The Sommer Frieze

Pete Abraham reports that Andy Phillips has signed with Pittsburgh. He also provides a link to an interesting Sweeney Murti idea. I kind of like Sweeney’s idea, not only Plan A but Plan B also.

But Abraham also reports on another thing. The staffs of AAA SWB and AA Trenton for 2009. As long-time readers of this blog may know, I’ve advocated Scott Aldred for a while as the real coaching star of the organization. It is he who has helped develop the young pitching in the organization and who has gotten the best out of Joba, Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, Edwar, Jason Jones, Marquez and others. He has done it at Charleston and Trenton. Now, in what may be an indication of the Yanks’ plans regarding Hughes, Kennedy and Aceves, and maybe even Horne and a few others, Aldred will be at AAA SWB (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) for 2009. I love this move. Give the kids time and with the best pitching coach in the organization (which isn’t a knock on Dave Eiland). He has had results. He’ll be right there at AAA with the kids who are thisclose to helping and the ones “on call” in case of injuries. Now if he does anything with Igawa, then we will know for sure that Aldred is a miracle worker.

From the link above: In 2008, Aldred’s Trenton Thunder pitching staff led the Eastern League in ERA (3.13) for the second consecutive year on route to the league title. In his debut season as a coach in 2006, he guided the Single-A Charleston pitching staff to the second-best ERA in the South Atlantic League (3.20).

You can see why I am excited about this move. Congratulations to Aldred on a much deserved promotion. You can see by the figures above the fruits of his work. Now it’s time for guys like Hughes to ripen.

Update: Tim the Wizard (see comments) beat me to the punch by a minute or so, but the Yanks and Chien Ming Wang avoid arbitration. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal for 2009 for $5M.