Mike Ashmore and I conducted this interview with Yankees player development guru Mark Newman on Tuesday. His questions indicated with "MA," whereas mine are indicated with "JN." Mark's answers are indicated with a simple "A" for answer. Enjoy.

JN: Where is Adams in terms of coming back to this team?

A: Adams is farther way. Adams will not come directly here anyway. He’ll probably go play in the Florida State League before he comes here.

JN: Will that be a rehab, or will that be officially on Tampa’s roster?

A: They don’t do minor league rehabs there, so he has to go on their roster.

JN: Has the fact that he’s taken so long to come back been frustrating for you?

A: It’s been frustrating for him. I empathize with him. One, he is a very good player and prospect. Two, he works beyond diligently at his craft defensively and offensively, and throughout this process at the rehab work that he faces. So he’s frustrated, but when you get down to it, what good does that do you?

What he needs to do, and what he does do, is work at it every day. Humanness dictates that there’s some frustration, but he’s a smart enough guy to know that if you spend too much time on those feelings and emotions, it’s going to make your task even more difficult.

JN: As for Stoneburner?

A: Stoneburner’s pitching in games on a rehab assignment in the GCL. He’s got some more hoops to jump through. He had two innings in his last start.

MA: And Bleich?

A: Bleich is a long way away. He’s not imminent. There’s no reason to worry about him.

JN: I assume you were made aware of Slade Heathcott’s incident this year in Charleston. Was there any talk of possible internal discipline for his actions?

A: There wasn’t any internal discipline.

JN: When you see a kid who has Heathcott’s background, and this happens, does it worry you a little?

A: He’s doing well at what he’s doing. I was no more worried about him than I would have been anyone else. He’s been great. We’ve had zero problems with him.

MA: Betances and Banuelos are obviously the talk of the organization. How would you compare those two in terms of where they’re at right now?

A: Very close. They’re both pitching well here. They could both pitch better here. They could both improve the control and command of their fastball, so they’re very close in my mind.

MA: Is one ahead of the other?

A: I don’t really think so. If there were, I wouldn’t say.

JN: That third B, Brackman, are his issues mostly between the ears?

A: He’s not doing well. He’s scuffling. I think it’s a confidence thing. More than anything else, it’s that.

JN: What do you do to treat something like that?

A: He’s working at it, and he’s got to work through the problems. When athletes struggle, the good ones, what they do is call on past successes and they run that video through their brain. Brack’s got to do that sort of thing.

He’s got to remember how good a pitcher he is. At the end of the year last year, he was a good as anyone here. In the playoffs, a lot of our guys said he was our best pitcher in the playoffs.

He can do that again. It’s been a tough year for him, but he’s certainly good enough and he’s certainly working at it.

JN: Do you have a sports psychologist on staff to deal with such problems if need be?

A: We’ve got a department of four people that deal with those issues specifically, but all of our coaches do too. It’s an ongoing conversation. What can we do to help our players max out their performance potential? Coaches and sports performance experts – I mean, coaches are performance experts – our coaches understand these things, our sports performance department understands these things. We try to educate players about how to think and feel during competition, during preparation for competition. It’s constant.

We gameplan for three aspects with our athletes:

∙ Fundamental – how you catch, throw and hit

∙ Physical – How you get stronger, faster, quicker, bigger

∙ Mental emotionally – How you think and how you feel

All those things are intertwined. They don’t exist independently of each other. We understand that we need a program in those three areas for all of our players.

Depending on the individual and depending on where you are in this guy’s career, one of those things may be predominant. Brack right now is working on confidence. It’s what he’s got to do. It’s taken a couple of hits, his confidence has, but this is a game for tough people.

When I say tough people, it’s not just run over catchers, or break up double plays or run into walls to catch fly balls. A lot of the toughness required in this business is mental. It’s the ability to fight through junk. That’s where he’s at. He’s in a tough spot, we’ve got other players who have been in tough spots too.

MA: Wanted to ask you about the hitting coach situation. Ever since Matos left, I guess things have been in flux a little bit. When the situation happened, what was your reaction?

