Farewell to Francisco Cervelli - for now, at least

Since Jose Molina was activated before last night's game, Francisco Cervelli was sent to AAA. The catcher, who had never played above AA until this year, made quite the impression with Yankee fans, including this one. I'm very sad to see him get sent down. It was great to have his youthful energy and catching smarts on this team.

Fellow blogger New York Sports Jerk writes:

... the Yankees hate using kids as backups at the Major League level, which is why 33-year-old Cody Ransom is allowed to make error after error without contributing at all with the bat, while Ramiro Pena is down in Scranton for "seasoning."

What the Yankees should be doing is evaluating which players make their 2009 team better.

While at least Molina is a very good backup catcher, Cody Ransom is terrible. Since this is a win-now team, I don't understand why Pena doesn't have the chance to play up here. His contributions to the team are much better than Ransom can provide. Yeah, Pena can play every day in Scranton, but the Yankees are a better team with him than with Ransom. And I'd rather see one of the Yanks' young arms get a chance over Brett Tomko.

Are the Yankees better with Molina or Cervelli? I think the case can be made for either of them. I like Molina, but if the Yanks could use him in a trade, I'd be okay with that. Ransom and Tomko, on the other hand, need to hit the bricks.

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Missed the first half of last night's game - we went out to dinner at Bob'z Ribz on Staten Island. I was excited to see A.J. Burnett continue to pitch well, even when he didn't have his best stuff. How great is it to have a one-two punch of aces like CC Sabathia and Burnett?

Speaking of aces, hope Alfredo ACEves pitches like one today!