By Geoff Walter / SNY.tv

 

If ever there were a case in recent memory for a player to be classified as quadruple-A, Yankees pitcher Kei Igawa would be exhibit A. After his latest outing Thursday against the Royals, resulting in a 7-0 loss for the Bombers, Iggy was unceremoniously sent down to Triple-A Scranton, his second demotion this year.  Carrying a bloated 6.79 ERA and a 2-3 record, Igawa was sent down to the Minors the first time to work on his mechanics and pitching, before being brought up recently after succeeding at the Triple-A level. The problem is that once he steps on to that Major League mound, little appears to have changed.

Igawa has the talent to succeed at the Minor League level, but making that jump to the Show requires a mental shift as well -- something not everyone can achieve. No one save Igawa can vouch for his mentality, but I have seen enough of his "talent" to know I have seen too much and don't care to see anymore. In a pitching market where even the most mediocre talents command astronomical prices the Yankees have effectively flushed their money down the drain, paying a combined $46 million (salary and posting fee) for a pitcher who is not Major League material. And before the argument arises that the Yankees should have bid higher for Daiskue Matsuzaka, the odds that the Yankees would have outbid Boston are about the same as a snowball's chance in hell. Phil Hughes' rehabilitation can't end soon enough. He's truly money well spent.

Wanna argue with the Ref? Don't like the call? Go ahead and make your own!