A: My initial reaction was just to find out went on. After that, you gather facts and you make judgments. As a result of that, we decided that it wasn’t going to work to have him here for the remainder of the season. We’re lucky we’ve got James Rowson, who’s going to spend a ton of his time here. James is an excellent hitting coach, and Pat Roessler’s our farm director. He’s a former major league hitting coach and hitting coordinator, and he’s exceptional too. So these guys will be in good hands.

MA: What is Matos’ status in the organization right now?

A: He’s still a member of the organization, he’s just not here right now.

JN: What was behind the decision to keep Cito Culver at Staten Island this year rather than move him to Charleston with Gary Sanchez?

A: Different player, different needs. Sanchez was probably the premier performer in the Gulf Coast League a year ago. Cito did a solid job. That’s all it is.

MA: Is there anybody here knocking on the door of Scranton?

A: Not right at the moment. Everybody expects Manny and Dellin to go, and they’ll go when they’re consistent, when they put together the kinds of performances we’re looking for. That doesn’t necessarily mean shutouts. It means when they continue to execute.

Austin Romine could play at any Triple-A field in the country and be at home, but that’s just a matter of he and Montero need to catch.

JN: With Montero, the word complacency has been thrown around. Is that something you’ve seen?

A: No. I see him work every day. I see his defense improve. I think his defense has improved significantly over a year ago, and I think he continues to take steps in the right direction. He’s not putting up the offensive numbers he did last year, but last year his offense came in the last two months, two and a half months, and that’s where we are now.

JN: Are you surprised it took him that long to turn it on in Triple-A last year?

A: He’s 21 years old. He’d be a college senior. I’m surprised he’s in Triple-A, and that he’s working on his second year in Triple-A.

MA: People talk a lot about the Hughes Rules, the Joba Rules, all that kind of stuff. When you see some of your younger guys break down a little bit like they have, not that I’m at all suggesting anything wrong is going on, do you second guess the way you’re progressing these guys along in terms of pitch counts, innings, stuff like that?

A: Second guess how? Should have pitched them more, should have pitched them less?

MA: In any sort of sense.

A: No. I’ve done this too long and seen too many injuries. When we go through last year and have basically no injuries, and I tell our young guys -- they think, for a fleeting moment characterized by a lack of humility, that we’ve figured out how to keep pitchers healthy – you’re always going to deal with pitchers injuries.

There are three things that you can control: Mechanics, conditioning and workload. You cannot control DNA, and you cannot control the fact that the human body is not designed to do this. So, our pitching coaches try to help guys develop deliveries that are going to help them sustain. Our strength and conditioning coaches get involved in arm exercise, cardio, core, flexibility exercises designed to help these guys sustain.

The programs are designed in conjunction with the best doctors and physical therapists in the country, the Andrewses and the extraordinary orthopedic surgeons who do so many of these things. That’s a lot of information, and no one’s got answers.

Every once in a while, some club will start talking about this or that program they have – tread lightly. As soon as you think you’ve got the answer – as they say in golf, as soon as you think you’ve got the key they change the lock. I’ve done this long enough – as a lot of us have here – to have a healthy amount of humility about how hard this stuff is.

We monitor pitches, innings, increases, workloads, times a year, long-throwing programs, core exercises, when they do their arm exercises, how many times during the week, how many reps … no detail is beyond our concern. Having said that, we don’t control the whole environment.

JN: You mentioned DNA. While you obviously can’t look at DNA itself, can you go back and look at a guy’s family history to see if there’s anything there?

A: If they had a mother and a father who were pitchers that pitched 300 innings a year for 20 years like Nolan Ryan, you’d probably say: Well, there’s a shot. Beyond that, you look for bigger and stronger, but jeez, who’s bigger and stronger than Grant Duff? Tim Norton, who’s bigger and stronger than him?

They work very hard. Stuff happens. If we used them four days in a row, if the starter went 160 (pitches) because we were trying to win a playoff game, then we should be rightly scrutinized. Our primary objective is to produce and get these guys ready to play, and sometimes they get hurt. This year, we’ve had more than our share, as has our big league staff.

JN: Staying on medical for a little bit, Alan Horne had platelet-rich plasma therapy. Was he the first in the organization to have that procedure done?

A: No. We’ve used it for knees, hamstrings … it’s kind of en vogue now. We’ll know in a couple of years how good it is.

