The 100 Best Quotes from The Wire

The Yankees are on hiatus. The Knicks stink, and the Jets are nearly irrelevant. What's a New York sports fan to do? How about enjoying this extended collection of the 100 best quotes from "The Wire," the greatest show in the history of television. Stringer Bell's right: there's games beyond the game. 

San Francisco, Chronicled

I spent last week in San Francisco. I’ve visited the city a number of times, but never experienced it through the eyes of a native. The experience is vastly different and much more rewarding. For four days, I knocked around the Richmond District, which runs along Golden Gate Park until the Pacific, and is home to one of the best sushi places in the Western world. I also ate my weight in Mexican food at a tacqueria in the Mission and stopped by City Lights, where I picked up a copy of William Carlos William's In the American Grain and Ron Hansen's Desperadoes. Two solid purchases. 

Speaking of literature, while cutting across Haight Street, I came up with a short story about a gang of affluent kids who go around beating up hippies. If I ever get around to writing it, I'm going to call it "Nixon's Holiday." 

Later, my mind once again clear, I took in this stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge at Baker Beach, which I captured on my cell phone, before reluctantly heading back to New York Saturday evening. 

This was my fourth trip to San Francisco, and it really is an amazing, beautiful city. It's such a calm, inviting place. A fact that was further illuminated almost immediately after I landed, when I was scrunched in the back of a smelly New York City cab, while the driver, screaming into his headset, raced on adrenaline, instinct and blind luck across the Belt Parkway through Queens. 

I can't say I missed New York, at least not entirely. Although I would have liked to have been in town during the World Series. I did manage to catch Game 6 in San Francisco. I have to say, having a World Series game wrapped up before 9 p.m. is an odd feeling. I honestly didn’t know what to do after the final out. I felt a little bit cheated when I couldn’t turn to the YES’s postgame show to see the locker room celebration. I got over it, though, and spent the rest of the evening enjoying my new favorite city. The next morning, still on East Coast time, I fired a final salvo at my co-conspirator. My post elicited the desired response. 

Afterward, enshrouded in fog and heavily caffeinated, I started to feel like blogging, particularly blogging about sports, is undignified, and a total waste of time and energy. It probably is, and silly, too. I’ve come to terms with this. I expect to get back into a regular schedule this week.

Crisco. Bardal. Vagisil

It seems even the great Mariano Rivera feels the need for some trickeration from time to time. 



As far as I'm concerned, this is just another reason to love Mo. 

(Via Halos Heaven)

UPDATE: I can't believe people are actually taking this video seriously. It's gone so far that Major League Baseball had to open and quickly close an investigation into the matter. Via Joel Sherman's Hardball:

The Major League Baseball Commissioners Office reviewed available video and still photography from Mariano Rivera spitting toward a baseball in ALCS Game 3 and “found no evidence that Rivera spit on the ball,” a spokesman for the commissioner told the Post.

The initial reaction by the league had been that the video plus still pictures they have of the incident were inconclusive if Rivera actually spit on or near the ball. But after further review of what it had, the Commissioners Office determined that Rivera was not spitting directly on the ball.

On still pictures in MLB's possession, it apparently looks as if Rivera is spitting near, but not on, the ball. Also, as even the league office is aware, Rivera is a player who spits constantly while in action.

Come on. This is Mariano Rivera we're talking about here. The guy's been dominating the league for years. If he had been throwing a spitter for the past 15 years, I'm pretty sure someone would have spotted him spitting on the ball at least once in his 900 + career appearances.

Los Angeles Dodgers coach and former Yankees coach Larry Bowa sums it up best:

I have never ever, ever heard anyone say anything about Mo doing something like that. That is totally bogus. If that was true I would have heard about it from somebody and I have never heard anything like that.

Leggo My Logo

Cool story from the Times’ City Room blog. The famous Yankees logo, which has long been credited to Henry Alonzo Keller, a sports illustrator from Bronxville, might actually be the product of a portraitist, Sam Friedman, who used to sketch patrons of the 21 Club. According to Friedman’s family, Friedman drew the logo in 1947 for Dan Topping, a co-owner of the Yankees who had just sidled up to the bar at the 21 Club.

One day, Mr. Topping — who was a regular patron, along with his second wife, Sonja Henie, the Norwegian figure skater and actress — told Sam Friedman he wanted a logo that included the Yankees name, a bat, a ball and patriotic-themed top hat, but that the ad agencies he had already asked had produced nothing satisfactory. So goes the Friedman family story.

