FanHouse Brian Bruney

Yorvit Torrealba of the Colorado Rockies is thankful for the return of his 11-year old son and the child's uncle after they were kidnapped in Venezuela. The story was largely kept out of the public eye until the abducted were returned safely to their homes, and the perpetrators were apprehended. The situation resolved itself without tragedy, and we learned an important lesson: that this is way, way less important than two unassociated, relief-pitching strangers having beef.

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump. Say word.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Subway Series is finally living up to the hype on the field that Big Apple seamheads give it off the field. Friday, Luis Castillo made one of the most memorable fielding gaffes lately to cost the battered and reeling Mets a win. Saturday, Yankees walking injury relief pitcher Brian Bruney ripped record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez for his antics on the mound just prior to Castillo's flubbed popup.

The series finale had a bit of everything.

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NEW YORK -- For the most part, New York's interleague rivalry is for the fans. There's little animosity between opposing players, or at least not since Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza moved on.

That all changed Saturday.

About 60 miles southwest of Yankee Stadium, injured Yankees reliever Brian Bruney pitched in a Double-A day game on a rehabilitation assignment. And then after his inning of work, he set off a powder keg in talking about Friday's bizarre game and Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez:

The Yankees shook up their starting rotation on Wednesday by announcing that Chien-Ming Wang will move into the starting rotation. Wang will start on Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium against the Rangers, pushing CC Sabathia back to Friday against the Rays and Phil Hughes into the bullpen.

The move comes after a pair of strong relief outings by Wang, who is recovering from a trip to the disabled list and three awful starts to begin the season. Joe Girardi told reporters that they chose to start Wang tomorrow instead of Friday because he wanted to get a right-hander between Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, who starts on Wednesday night.

FanHouse completes its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the New York Yankees.

When they signed A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira for a combined $423.5 million in December, the Yankees opened the door to criticism that they were just trying to use their revenue advantage to bludgeon the opposition. The team did use a heavy hand, but they aren't deserving of criticism.

For four teams, the next two days begin the quest for a World Series championship. For the rest of them, rumors abound about what they can do to get there next year. It's called the hot stove season, and frankly this stove has been malfunctioning for years ... bringing forth many deals that have little if any chance of happening, while occasionally getting something right. Yankee blog Was Watching brings our attention to the first of many such rumors, and it's a big one:

Frank Russo, on New York Baseball Digest Radio's Yankee Special, mentioned that his connections have shared that the Mets are accepting inquiries for Carlos Beltran. And, further, according to Russo, his sources have also shared that there's a rumor of a possible deal between the Mets and Yankees which would breakdown as follows:

Carlos Beltran from the Mets to the Yankees in exchange for Robinson Cano (with the Yankees taking on most of Cano's contract), either Jose Veras or Brian Bruney, Ian Kennedy, and another prospect from the Yankees system.

For crying out loud we're not even in November and already rumors like this are flying? The hot stove has to learn to pace itself.

One of the big questions that followed Hank Steinbrenner's outburst about moving Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation was who would pick up the slack in the eighth inning? The Yankee bullpen struggled to get the ball to Mariano Rivera last season, necessitating Chamberlain's ascension, and didn't add a reliever well-suited to high-leverage situations in the offseason.

Brian Bruney was emerging as a potential answer to that question in the early going this season. Always a hard thrower, Bruney was in good shape and appeared to have improved command after years of frustrating walks in big spots. He hurt his foot covering first earlier this week, though, and on Friday doctors confirmed he's got a Lisfranc injury which needs surgery.

"It goes all the way back to like 1793, that procedure," Manager Joe Girardi said. "Back then, they amputated."

While he'll likely keep his foot, Bruney won't be back until September at the earliest and could miss the entire season. That means the Yankees are back to square one when it comes to replacing Chamberlain in the bullpen. The in-house choices are pretty sickly.

They've tried and been burnt by Kyle Farnsworth a million times, LaTroy Hawkins has a 10.09 career ERA at Yankee Stadium and Billy Traber's a lefty specialist. Taking into account the loss of Chamberlain while he goes to AAA to prepare as a starter, it's impossible to see how the Yankees could manage without the rookie in the bullpen.

There's nothing quite like a little newcomer hazing to put the rookies in their place. (Unless you're in a frat and they make you do an elephant walk. Or maybe have you chug so much alcohol that you end up in the hospital. That's not so cool.)

But the idea behind it is pretty simple: the rookies get hazed and that is that. Retaliation is frowned upon. Retaliate and well, you're going to get it way worse the next time around.

Just ask Yankee newbie Andrew Brackman.

He walked to his locker yesterday morning to find that all of his sliders, his baseball underwear, had been slit down the middle.

Brackman's Yankees cap suffered a similar fate. Brackman tossed it in the garbage and then saw the worst of the damage. Six pairs of workout shoes, including brand new spikes, had their shoelaces cut by a Pinstriped Jack the Ripper. The laces were sliced tongue to toe right down the middle, so Brackman, who signed a $4.5 million deal, spent a good part of the day re-lacing his shoes.

Minor League Spotlight is the MLB FanHouse's look into baseball's minor leagues. But you probably figured that out already.

By now I'm guessing most Yankees fans have heard the name "Joba Chamberlain," but let me introduce him to the rest of the baseball world: aside from having one of the best "baseball names" in the history of man, he's the primary reason why the Yankees are looking to unload Kyle Farnsworth, Scott Proctor and/or Brian Bruney. Chamberlain was the 41st overall pick of the 2006 draft -- a sandwich pick as compensation for Tom Gordon leaving town. He was considered by some to be a top 10 talent, but he fell due to injury concerns.

Now, in his first professional season, he's tearing up the minors: In his first seven starts with Class A Tampa, he struck out 51 in 40 innings while posting a 2.03 ERA. In his next seven starts at Double-A Trenton, he struck out 64 in 39 1/3 innings while posting a 3.43 ERA. In his first start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he struck out 10 in fie scoreless innings. What's even better than the fact he's mowing down batters is the fact that he's doing it with outstanding control: he has 125 strikeouts and just 27 walks in his combined 84 1/3 innings.

Although it seems clear that his long-term future is in the rotation, he's moving to the bullpen effectively immediately. Why? Newsday speculates that it's insurance in case the Yankees don't acquire any bullpen help by tomorrow's trade deadline. That's right, instead of going for broke by trading for a proven but expensive option like Eric Gagne, the Yankees may opt to throw a 21-year-old rookie into the fire.

Times are a changin' in the Bronx, that's for sure. And honestly, for the better. Instead of simply throwing dollars at a problem, the Yankees might roll the dice and discover they have the next Joel Zumaya or Jonathan Papelbon on their hands -- a young reliever who can dominate from Day 1.