JN: Which gets to the point of the question: What is the organization’s approach to newer medical procedures?

A: Our doctors are doing it. I’m not doing it. Casey Stengel once said about a player “his limits are limitless.” My limits in the medical field are limitless. I don’t know, but our Dr. Ahmad, in New York, (and others like him), they have the current research. We defer.

JN: Corban Joseph has really done well this year. What are your guys in the organization saying about the returns on him this season?

A: Well. We love his bat. He works very hard at defense. He had a really great double play turn the other day in New Britain. First and third, one out – it was a heck of a play. He’s done well.

JN: Same kind of question with Jose Pirela. First two months were bad, but now he’s turned it on. What do you think caused that turnaround?

A: Look at his month to months last year – same thing. He told me it was weather. First two months, he’s never played in cold weather, he’s from Venezuela. I said, well what happened the first two months of last year, in Tampa? It was the same thing.

Not sure he could play in the league? I don’t know. That’s rank amateur psychology. He hit a long home run to left-center in New Britain, I mean it was a bomb.

I e-mailed Mark Newman about an hour ago regarding injury recovery for Steve Garrison, Austin Romine and Graham Stoneburner. Here's what he said.

Austin Romine - "to play tonight"

Steve Garrison - "to start tomorrow in Trenton"

Graham Stoneburner - "is in Tampa and will have rehab starts in the GCL"

Romine has been out since June 2 with a mild concussion he suffered on a play at the plate against Altoona. He was named to the Futures Game roster yesterday (his second trip). Before the injury, he was hitting .298/.362/.421 with four homers and 31 RBIs.

Garrison, a native of Trenton, had been out since a hamstring injury forced him out of his May 3 start after just one inning. He made a rehab start with Staten Island on June 21, going five shutout innings against the Hudson Valley Renegades. He allowed four hits, a walk and struck out four.

Stoneburner last pitched for the Thunder on April 21. Neck problems made him a late scratch from his next scheduled start, which would have come in his hometown of Richmond, Va. He threw two innings in the GCL today, striking out four. His only baserunner came on a hit by pitch.

Additionally, David Adams has been rehabbing with the GCL Yankees. In three contests, he is 6-for-9 with a double and three runs scored. He has been removed around the sixth inning in each game, usually replaced by Taylor Anderson.

Someone with knowledge of the situation said that he expected Adams' rehab to be on the longer side. I would imagine that the next step is to play full games.

The team has announced its roster changes, and they are as follows:

- Manny Banuelos and Myron Leslie have been placed on the temporarily inactive list.

- Nick McCoy has been removed from the roster entirely.

That trims the roster down to the required 24, and it also leaves the team with just one catcher, Austin Romine. If necessary, Addison Maruszak will be the team's emergency catcher.

Trenton opens its season in a few hours, when it takes on Zach Stewart and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester this evening. Steve Garrison, a Hun school graduate and a Trenton native, will oppose Stewart.

Additionally, Jeremy Bleich, David Adams, Grant Duff and Alan Horne all appear on the team's disabled list. Even before those moves were announced, it was pretty clear those four guys were good candidates to play for the Thunder this year.

The rest of the pitching matchup for the New Hampshire series are as follows:

LHP Shaeffer Hall (0 - 0, 0.00) vs. RHP Rey Gonzalez (0 - 0, 0.00)
RHP Graham Stoneburner (0 - 0, 0.00) vs. RHP B.J. LaMura (0 - 0, 0.00)
RHP Dellin Betances (0 - 0, 0.00) vs. LHP Willie Collazo (0 - 0, 0.00)

TAMPA, Fla. — Even before the team throws its first pitch of 2011, it’s time for a cold splash of reality. The Trenton Thunder, as currently assembled, will not be the same group upon which a playoff berth will hinge – not even close.

The stars that dot the first few months of lineups – Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos and Austin Romine, to name a few – will most likely be long gone by the time August rolls around.

When the 2010 team broke camp from Tampa, its rotation was: Christian Garcia, Ryan Pope, Jeremy Bleich, David Phelps and D.J. Mitchell. Come playoff time, all five of those names were gone, replaced by a starting five that included Betances, Banuelos, Andrew Brackman and Adam Warren.

