From the AP:
Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy has thrown off a mound for the first time since undergoing surgery May 12 to remove an aneurysm from beneath his right biceps.
Kennedy threw 25 pitches during a bullpen session Tuesday. The right-hander says everything was fine and he would work off a mound again Friday.
The 24-year-old Kennedy was pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when he experienced numbness in his pitching hand. He hopes to pitch in a minor league game before the season ends.
You have to feel for Kennedy, who had a season that would have been ripe with opportunity for him destroyed by a freak ailment. He almost certainly would have been given every opportunity to take hold of the position Sergio Mitre now occupies, and could have earned himself a spot in next year’s rotation. Instead, it was a lost season of development for a pitcher who has pretty much done all that he can on the minor league level. He now enters spring training as a question mark, and it is doubtful that the Yankees will consider him for a big league roster spot to start 2010. He will once again be a depth guy, and will have to hope that an opportunity comes his way. He has the talent to be, at worst, a #4 starter, something that would lend the Yankees plenty of stability in the back of their rotation for a while. Hopefully, when his chance does present itself, he is able to seize it.
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I still think it’s too quick to write off IPK. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him be just as successful as James Shields. They have similar stuff and Kennedy is three years younger. I’d take that for the next 6 years
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IPK should be in the starting rotation next year, his stuff and talent dictates the move. Hopefully, he builds up arm strength this off season enough to be a big help for the rotation in 2010.
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The other Chris H Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
So you want CC, AJ, Joba, Hughes, Kennedy? I am no sure how I feel about having two guys with innings limits (Hughes abd Kennedy will get Joba treatment next year) and one guy coming off of an innings limit to run the staff.
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Never understood why Yankee fans turned on this guy so quickly. He went from being the future to bum in their eyes.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Yup. It had a lot to do with him saying “I thought I pitched well” after getting killed against Anaheim. Fans have a heard time with the concept that you can have good stuff, throw well, and still get killed. They want the players to show penance for being awful.
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Steve S. Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Yeah, you and I know what he was trying to say, but he has to learn not to say it quite that way. It just plays very badly around here.
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The other Chris H Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Well there is a difference in saying I thought I had good stuff out there it just didn’t go my may and “I did great I think”… “you got shelled 15-0″… “yeah, but I pitched well”… you have to admit you did wrong, but it doesn’t mean you didn’t have good stuff on the mound.
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The other Chris H Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I never really did like the guy… in fact I wanted to get him gone in the Santana deal (although I didn’t want to part with Melky), I just don’t see him becoming anything much more than what Aceves can be and I think Ace might be a better starter than IPK will be.
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Get well soon, Ian. Still rooting hard for you and think you have a bright future.
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The other Chris H Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Bright future… as a reliever. Fixed it for you.
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Moshe Mandel Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I don’t see him as a reliever. I think he has a solid future as a starter, but if he does cut it as a starter, I just dont see him hanging on in the bullpen.
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I like Ian. But I’m not sure how his game would translate at our new stadium. I think in the end, he gets traded.
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