Sam Friedman took out a pen and swiftly sketched a design on a cocktail napkin. He elongated a leg of the K in the word Yankees and made it a bat with a top hat on top. He drew the circumference of a baseball around it, said Jack Friedman, who provided a copy of a scrap upon which his great-uncle wrote the word “Yanks,” which he says strongly resembles the cursive of the logo.

When reached for comment, Tony Morante, the Yankees’ director of stadium tours, said Henry Keller has always been recognized as the logo’s creator.

Interestingly, Keller’s family claims the Mets later stole Henry’s logo, which he designed for the team and is still used today. And, since they are the Mets, a team spokesperson said they had no idea who designed the logo, even though, as one Times’ commenter pointed out, the Mets own website gives credit to cartoonist Ray Gatto.

Only in New York. 

Wise Words From the Captain

“It’s a bump in the road, but it happens. You just have to work your way through it. If we win, we'll be where we want to be. We’re not chasing anybody.”

So true.

IPK

Two seasons ago, when the Minnesota Twins were shopping Johan Santana, the team’s front office reportedly asked Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman for Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. For many fans, this was, in the parlance of sports talk radio, a no-brainer. Cashman, though, took his time making his decision. Why give up, Cashman reasoned, a serviceable outfielder and two promising young arms, especially when Santana’s contract was about to expire? Cashman figured he’d end up paying for Santana twice, first with a package of young, cost-controlled talent and, later, with a lengthy, multi-million-dollar contract. Cashman, to the dismay of many, passed, and Santana was shipped to the Mets for, it must be noted, a lesser package.

At first, Cashman’s decision didn’t look too good. Cabrera, predictably so, regressed. Hughes stunk. And Kennedy, a soft tossing, finesse pitcher, got rocked to the tune of an 8.17 ERA and a 1.916 WHIP. Even worse, he didn't care. The Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, and New Yorkers, true to form, spent most of the season ripping Cashman for his decision not to go after Santana.

Cashman, though, rebounded in the winter, signing CC Sabathia, which helped solidify the starting rotation. (The signing of A.J. Burnett and the resigning of Andy Pettitte helped a great deal, too). Meanwhile, two of the players Cashman refused to part with rebounded from a disastrous season. Mellky, pushed by the addition of Brett Gardner, is playing a serviceable outfiled, and Hughes has been a revelation since moving to the 8th inning.

But what about the third, Ian Patrick Kennedy?

After spending most of the second half of the 2008 season in Scranton, Kennedy was sent to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League, where he posted a league-low 1.56 ERA, seemingly rediscovering the better-than-average control that inspired the Yankees to select him in the first round of the 2006 MLB Draft. By the middle of Spring Training, Kennedy, still only 24, had regained the respect of his manager, and was back in the team’s plans for the future.

A few weeks later, though, Kennedy, pitching well in the minors, left a game with numbness in the middle finger of his right hand, which was diagnosed a vasospasm in his right middle finger. Doctors later discovered an aneurysm in an artery near his right shoulder. His season—and, quite possibly, his career—was thought to be over.

But Kennedy fought back, working his way back to professional baseball. Last night, he pitched three hitless innings in his first Triple-A start since his surgery in May. Kennedy struck out the side in the first inning (Ed. Note: the Durham Bulls made contact on one of his first 15 pitches) and struck out two in the second. He racked up his sixth and final strikeout in the third, sandwiched between a flyout and groundout. After 50 very good pitches, Kennedy’s night was through.

“Everything felt good,” Kennedy said. “I got ahead of guys. My fastball command was better than in my first [rehab] outing. I felt back to normal again, and it’s much more comfortable pitching at that adrenalin rush rather than like my first outing when I couldn’t control it.”

This could be a big boost for the Yankees next season, as Kennedy still projects as a reliable back-of-the-rotation starter. Even if he doesn't crack the rotation, though, it's nice to see the kid pitching again. 