Hector Noesi also contributed significant innings in Double-A, but was bumped to Scranton two weeks before the Eastern League Division Series began.

With that sense of inevitable change in mind, here are a few players who could make or break Trenton’s defense of its Eastern Division crown, starting where every good team does, with the pitching.

1. Brett Marshall — A right-hander with hard fastball that both cutting and boring action, he’s the odds-on pick to be Trenton’s ace down the stretch and into a September run. When he got to New York, he famously told Mark Newman, the team’s vice president of player development, that he was going to throw 100 miles per hour one day.

Nobody’s seen him top triple-digits just yet, but they have seen him mature into a pitcher who knows that, despite its sex appeal, simply blowing it past a hitter isn’t always the most effective plan of attack. He’s learned that a weak ground ball can be just as effective as a strikeout, and it can you keep you on the mound longer, too.

2. Jeremy Bleich — Yes, denizens of Waterfront Park, you’ve seen this name before, and it hasn’t always been worth the meager cost of your ticket. Over parts of two seasons with the Thunder, the former first-round pick is 6-8 with a 5.92 ERA in 21 starts. More alarmingly, Bleich, who earned a reputation as a control artist coming out of Stanford, has issued 62 walks in just 106 2/3 Double-A frames.

His 2010 season was ended when he had surgery to repair a torn left labrum, a procedure that, for a pitcher, is arguably more daunting than an elbow reconstruction. He’ll more than likely begin the season in High-A Tampa (though not in April) and if everything goes right he’ll probably finish up in Trenton.

3. David Adams — Yep, that David Adams. The one who, were it not for an unfortunate slide in Hadlock Field in May, might have helped fit Cliff Lee for set of pinstripes. The slide left him with a broken foot, and ended what had been a boffo beginning to his first tour of the upper levels.

Unfortunately for Thunder fans, although the break has healed, Adams’ feet are once again giving him fits. He’s currently dealing with a bout of plantar fasciitis that will cost him the beginning of the year. Once it subsides, he’s more than likely ticketed for a spot in Trenton’s infield.

4. J.R. Murphy — This one is a little more of a long shot. The catcher and sometimes infielder will start the year back at Low-A Charleston, but he’s an extremely advanced hitter and could make enough strides to bully his way into the upper levels toward the tail end of 2011.

Sure, he hit just .255/.327/.376 with the RiverDogs last season, but as a product of the IMG Sports Academy, in Bradenton, Fla., there’s a considerable amount of polish already, so a jump to Double-A by the end of year wouldn’t be such an outlandish idea.

With Donnie Collins peering into Scranton's future over at his blog, I figured I'd do the same over here. We'll start today with the infield, which, because a bit of a logjam of up-the-middle talent, has the potential to feature a prospect of some degree at every position.

First base - Brad Suttle: After missing all of 2009 with an injury, Suttle really broke out this season at High-A Tampa, hitting .272/.340/.411 with 10 home runs and 80 RBIs. Problem is, at 25 years old, and with scouts' reviews not terribly pleasing, Suttle's stock is falling.

Second base - Corban Joseph: The wispy middle infielder faltered after making his way to Trenton toward the end of the 2010. He hit just .216/.305/.342 with in 31 games with the Thunder, including just five hits in 42 at-bats against left-handers. Still, the swing is pure, and he'll get another crack at Double-A in 2011.

Shortstop - Jose Pirela: He hit just .252 with Tampa last season, but impressed Yankees brass enough to earn a spot in the Arizona Fall League when Joseph's late-season wrist injury forced him to shut it down for the year. He didn't hit terribly well in the AFL, but produced a .333/.387/.858 line with Zulia of the Venezuelan Winter League. He also stole 30 bases in 37 tries with Tampa.

Third base - David Adams: I think Adams and Joseph will split time at third and second, but Adams should see the majority of the time at the hot corner. He played 14 games there in 2009 with Charleston, and could move over there this season to get everyday time with Joseph and Pirela in the same locker room. I wouldn't be shocked to see him spend time at designated hitter, either.

Utility - Myron Leslie: This is exactly the kind of player Tony Franklin covets. He plays multiple positions, and will do anything asked of his skipper. In 2010 with Tampa, Leslie played catcher, first base, second base and even pitched a game. He could fill a very similar, Justin Snyder-esque role with the Thunder in 2011.

