Zell's Pinstripe Blog

You remember when everyone was saying that “Generation Trey” was here to stay? Well, you can forget about that now as one of them have left the pack.

Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain rose to the major league level together, and they started a new wave of young arms within the organization. It began a new thought of investing in and sticking with their young players, rather than trading them all away for all-star caliber players.

The team  came close to splitting up the trio a few years ago, when there was talks of Hughes and Kennedy being packaged in a deal to obtain Johan Santana. That didn’t work out. There were rumors about splitting them up again just a few weeks ago, when talks were heating up about possibly sending Hughes or Joba to the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay. Nothing came of that either, as Cashman would not part with them. It’s definitely nice to see that Cashman wants to stick with them. The trio was finally split up in the three-way trade between the Yanks, Tigers and D-Backs. [Granderson went to the Yankees; Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy going to the Diamondbacks; and a prospect haul of Daniel Schlereth, Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke going to the payroll-slashing Tigers.]

Remember “Generation K”? (Bill Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen, Paul Wilson) That was the collective nickname given to the trio of young starting pitchers in the New York Mets organization in 1995. Look how that turned out. All three players succumbed to pitching-related injuries within a year. The only one out of the three that had real success in the major leagues was Isringhausen, who now has 293 career saves.

I guess you can never really tell how these prospects will pan out down the road. Ian “Ike or IPK” Kennedy struggled mightily at the major league level, but the talented pitcher didn’t get enough of a chance in New York. I would hardly call 59.2 innings enough to show you whether a guy could pitch or not at the major league level. It’s very hard for a young pitcher like that to perform under pressure on such a big stage, especially when your team has such high expectations of winning the World Series every year. A goal that is impossible.

Kennedy is a promising young pitcher, with a lot of talent and we wish him the best of luck with the Diamondbacks. Joel Sherman’s “Generation Trey” nickname pitch for Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain can be put to rest now. One of them has left, but a promising duo of Hughes and Joba will look to keep up their end of the deal.

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