Old Reliable

At no point last night, during Andy Pettitte’s masterful first 6 innings, did I think he would actually pitch a perfect game. That’s just not the type of pitcher he is, at least historically. Attacking hitters with a below-average fastball and a heavy arsenal of curve balls, cutters and changeups, Pettitte’s modus operandi on the mound is, for the most part, inducing contact. Although the Orioles weren’t exactly putting good swings on the ball, they did regularly put the ball into play. One of those hit balls, I figured, would eventually find a hole somewhere. I just didn’t think it would be through Jerry Hairston’s legs. Pitching a perfect game is hard. Just ask Mike Mussina. It’s no coincidence that only 18 pitchers in the history of the game have ever accomplished the feat.

This, of course, doesn’t take away from Pettitte’s dominant performance last night. Quite the opposite, in fact. Last night’s outing underlines how good he’s been this season, particularly in the second half. Since the All-Star Break, Pettitte has been dealing. Undefeated in his last 7 starts, he’s posting a 2.56 earned run average, and, in 59.2 innings since the break, he’s struck out 62 batters, while walking only 15. Good. Lord. His cutter is working like it’s 1996, which sets up his better-than-average off-speed stuff. As a result, batters just don’t look comfortable in the box against him. 

Projected as the team's fifth starter coming into the season, Pettitte has pitched better than I initially thought possible. He's solidified the Yankees’ rotation behind staff ace CC Sabathia and second-in-command A.J. Burnett, just as he did early in his career behind David Cone, David Wells and Roger Clemens, Pettitte's more celebrated--and talented--teammates. Outside of his rookie season, 1996, Pettitte has never been considered the staff ace. He’s always been more of a workhorse, an effective, mid-rotation innings-eater. Unlike his more touted teammates, Pettitte’s never going to light up a radar gun, strike out 20, or, as we witnessed last night, throw a perfect game. But he is a gamer, a fan favorite who's always ready to take the ball. And, more often than not, he's found a way to win. With last night’s victory, the 190th of his career, Pettitte moved ahead of Lefty Gomez into third place on the Yankees’ all-time win list. Only Whitey Ford (236) and Red Ruffing (231) remain ahead of him. He probably won’t catch either man, but third on the all-time list seems just about right for Pettitte, the Yankees' old reliable.

Does Minka Kelly Want a Piece of Kate Hudson?

Speaking of fights, the Yankees seem to have an intramural catfight on their hands. And it’s between Minka Kelly and Kate Hudson, the respective girlfriends of Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, at least according to Page Six, that ink-stained stalwart of reportorial integrity and, you know, classiness.

She made it past third base with Alex Rodriguez, but Kate Hudson isn’t getting a warm reception at the plate from Minka Kelly, longtime squeeze of Yankee captain Derek Jeter.

Like Afghanistan and Vietnam, the spat is reportedly a proxy fight in the long-rumored Cold War between Jeter and Rodriguez. It seems Kelly, who plays Lyla Garrity on "Friday Night Lights," is said to be less-than-pleased with Hudson’s desperate need for attention. While Jeter and Kelly prefer to keep a somewhat low profile, generally avoiding the press and keeping mum about their personal relationships, Rodriguez and Hudson, well, favor very public displays of affection.

"Friday Night Lights" hottie Kelly has been dating Jeter since last year. Since then, she's usually cheered him on from his private seats, kept a low profile and has rarely been photographed with him.

Then, high-profile Hudson arrived on the scene. She's been snapped smooching A-Rod in the stands, and recently switched from sitting in a private box to hanging in the family seats, cheering on the team with Yankee wives including Amber Sabathia and Karen Burnett.

Oh, no she didn’t. She did. I’m sure, though, that this little tiff is really much ado about nothing.

Our source added, "People are choosing sides."

People are choosing sides! People are choosing sides! This is exactly the kind of thing Obama warned us against.

Hudson, who also enthusiastically attended the Bombers' family picnic, seems to have gotten an early thumbs-up from veteran Yankee wives Michelle Damon and Laura Posada, whose stamp of approval is crucial, a source said.

I doubt very much that it's an either/or proposition, but I'd have to go with Ms. Kelly on this one. What about you? Team Minka or Team Hudson? 

Obama's Next Beer Summit?

With the hated Red Sox coming into town for a highly charged four-game series against the streaking Yankees, President Obama has an idea for putting this bitter, century-old rivalry to bed, once and for all. It is High, It is Far, It is... Caught has all the details.

Now that I think about it, Obama does drink a lot. Which is probably why I like him so much. And this picture page is why I like the mad geniuses at It is High, It is Far, It is... Caught so much. Just brilliant. Please click through. 