Each Friday, Minor Matters will publish the Top Ten numbers from the season. These can be stats, players' numbers, whatever. As long as it's a number, it counts. The Thunder were just two wins from the Eastern League championship, so there's no shortage of material for this section.

No. 6 ...

What it means: The number of games of David Adams played before breaking his foot and spraining his ankle, costing him the rest of the season, and possibly keeping Cliff Lee from the Yankees.

Why it's significant: Before the injury, Adams, a second baseman, was easily the team's MVP. Even when Austin Romine and Brandon Laird hadn't started cooking yet, Adams was scalding the ball. He was hitting .309/.393/.900 before he got hurt, including three longballs and 31 RBIs. He also had 15 doubles and three triples. In short, he was carrying the team's offense through the season's cold months.

What Else It Could Mean: Thirty-nine just doesn't appear that much in this season's stats. In addition Adams' games played, it is also: Adam Olbrychowski's jersey number, and the amount of triples the team legged out in 2010.

At 8 a.m., a deal was “on the verge.” Two hours later, it was “imminent.”
At 2:45, there were “big concerns” on Seattle’s end, and by the end of the workday, the trade that would have made Cliff Lee a Yankee was dead.

Under the swap’s final proposed incarnation, New York would have sent Jesus Montero, Zach McAllister and David Adams to Seattle for the ace left-hander.

It also would have added a world of clarity to Austin Romine’s path to the Bronx.

Still, to the laid-back Thunder backstop mere hours away from a trip home for the XM Futures Game, yesterday’s proceedings were water under the bridge.

“That’s not something I worry about, especially when it really didn’t involve me,” Romine said in front of the visitors’ clubhouse before yesterday’s game with the Bowie Baysox. “It was interesting (and) exciting at the same time. I try not to think about that, but you can’t not when it’s all over TV.”

As for his status with the organization, the 21-year-old Romine realizes that choosing to keep him here is a tremendous reaffirmation of the big things the Yankees believe he will produce.

“It shows that they’ve got a lot of respect for me,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of confidence in me, I think would be a better word. Again, I don’t think it means much. I’m trying to get (to the big leagues) as fast as I can.”

Thunder skipper Tony Franklin agreed with Romine’s view, saying that perhaps Seattle didn’t give the Yankees much of a choice.

“You look at it from various angles and you make up your own mind. Maybe it was we’re putting Montero in the deal because we really want Lee,” Franklin said. “We’d hate to lose you, but we really want Lee.”

Like Romine, Franklin played off the trade, and its ultimate failure, as business as usual.

“It’s speculation. I don’t know why they backed out. They’ve got their reasons, and I don’t know why the trade consummated. Maybe they didn’t get what we wanted, and maybe they didn’t get what they wanted. That’s generally why they’d call a deal off.”

The other member of the Thunder involved in the proposed deal, second baseman David Adams, ended up being the reason the Mariners backed out at the very end. His severely sprained ankle, they said, was a concern.

So, if the injury was serious enough to warrant voiding a deal that would have sent Seattle arguably the best hitting prospect in all of baseball, what does it say about his timetable for a return to action?

“I don’t know what the medical team is thinking right now,” manager Tony Franklin said. “They’re going to make the assessment of when David’s ready to come back. I’m not the guy who’s going to make that assessment.”

BOWIE, Md. – Regardless of what uniform Cliff Lee is wearing tonight, yesterday’s proceedings made one thing abundantly clear: Austin Romine is the Yankees’ catcher of the future.

By agreeing to send Jesus Montero, the best bat in the system and perhaps the entirety of minor league baseball, to Seattle for Lee, they not so subtly inferred which man they believe will be the successor to Jorge Posada.

The pair has long been regarded as the twin peaks in a system rich with catching talent, but the ultimate question was about which would win out: Montero’s supremely gifted bat, or Romine’s all-around excellence.

Now, after about eight hours of deliberation, it appears we know the answer.

The deal, which would have sent Montero, Thunder second baseman David Adams and former Trenton ace Zach McAllister across the country, broke down because of questions Seattle had regarding Adams’ ankle.

