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May 07, 2007
Kei Igawa To Minors
From the AP -
The New York Yankees shipped struggling pitcher Kei Igawa to the minors on Monday to make room on the roster for right-hander Matt DeSalvo.
Igawa was optioned to Class-A Tampa, keeping right-hander Darrell Rasner in the big leagues after he pitched 5 2-3 shutout innings Sunday in a victory over the Seattle Mariners. New York had planned to send Rasner right back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after his start, but changed course on Monday.
Ed Price said it best: Igawa i-gone-a.
For a Yankee big leaguer, being sent down to Tampa is like going to The Construct in The Matrix - except you get to hang with fat Billy Connors instead of "The Woman in the Red Dress." Yes, the same Connors who said, about Kei Igawa, back in February:
"He looks like he is going to be a real good pitcher," Yankees vice president Billy Connors said yesterday after Igawa's second workout at the Yankees' minor league complex. "He throws a heavy ball. He should be very good."
Good luck with the rebuild there Billy.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at May 7, 2007 05:45 PM
Comments
We'll need Igawa out of the bullpen. Other than Wang, who else amongst the starters will give the team innings?
Posted by: Don ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 7, 2007 06:23 PM
Cashman has egg on his face here. He spent a lot of money on this guy -- and now he's in high-A ball?
The same thing happened with Jose Contreras, didn't it?
Does this mean the Yankees will dump Igawa in a year for a useless player?
I guess they didn't really have a choice here -- there's no one they can remove from the roster to stick Igawa in the bullpen.
The thing is, though, that Igawa has really good stuff. He just has to figure out his mechanics, finishing off his pitches, staying low in the zone, etc. Even struggling, he had a lot of people swinging and missing.
I'm not exactly sure what the plan for Igawa is going to be -- in a month, the four and five holes in the rotation are going to be filled with Clemens and Hughes. What place does he have on this team?
By the way, Proctor was suspended four games for throwing the ball behind someone's back yesterday, which is totally excessive and ridiculous.
Posted by: baileywalk at May 7, 2007 06:28 PM
Excessive yes. But look at it on the bright side. The guy gets 4 days to rest his arm. But I wouldn't put it past Torre to have Proctor warm up for absolutely no reason at all. Ha ha
Posted by: ynks4life at May 7, 2007 06:47 PM
Torre's suspended for tonight -- Proctor will drop his appeal for tomorrow.
And all we need from Igawa is to pitch innings 7-9 for Rocket.
Posted by: rbj at May 7, 2007 08:33 PM
I dont think he went to Single-A as punishment I think he went down there because A) the rotation isnt crowded so he will get to pitch and B) That is where Nardi Contreras is and they want him to work with the pitching instructor
Posted by: Kyle at May 7, 2007 10:15 PM