Under Your Hat

Every week, FADER magazine tabs one of its employs to write about his or her favorite article of clothing or accessory. This week, Felipe Delerme writes about his New Era iridescent fitted New York Yankees cap, probably the ugliest thing I've seen since, probably, 1992. Delerme doesn't care, though. He loves his hat.

This hat works for me for a couple of really simple reasons. It’s a Yankess cap and a perfect match for Jordans. Specifically, the “Aqua” VIII’s (which I never really liked), but also the “Grape” V’s, which I played myself in waiting to buy, only to incur a ridiculous limited-availability markup some months later. By itself, the cap is a bit more “Flashing Lights” than a lot of the others I own, but in all of its flamboyance, it’s still just a New York Yankee that matches my J’s.

Delerme makes some good points, and it's obvious that he's serious about his fitted. So serious, in fact, that he's apparently willing to throw down about it, seemingly at a drop of the hat. Well, sort of.

A couple of weeks ago I saw this kid I know in the club and he told me he almost didn’t recognize me without a hat on. I should of slapped his ass for getting out of pocket like that but we been cool for a little while so I gave him a pass. But also, until recently I’ve probably worn a fitted almost every day outside of the two or three just after I get a haircut so in a way I guess he had a right.

But why this particular hat?

When the above cap first arrived at the office, immediately it reminded me of the infamous Cam’ron New Era. This came out back around the time Cam mentioned something about hiring a team of scientists to invent his own color and every other rapper was bragging about smoking the purple-est piff procurable. Side by side, the hats aren’t very much alike at all, but I’d like to imagine the purple-teal iridescence of my cap is what his team was working toward. Assuming, of course, that team wasn’t just a bunch of Dipset interns smoking weed and fucking around with the color palette in Illustrator to “piff out” the mixtape covers.

Oh, I see. His is not just a hat; it's a sartorial statement of political import, like Teva sandals or leather chaps, and not to be taken lightly.

I’ve fallen back on the lids a little this summer, but they’ve always served a greater purpose than just keeping my head warm. For people like myself, a fitted is just as much a flag, broadcasting an alliance of some kind (sport and otherwise), in ways the first baseball players probably never even imagined.

But the question remains, with whom does his allegiance lie? The Yankees, New Era or Marty McFly?

Phil Hughes Is Here to Stay

Since giving up a two-run home run to Kevin Youkilis in Boston on June 10, Phil Hughes has been untouchable. In 13 appearances, he's held opposing teams scoreless over 19 innings, allowing only 9 hits and 3 walks, while racking up 24 strikeouts. As a reliever, Hughes is sporting an anemic 0.84 ERA, and his 19-inning scoreless streak is, remarkably, only four innings off Mariano Rivera's 2005 23-inning scoreless streak, the second longest streak of Rivera's Hall of Fame career. I wasn't the only one to foresee Hughes' emerging dominance. 

The kid's figured out how to dominate at the Major League level, primarily out of the pen, in much the same way David Cone starred in relief for the Mets in 1987, before anchoring the rotation a year later, in 1988. In fact, Cone's mentioned this parallel a number of times on the YES broadcast this year, because, I think, he sees in Hughes what I see in him: a top of the line starter in the Major Leagues. Like Joba, Hughes will eventually be a key contributor to the Yankees' revamped starting rotation. After a disastrous 2008 season, Hughes is showing why Cashman refused to include him in a potential deal for Johan Santana, and why he won't be sent to Toronto as part of an MLB-ready package for Roy Halladay. Ladies and gentlemen, Phil Hughes is here to stay.  

Your Moment of Zen

(Via Fack Youk)

Odds & Sods, The Wilco Edition

Wilco (The Album) comes out today, but Jason Kidd will be have his ears perked for somebody else. Joe Girardi, an unpopular fellow in the Yankees' clubhouse, seems to have at least one local admirer. Nobody, though, cares for Brandon Jennings or his silly antics.  Yao Ming is falling apart, while Eddy Curry's life continues to crumble around him.   

The Incomparable Mariano Rivera

Lat night, Mariano Rivera recorded his 500th career save--and his first RBI. Rivera, who insists he still has plenty of gas left in the tank, joins Trevor Hoffman on the exclusive list of closers to notch 500 saves. And to think the Yankees signed him for an astonishingly low $3,000 and, back in 1996, even considered trading him. Amazing. Actually, now that I think about it, everything about Mariano is amazing. Here he is talking to ESPN about his career. 