That last part is surprising, given that Adams has been hurt for nearly two months. Yes, he did have a set back recently, but hasn’t had surgery. It’s a fully recoverable injury, and it’s not as if he would have started immediately with the Mariners.

The more likely scenario is that the Rangers simply offered Seattle a superior package of prospects, which includes slugger Justin Smoak, stud pitcher Blake Beavan, second baseman Matt Lawson and reliever Josh Lueke.

Beavan was with Triple-A, while Lueke and Lawson were a part of the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.

The deal also tips the Yankees’ hand a little bit as far as the rest of the month leading up to the non-waiver trading deadline is concerned. By even making the proposal in the first place, it signals to the rest of the league that they believe their rotation, even with three All-Stars, is incomplete.

This belief may have been spurred by the up-and-down first halves from the rotation’s non All-Stars – Javier Vazquez and A.J. Burnett – or the upcoming innings count placed on Phil Hughes.

No matter the cause, it appears that the Yankees believe they need pitching, and Montero’s the man they’re willing to part with to acquire it.

Joel Sherman made a fantastic get this morning, and is reporting that the Yankees are on the verge of acquiring left-handed ace Cliff Lee from the Mariners for a package that includes Jesus Montero, Thunder second baseman David Adams and more as yet unnamed prospects from a deep Yankees system.

With Triple-A this season, Montero's struggles are being made very public. Still he's turned it on quite a bit of late, and is sporting a .253/.329/.737 line with six homers and 35 RBIs. Still, he's just 21 and has loads of potential. Plus, with Austin Romine, J.R. Murphy, Gary Sanchez and Kyle Higashioka all still in the system, the Yankees have a major catching surplus.

David Adams, who has been on the disabled list since May with a sprained ankle, is also rumored to be part of the deal. As far as the Thunder's season goes, the Yankees could easily (and deservingly) promote Corban Joseph to Trenton.

Mark Newman, the Yankees VP of Player Development, was on hand during last weekend's series with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Because of time constraints, I didn't catch up with him in person. I did, however, fire him a series of questions via e-mail, and he responded this morning.

Here are my questions and his answers:

Q: Obviously Brandon Laird has been hotter this season than just about anyone could have expected. After seeing him this weekend, and looking at his overall season, what do you think he needs to improve to get him to the next level?

A: Brandon needs to continue his growth as a player in a general sense. While there is no specific need, he needs to refine his approach at the plate and on defense. These are the subtleties of the game and involve adapting to various game situations and pitcher hitter match-ups.

Q: What are your overall impressions on the seasons of Phelps and Romine? Have they hit the expectations you and the organization had for them before the season? With Romine, I'm especially curious about how the organization views his defensive season (I've noticed Mosquera at Waterfront quite a bit.)

A: Phelps and Romine are both on track. Romine will be a very good defensive catcher at the ML level. He will also be a force with the bat. A really good looking young player. Phelps has met or exceeded all of our expectations.

Q: Shifting away from Trenton, you guys have to be ecstatic with the way Betances has responded after surgery. I know it's only four starts, but if he keeps performing like this (or anywhere close, frankly), could we see him with the Thunder toward season's end/playoff time?

A: Betances will be in Tampa. He is only 10 months out of surgery. He will go slow for the near future.

Q: Sticking with Tampa, the rotation down there has been outstanding all season long. Particularly intriguing is Graham Stoneburner, whom I got to see with Charleston earlier this year. Obviously the hard fastball is one of his strengths, and slider is improving. How much more work does the slider need before it's up to the standards the organization would like to see?

A: Stoneburner is making very solid progress with the SL. He should be in Trenton next year. This is his first full professional season and he has already been promoted once this year.

Q: I believe you mentioned to my colleague that David Adams' latest setback on his ankle sprain could cost a few more weeks of rehab. If that is the case, is there a promotion for Corban Joseph in the near future?

A: Adams had a tough injury and he will need a few more weeks. He is a tough guy and a great worker. He will be ready as soon as humanly possible.

Q: It seems that Manny Banuelos is close to returning to action after the long recovery from the appendectomy. What plans are there for his workload the rest of the way as far as getting him up to an appropriate innings load is concerned? Might fall/winter ball be an option?

