MVN - Most Valuable Network

Robertson, Cox Promoted

According to this article on NJ.com, relief prospects Dave Robertson and JB Cox are getting promoted.  Robertson, who has been lights out so far in Trenton (0.64 ERA in 14 innings, 21 strikeouts, 6 walks) will be moved up to AAA Scranton, a step that puts him closer to being a major league callup should the bullpen injuries persist.  He will likely replace Edwar Ramirez, Jonathan Albaladejo, Darrell Rasner, or whoever else is called up to replaced the injured Brian Bruney and Kyle Farnsworth on the big club.  If Robertson continues to perform as he has in AA, he could earn himself a callup, and be a useful bullpen piece for the Yankees in the 2nd half of the season.

Cox is being promoted to Trenton to fill Robertson’s spot, and he seems to be recovering well from elbow surgery.  In 6 innings of work, Cox has allowed 2 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 2 and best of all, keeping the ball on the ground (3.25 groundout:flyout ratio).  I figured the Yanks would take it slow with Cox and leave him in Tampa until the weather warmed up more in a few months, but I guess they feel he is ready for a new challenge.  He  dominated the Eastern League in 2006 before his injury, to the tune of a 1.75 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue to pitch effectively at that level.  Odds are, he will remain in Trenton for the rest of the season, as I imagine his arm strength may still not be all the way back.  However, if he absolutely dominates, it’s possible he could be moved fast to fill a bullpen hole, though there are plenty of guys ahead of him in the depth chart at the moment, such as Scott Patterson, Jose Veras, and Daniel McCutchen, among others.

The promotion of Cox might mean that the Yankees would consider promoting Mark Melancon to AA soon, though his performance there so far has not justified it, and I hope they leave him in the FSL to build arm strength and get his control back.

Thanks to Brandon for the heads up.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.