Can Mariano Rivera Delay the Inevitable?

It doesn't take a genius to figure out Mariano Rivera's performance has dipped a bit over the past couple of years. He's still effective, but he's hardly as dominant as he was during the Yankees' championship runs, even with an impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio. So, what's wrong with Mo? More than a slight decrease in velocity, Rivera is simply having trouble putting hitters away, specifically getting that all-important swing-and-a-miss. Batters, it seems, are making contact with Mo's cutter and four-seamer with more regularity. To wit: last night, it took Mo 10 pitches to retire Elijah Dukes, who fouled off four consecutive pitches (three cutters and one four-seamer) before grounding out to Robinson Cano. Already, in 27.2 innings, Mo has yielded 27 hits, only 14 less than he gave up all last year. Are we watching the beginning of the end for Mo?

Fangraphs illuminates this disturbing, possibly irreversible, trend. 

Move forward to 2009 and how has Rivera done? Well, noticeably worse is easy to see, but there are some frightening numbers beneath the surface. Rivera's 7.5% swinging strike rate is the lowest on record for him. There has been a sizable dip in the number of pitches thrown within the strike zone and hitters are not chasing these extra balls out of the zone.

Rivera’s ground ball rate is also at its lowest point on record, though that is over a smaller sample than his individual pitch results. It is no surprise then that the home run rate has increased, though the rate by which is has increased is surprising and not likely to continue. Rivera has allowed five home runs already this season through 26.2 innings. The last time he allowed more than five home runs was 1995 when he was a starter.

Interestingly, Rivera’s strikeout and walk rates have not moved much despite the drastic change in his individual pitch outcomes. 32 strikeouts to just two unintentional walks, and no hit batters, gives Rivera an even better ratio than last year. Given his extreme drop in missed bats and overall strikes thrown however, I would not expect that to continue. It will be interesting to see which regression, the strikeout and walk rates or the home run rate, influences Rivera’s final line the most.

I still have faith in Mo. Hell, I'd take him over 99 percent of the league's other closers. Given his age, however, I also have to admit that even the mighty Mariano is going to have to call it quits sometime. Hopefully, he can make some adjustments and deliver a few more postseason runs before he heads off to Cooperstown. 

(UPDATE:) RAB counters. I'm not sure who's right, but it's interesting that the same data can lead to two different conclusions. Half-empty, Half-full, I guess. At least we can agree there's still a glass. 

Standing-Eight Count

Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast. There are still 102 games left to play this season,  the majority of which are not, thankfully, mercifully, against the Red Sox, the class of the American League. The fuckers. 

The Sky is Falling?

Hardly. Look, I'm not having any fun watching the Yankees lose seven straight (eight, going back to last year) to the Sox, but the Yankees are only one game behind in the standings. One game, even after spotting Boston seven--seven!-- wins. Things could be a whole lot worse, believe me. All a fan needs to do is think back to last year, when the Yankees, on the last day of August, were a staggering 12.5 games behind the Tampa Rays, eventually missing the playoffs for the first time since 1995. The Yankees, despite their team-wide impotence against the Sox, are still 34-18 against the rest of baseball, a very healthy 16 games over .500. Boston, on the other hand, is a rather uninspiring 28-24 against teams not from the Bronx. Amazingly, then, a game or two here or there, and the Yankees would currently enjoy a comfortable advantage over their rivals. Should've. Could've. Would've. That's why they play the game. And that's why, later tonight, the Yankees get a chance to win their first game in nine attempts against the Sox, and walk out of Boston in a flat-footed tie for first, not worrying at all about which team they're supposedly looking up at in the standings.  

Slade Heathcott

Yesterday, before the professionals got their collective asses handed to them (again) in Boston, the Yankees drafted Slade Heathcott, a left-handed outfielder from Texarkana, Texas, in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft. By all accounts, Heathcott, who also pitches, is an all-around talented baseball player, a real 5-tool player. MLB.com describes him as "an intense competitor with instincts beyond his years" and a "plus defender who can play all three outfield positions well." The site also says he is "muscular with broad shoulders and a v-cut torso." So there's that, too. 

Although he's verbally committed to play ball at Louisiana State University, odds are that Heathcott will sign with the Yankees, which is a good thing because Heathcott was taken with the compensatory pick the Yankees received after failing to sign their 2008 top selection, Gerrit Cole: if they can't sign Heathcott, they lose the pick. For those scoring at home, that would be two consecutive drafts in which the Yankees pissed away their first-round picks. Never a good thing for the organizational depth chart.  