A: Banuelos will get regular work for the remaining portion of the season. His arm is fine. Appendectomy.

Q: Moving down the ladder a little bit, what are the plans for Slade Heathcott and J.R. Murphy this season. Will they stay at Charleston all season, or might they wind up in Staten Island?

A: Heathcott and Murphy will stay with Charleston.

Q: Speaking of Staten Island, what kind of progress is the organization looking for from Kelvin De Leon in his first season out of rookie ball?

A: DeLeon needs to make contact and allow the plus power to play.

Q: Last one, are there any thoughts to bringing Christian Garcia back into the fold once he completes his latest rehab?

A: Garcia is no longer with the organization and who knows what the future holds. He has had several tough injuries and it is a shame that we have not gotten a chance to see the ability on a regular basis. A good guy with big ability and some very bad luck. We all hope he gets through this and gets to play again.

This happened late last night, but outfielder Justin Christian got promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The move comes as no surprise, especially considering the S-Yanks had been at three outfielders for quite some time. Technically that's the situation they're in now, but that'll change once Marcus Thames is activated.

Now, the question is: Who's coming to the Thunder to replace Christian, if anyone? Well, there's a couple of scenarios. They could use Justin Snyder in left field, as was done 11 times last season. He's also played center field 18 times, so he could go there if Austin Krum needs a blow one of these days.

That said, if Snyder moves to the outfield for a while, that could pave the way for David Adams' activation from the DL, which should happen any day now regardless.

It could also mean that the Thunder are getting a new arm here soon. Currently, the Tampa Yankees have Andrew Brackman, Adam Warren, Dellin Betances, George Kontos, Graham Stoneburner and Shaeffer Hall active as starters. Manny Banuelos, who rehabbed yesterday in the GCL, isn't far behind.

That's seven starting pitchers for five spots. I suspect we'll see Brackman and/or Kontos here in short order.

Additionally, the XM Futures Game rosters were announced today, and catcher Austin Romine and starter Hector Noesi made the cut. Romine, one of the Yankees' bushelful of catching prospects, is hitting .283/.349/.759 in Trenton. Noesi, who arrived with the Thunder last month,
is 8-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 78 innings between High-A and Double-A. He's fanned 82 against 11 walks.

Here are the five bits of audio I gathered before and after the Thunder's 6-4 win over the Erie SeaWolves this evening: From the top down is: Paul Bush, Tony Franklin pre-game, Kevin Mahoney, David Adams, Tony Franklin postgame. Also below are (again, from top down) Reggie Jackson helping with PFP, Kevin Mahoney taking some BP, Hector Noesi throwing in the bullpen and Cory Arbiso talking about his start

Per Justin Shackil, David Adams, who injured his ankle in Game 1 of yesterday's doubleheader, is still with the team but will see doctors tomorrow. He also said that Adams can put weight on the ankle.

I have a text message in to Jeremy Bleich, who is in Florida receiving treatment for a stiff left shoulder. Don't expect a response back from Bleich.

Monday: Fisher Cats 5, Thunder 4
Tuesday: Fisher Cats 2, Thunder 1
Wednesday: Thunder 13, Fisher Cats 3

Key to the Series: Oh, those bases on balls. If not for Jeremy Bleich's six walks in Game 2, then maybe we're talking about a Thunder series win. After all, Bleich allowed just three hits in 5 1/3 innings. Overall, Bleich has walked 11 men in 17 2/3 innings but has held the opposition to a .164 average against. If he can limit those walks, he'll be truly dominant.

Honorable mention: David Adams, who right now is as hot as bacon grease. Including an 0-for-4 in Game 1, went 5-for-11 with a double, a grand slam and four walks. His season line moves to .388/.455/1.087. Thing is, if he keeps hitting like this, where is he going to go? Scranton has two middle infielders who are on the 40-man.

RESULT: Akron 2, Thunder 1
Monday: Akron 4, Thunder 2
Tuesday: Akron 5, Thunder 1
Wednesday: Thunder 4, Akron 3

Key to the Series: Timely hitting. Except for Wednesday's game, the Thunder just couldn't come up in the clutch. The team was just 1-for-21 with runners in scoring position, the lone knock being Austin Krum's two-run single that gave the Thunder the eventual win in the series finale.

