Yankees Minor League Titles

The New York Yankees minor league system once again has been outstanding this season. The A-Tampa Yankees won the Florida State League title last night and the short season Staten Island Yankees won the NY/Penn League title. The Staten Island Yankees were represented by a lot of the recent draft picks. You can check out the stories about the games on www.milb.com the official minor league baseball site. The AAA Scranton Yankees are down 0-2 in their championship series but they have lost a lot of players to the big club such as Shelly Duncan, Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli and a few relievers. They still have a shot though with 3 straight home games, of course they have to win every one of them. The big news out of AAA though is that Ian Kennedy you remember him pitched 3 hitless innings last night with 6 strikeouts. This is great news, he is a good kid who was thrust onto the scene maybe too quickly in NY and didn't do too well and then had surgery this year for a aneurysm in his arm. He now has pitched 5 scoreless innings in the minor league playoffs and will head to the instructional league and Arizona Fall league to build up his innings. Ian should be in AAA next year ready to go but he doesn't have much more to prove there as he has dominated the level. If Andy Pettitte comes back and Phil Hughes does become the 5th starter then there doesn't seem to be a spot for him but maybe he becomes a long reliever/spot starter or stays in AAA as a extra guy. Another scenario is the Yankees leaving Hughes where he is and Ian Kennedy being the 5th starter. This is all a ways off but interesting to think about, hopefully first the Yankees secure their 27th title then they can worry about this kind of stuff.