For more information about Heatchott, check out No Maas, an amazing website that is simply over the moon about this pick--and, for that matter, the Yankees' second pick, T.J. Murphy, a power-hitting catcher. No Maas was way out in front of the Heathcott selection, interviewing the kid back in March. Check it out here. Among the many things I learned about Heathcott is that he grew up a Red Sox fan, holds a healthy sized man-crush on Josh Hamilton, and compares his game favorably to Rusty Greer. Also, his baseball role model is Mickey Mantle, which, I assume, is why he wears No. 7.  

Some Much-Needed Joba Sanity

The Joba-t0-the-pen debate rages on, even in the wake of the kid's impressive 8-inning outing against the Indians. I, for one, want Joba to remain in the starting rotation, although I do miss the energy of his late-game appearances. When he first came up, his appearances, which were initially  limited to every other day because of the famous "Joba Rules," became an event, bordering, at times, on pandemonium. Of course, it wasn't simply Joba's one inning of dominance that caught people's attention. It was his fearlessness, his un-Yankee-like histrionics that got people going. His nasty slider and 100-mph fastball didn't hurt either. As I wrote following Joba's eventual 12-strike out performance against the Red Sox earlier this year, Joba needs a certain level of intensity, a specific knock-and-tumble vigor to succeed, whether he's pitching in the 8th inning or every fifth day. Yes, I think Joba should start, but I also want him to be Joba, "disrespectful" fist pumps and all. These two things aren't mutually exclusive; in fact, they're symbiotic.  

Still, despite the constant protestations of RAB and Tyler Kepner and, yup, the Yankees, members of the media--specifically Mike Francesa and ESPN-- seem to think Joba, who they consider the next Goose Gossage, should be coming out of the pen. Nothing short of a Cy Young Award, it seems, can dissuade them of their short-sighted opinions about Joba's usefulness to the club. And I'm fine with that. They're entitled to their opinion, no matter how misguided or uninformed it happens to be. Some people still vote Republican, after all. It's nice, though, to have a national voice weigh in on the debate. SI's Tim Marchman speaks the truth thusly:

Starters are more valuable than relievers, and Chamberlain is showing every sign of developing into a wonderful starter; therefore, he should start. Simple. 

[Snip]

There are complicated decisions to be made in baseball. Neither this nor any similar argument involving any young pitcher is really one of them. If Chamberlain is hurt, or if the Yankees obtain access to a time machine and learn that he really is much better than Mariano Rivera, they should by all means listen to the outraged minority and consign to the bullpen a 23-year-old with every chance at being the best pitcher they've developed since Whitey Ford. Otherwise, they should leave him alone where everyone can enjoy him. He's doing fine.

I'd say he's doing better than fine, but let's not argue about semantics. Joba's proving his worth in the rotation, right where he belongs. 

A-Jax on Track for 2010?

Tyler Kepner's out with a tantalizing feature of Austin Jackson, the Yankees' top prospect, who's currently hitting .349 in .AAA and just about on pace to make significant contributions to the team next season. Jackson's hitting coach, Butch Wynegar, a pretty good hitter in his time, is absolutely over the moon about his pupil, even going so far as to compare Jackson's baseball development to Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett's. Mind you, he didn't say a thing about a shared talent level, just Jackson's Puckett-esque potential to develop home run power in the Majors.

“There’s nothing about Austin — defense, arm, base running, nothing — that gives me any doubts that he’s going to be a good player one day,” said the Class AAA hitting coach Butch Wynegar. “I just hope nothing happens at the big-league level where they yank him out of here premature. I’d love to see him stay here all year, see what kind of year he has and go from there. Because he’s not there yet.”

We've been down this road before with the Yankees. It seems like every other year, the organization touts marginal-to-good prospects, like Eric Duncan, Jose Tabata, and Drew Henson, for instance, only to see them fizzle out or play their way out of the system. As Wynegar points out, Jackson is still very much a work-in-progress. His tendency to strike out, to take just one example, is more than a little troublesome, to say the least. I'm not yet quite ready to anoint him the team's next great center fielder, but I am looking forward to seeing what this 22-year-old kid can do in the Majors, hopefully around this time next year.