Honorable Mention: David Adams extended his hitting streak to seven games. Overall, Adams is hitting .481 (12-for-25) this season

Notes: Grant Duff has appeared in five of the seven games so far. ... The Thunder have just three home runs (Luis Nunez, David Adams and Damon Sublett) but have allowed only one (Beau Mills)

Dates: April 12-15
Where: Waterfront Park

SCHEDULED STARTERS:

Monday: D.J. Mitchell (NR) vs. Ryan Edell (NR) -- 7:05 p.m.
Tuesday: Lance Pendleton (1-0, 0.00) vs. Zach Putnam ( 0-0, 4.50) -- 7:05 p.m.
Wednesday: Ryan Pope (0-0, 1.80) vs. Scott Barnes (0-0, 8.10) 10:35 a.m.

WHO'S HOT:

Thunder: The starting rotation has limited the opposition to two runs on 11 hits over the first four games. They've walked just three in that time. David Adams is hitting .500 with a team-high five RBIs and has three multi-hit games.

Aeros: Shortstop Lonnie Chisenhall is hitting .455 (5-for-11) with a pair of doubles and RBIs. Catcher Matt McBride is 4-for-12 with a home run and four RBIs. Outfielder Nick Weglarz is hitting .300 with a home run. Reliever Bryan Price has four strikeouts and hasn't allowed a hit in his first 1 2/3 innings.

Note: The Aeros haven't stolen a base this season.

RESULT: Thunder sweep, 4-0.
Thursday: Thunder 4, Erie 0
Friday: Thunder 3, Erie 1
Saturday: Thunder 3, Erie 0
Sunday: Thunder 5, Erie 1

Key to the Series: Starting pitching. Christian Garcia, Ryan Pope, Jeremy Bleich and David Phelps combined for 22 2/3 innings of two-run baseball. They've struck out 22 during that time, and walked just three. If Pope and Bleich, two starters who had rocky seasons in 2009, can be as strong as they looked in their opening outings, it's going to be a long year for opposing hitters.

Honorable Mention: David Adams. He's hitting .500 so far (8-for-16) and has driven in five of the team's 15 runs. He's had three multi-hit games so far, including a three-hit effort on Saturday.

Notes: This is the first time the Thunder have won their first four games since 1999, when they won nine in a row to start the year. ... Justin Snyder went 2-for-3 in his 2010 debut.

Clockwise from top left are: Luis Nunez, Frank Menechino and Vic Valencia with the World Series trophy, Damon Sublett, Reid Gorecki, David Adams and Austin Krum.

In the tradition of, well, just about every baseball writer in America, it's time to make a few predictions. Trying to forecast the outcome of a minor league team is much harder than doing so for a major league team, I believe, because there is so much inherent fluidity.

For instance, there will be two changes to the roster before tonight's game. Those will be the first many, many transactions this year. Players will go up, down, hit the disabled list or leave the organization entirely.

That said, here are the Minor Matters predictions for your 2010 Thunder:

BATTING LEADERS
HR: Brandon Laird (15)
RBIs: Austin Romine (78)
AVG: Damon Sublett (.305)
BB: Dan Brewer (75)
SB: Austin Krum (20)
PITCHING LEADERS
W: D.J. Mitchell (12)
ERA: Christian Garcia (2.11)
SO: Garcia (160)
SV: Pat Venditte (15)
IP: Garcia (142)

-- Josh Schmidt will be out of Trenton by the end of April. He will be replaced by Venditte.

-- Ryan Pope will continue last season's momentum and will earn a promotion to Scranton by June. He will be replaced by Andrew Brackman.

-- Garcia will stay healthy all season and will earn a September call-up to the Bronx.

-- There will be 10 games postponed by rain. One will feature a two-hour delay.

-- The largest crowd of the year will be for Jesus Montero bobblehead night.

-- A guess at tonight's lineup:

CF - Austin Krum
RF - Dan Brewer
C - Austin Romine
3B- Brandon Laird
2B - David Adams
LF - Damon Sublett
1B - Kevin Smith
DH - Edwar Gonzalez
SS - Luis Nunez

-- Lastly, the Thunder will go 82-60 and finish the second in the division to Portland, which will win 90 games.