good slider. As the Yankees played out the string, and finally lost the game that put the playoffs out of reach, the closing of the Stadium began to dominate all the Yankee news.
During the offseason, a co-worker and I continued an arguement which began from a post on this site, regarding the value of ERA. One of us, I forget who, made the joke: “Well, if ERA is the sole factor, Phil Coke is better than Mariano Rivera.” “He might be the best pitcher in baseball”, the other jokingly replied.
When the Yankees began their high-priced signings, we would always go over how stacked the roster was, and throw in at the end “Plus, we have quite possibly the best pitcher in baseball…Phil Coke”. An inside joke had gotten some legs.
Soon, I found myself wondering about this guy who I talked about regularly, but didn’t really know much about. In 2008, Coke got into 12 games with the Yankees, pitching 14.7 innings. He allowed 8 hits, 1 earned run, and struck out 14. He finished with a 0.61 ERA and .682 WHIP. It would be silly to get worked up over numbers like that, especially considering the sample size. I did like the number of strikeouts, and the strikeout to walk ratio.
So what about his numbers in the minors? In 2007 with Tampa, he went 7-3 with a 3.09 ERA and a 1.3 WHIP. He struck out 76 and walked 37 in 99 IP. He allowed just 4 HR. In 2008, he went 9-4 at Trenton with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. He struck out 115 and walked 39 in 118 innings. At Scranton he went 2-2 with a 4.67 ERA in only 17 innings of work. He struck out 22 and walked just 5.
At the age of 25 Coke had shown himself to be an improving lefty, with good strikeout ability. He won the Kevin Lawn award as the Yankees Minor League Pitcher of the Year. The Yankees included this paragraph about him in the article:
Coke, 26, combined at Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to go 11-6 with a 2.79 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 37 games (21 starts) in 2008. The lefthander ranked third among Yankees farmhands in strikeouts, fourth in wins and sixth in ERA. He was selected to the Eastern League’s postseason All-Star team as the league’s top left-handed pitcher after ranking second on the circuit in ERA (2.51). As a September callup by the Yankees, Coke went 1-0 and allowed only one earned run in 14.2 innings pitched (0.61 ERA), including 11.2 scoreless innings over his first 10 Major League outings. Following the season, he was ranked as the organization’s eighth-best prospect by Baseball America
Watching him in the Spring, I think this kid looks like the real deal. So there you go, I’m on board the Phil Coke bandwagon, and I am driving it as far as anyone I regularly talk to about baseball.
March 6, 2009 at 10:59 am |
That “kid” is older than David Wright, Jose Reyes and Mike Pelfrey, and nearly as old as John Maine, Oliver Perez and Frankie Rodriguez. Before you get too excited about him, remember that he was a 26 year old last year pitching in Double AA. From what I’ve read about him, he’s expected be a long-man/lefty specialist out the bullpen and possible swing starter. He may very well turn out to be an asset to the organization, but the day he becomes a stalwart in the Yankee rotation is the day the Yankees are a fourth place team.
And didn’t the Yankees offer him in the Nady trade last year, but the Pirates chose the great Ross Ohlendorf instead?
More importantly, what about A-rod? Should he bite the bullet and have the surgery now and try to get back by August 1 for the stretch run? Or should he play with the torn labrum, put up sub-par numbers for him (similar to last year or a little worse) and possibly cause more damage to the hip joint? Personally, I think he should just get the surgery over with and hope the starting pitching can carry the team.
Is Joba OK? Don’t give a shit about spring training stats, but I heard his velocity is down. Is that true? I almost traded for him last week with a vision of 180 innings of sub 3.00 era and 220 k’s.
March 6, 2009 at 12:29 pm |
First off, why does his age relative to the Mets players you mentioned matter? I watched a YES special on the Spring Training, and they mentioned that it was a process to get him control of his pitches. He’s not a phenom with blow you away stuff, granted.
I am not projecting him as a starter, I think he can be a Stanton/Nelson type, which is always a plus. The Yankees may well have offered him in the Nady trade, but that was before he got his work in September if I recall correctly. A lefty with mid 90 gas and a slider is a valuable chip. My intention was not to tout him as the next big thing, but to go on record identifying a guy I think will be a valuable asset. Why all the negativity?
A-rod should get surgery if it is the most prudent option. I think people don’t realize that Damon-Jeter-Matsui (health permitting)-Tex-Posada (health permitting)-Cano- Nady- Swisher- fill in your 3-B is still a good MLB lineup. throw in what I think will be a studly rotation and that team is good to go if he needs 2-3 months out.
In NY, the sky is always falling, but I can think of plenty of teams who would happily move forward with that team.
Joba is fine IMO, and Phil Hughes is still a more than viable replacement in my eyes.
March 6, 2009 at 1:51 pm |
I referred to his age because you called him a “kid” and based your assessment on a 26 year old’s performance in the minors. Didn’t mean to be too negative. Just trying to keep things in perspective. The difference b/w Met and Yankee fans: Met fans down on Fernando Martinez because he only hit .280 in AA as a 19 year old. Yankee fans excited about Phil Coke because he had a good year in AA as a 26 year old.
I always feel like if surgery is inevitable, just get it over with and move on, unless you are already well into the season (like Utley last year). But he’d be out four months, not 2-3. Same surgery that Utley and Lowell had right after the season ended, and they are not yet regular season ready, but should be by April.
How are Nady, Swisher, Damon and Matsui all gonna play at the same time? Swisher is no centerfielder. Matsui is only a DH. You’re only gonna have three of those guys in a lineup at a time. I’m guessing that without A-rod, the lineup would look something like this: Damon (lf), Jeter (ss), Tex (1b), Matsui (DH), Nady (rf), Cano (2b), Posada (c) Ransom (3b), Gardner/Melky (cf). Not terrible, but not particularly good either. If Cano struggles again and Posada’s not healthy enough to catch more than 90-100 games, your offense will be pretty weak. The pitching would have to be really, really good to keep up with the Sox and the Rays.
March 12, 2009 at 12:51 pm |
From Joel Sherman’s blog today:
2. The Yankees gave Damaso Marte a three-year, $12 million contract to stay, and they do like him. But a team official recently told me he would not be surprised if Phil Coke, not Marte, emerged as the late-inning lefty of choice for Joe Girardi. The official said that Marte will start the season in that role, but that it is not hard to imagine Coke doing so well consistently in earlier innings in April and May that the two just end up flip-flopping.