Kei Igawa, three-time IIHIIFIIc Yankee Employee of the Month, gets feature article in big city newspaper

In the Times today, Kei Igawa, the Lost Yankee.

It's written by a great sportswriter, Bill Pennington. Read it. The article repeatedly asks, but cannot not answer, one central question: How could a stalemate evolve that would keep the Yankees from doing something with this guy?

The Yankees let him gobble up innings before small crowds in distant outposts as a cavalcade of younger prospects push past him on their way to Yankee Stadium. Igawa never complains, and in a tribute to either willpower or lower level longevity, he has set farm system pitching records. And with just a few months left on his contract, he still dreams of the major leagues, if no longer as a Yankee.

Cashman admits it was a mistake and rolls out excuses: They tried sending him back to Japan, they considered trades, etc. But when one considers all the left-handed slobs who've marched through the Yankee bullpen over the last four years, his words ring hollow. There's something else.

Somewhere along the line, the Yankee "baseball people" long ago decided he cannot pitch in the majors, and they shut the book on him - hard. Maybe they are right. They certainly know baseball more than I do.

Of course, they're also the guys who signed him. They're not always right, I guess.

You can't predict baseball. But here's one projection I cannot help but make: By this time next year, Igawa will be pitching in the majors. He'll be serviceable, better than we expected, and superior to all the Steve Garrisons and CJ Nitkowskis we promoted just to spite him. Knowing the way the Yankee Fates work, don't be surprised if one day Igawa pitches in Yankee Stadium and shuts us down entirely.

I do not know the mechanics of pitching. I cannot determine whether Igawa can pitch in the majors or not.

But I sure can identifiy a screwed up organization when it comes into view. On the matter of Igawa, the Yankees are a train wreck.