Henn has had his chance, now what?
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Aug 25, 2007 
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It was raining in Detroit this morning but it’s sunny now and they’ve taken the tarp off the field at Comerica Park.
Nice road trip for Sean Henn so far: 4 9 9 3 3. Two home runs and two losses. I understand they invested a lot of money in him as a draft-and-follow and he’s left-handed, but he seems like the classic AAAA pitcher.
They tried to make him a starter and it’s didn’t take. Now they’re trying to make him a reliever. Now what?
At some point the value of having a lefty in the bullpen is lost if that lefty gets hit every time he’s out there. Henn has appeared in 32 big-league games and pitched in 57.2 innings. He has allowed 62 hits (10 homers), 35 walks and 40 earned runs.
Still no word on the Yankees and Britton???
Completely agree with you Pete. The guy simply doesn’t look like he has the stuff to pitch on the big-league level. The question is, do the Yanks have anybody that can step up as the long man? He simply can’t pitch for them again, especially in extra innings.
MAybe he could pull the same muscle as Villone?
The notion that you *need* a LHP in your bullpen is a weak one. If anything it has weakened this bullpen from an overall point.
Who’s the next lefty to fill this lackluster roll? Guess? They will look and search for something in Kei Igawa when the answer is right in front of their eyes…
Chris “Great” Britton.
It seems Henn never really recovered 100% from the TJ surgery he had a few years back. He was throwing in the upper 90′s prior to the surgery; now he throws in the low 90′s with poor control(not surprising for a pitcher who had TJ surgery).
Henn’s slider is definitely not major league caliber.
Britton for Henn. Seems easy enough to do for everybody but the Yankees. Why, I have no idea.
Sean Henn is what he is. He shouldn’t be on this roster, let alone pitching in important games.
He has never been any good and never will be.
People want to give him a pass on the Guillen HR, fine. How about the Casey AB? A lefty who can’t hit lefties and Henn still couldn’t get him out. In fact, 4 of the 5 men Henn faced reached base last night. That’s awful.
The Yankees seem to act like a lot of its fans. They seem to think they can keep giving ground every night and, magically, they will just make the playoffs.
You don’t make the playoffs with the record they have (11-29) in one and two run games.
Those are the games you have to win and this team has done a poor job (to date) in those games all season.
Contrary to popular belief, they aren’t slugging their way into the playoffs. All you have to do is look at this roadtrip. They scored 6, 9, 8 and 6 so far. That’s 28 runs in 4 games (7 per night) and still have lost 3 of 4.
If they can’t win the close games, and pitch a helluva lot better than they have shown, they are sitting out the post-season this year.
Guys like Sean Henn on your roster don’t help you win close games.
Britton for Henn. The sooner, the better.
As bad as this sounds, I think Kei Igawa would be a better left-handed option out of the bullpen than Henn. Igawa’s been rocked a lot obviously, but he’s also shown flashes. He’s had a good strikeout rate in some of his outings and pitched very well in his only relief stint with the Yankees in April against the Red Sox. He wouldn’t have to worry about his long cardio workout before the game if there was a doubt when he would pitch. His biggest issue is his location which leads to his ALARMING home run rate. The stuff is there at times, but the location is not. He leaves too many two strike pitches out over the plate.
If he can solve those problems he could come in handy as a lefty out of the bullpen. If not, he’ll stay in the minors and resume being G.B. Igawa.
G.B. stands for “Gopher Ball.”
There is no reason to keep him just because he throws with his left arm. He is always the last one out of the bullpen basically for mop up duty. Torre is obsessed with him for some crazy reason. They have given him 1 million chances and it is obvious that just because he is a lefty and has good stuff you dont automatically get people out. He throws a ton of pitches to get threw an inning and after a couple of pitches he isnt fooling anyone because they have seen every pitch he has. He just doesnt look like he is mentally ready for the majors and have the guts to get big outs. I would rather lose with Bruney on the mound and know he is going after the batter then Henn and at the end of the season say they didnt make the play offs because Henn blew 7 games, because he is already at 2 for this week. Britton should just return the naked pics of Torres wife that he took and then maybe they would allow him to come up and get a chance. What do they have against him????!!!
i agree with sj.. not real complicated britton for henn. henn go down and work on your game.. if britton cannot get it done try someone else like ohlendorff.
peter you act like this is complicated, henn has options is worth keeping around because of the invariable “talent” but he is not getting it done…
If britton was stinking it up in SWB that would be another story but it is not the story..
since no one checks old post comments, I am re-posting my comment here..
Can someone please tell me what the “F� is going on?
Why is Sean Henn even in the major’s??? You gotta be kidding me. He has been useless all season. He has one outing where he didn’t give up a hit. One!
I can’t take it anymore, torre is resting players now because he can, but this is the end of August!! We have to win every game! You rest players not for luxury, but for flu’s and injuries!
Abreau should have been in right.
I don’t know about Philips anymore. And Cano and Cabrera are back in the before all-star break zone. It’s all so very frustrating.
But you know what fires me up the most?????
Is that time and time again this year, the Yankees have had these umps get the best of them. Yeah, on a win the umps don’t matter as much but it just seems like these umps have a consiracy against the Yankee’s. Do umpires ever suffer for their poor performances?? If not they need to be. It’s outrageous! Umps should be like doctors, required to train every year regardless of performance. “Continuing Education� it should be mandatory. These umps are really getting on my nerves.
If we do not get out pitching in line, and that includes wang,moose,mo,henn,clemens,farnsworth we are dead. You heard me dead.
Really there are only two pitchers I feel completely comfortable with right now. Andy and Joba. Phil I am about 50/50 on. Although, I don’t think he has been awful but he has not been Franchise Phil. I understand he needs to get into his groove.
The thing is, it’s not one thing that is hampering this team. It is multiple pitching problem and multiple batting problems. If Jeter swings at the first pitch it is almost guaranteed an out. How many times has he done that this year? Don’t we have a batting coach? Doesn’t Melky need to have a rule that says, “NO MATTER WHAT DO NOT SWING AT PITCH ONE UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE�. Cano needs to be penalized to for his defense and swinging at garbage. Bobby,Melky and Robby should not be a loud out at night!! They are more concerned with that then winning. I know they are young and having the time of their lives but c’mon guys.. you won’t be a Yankee long if you keep putting going out clubbing above playing. It shows on the field, it really does.
UGGGGGGGGGGHHHH.
I don’t know guys, I really don’t. I am torn now as to whether this team has what it takes. Win or lose, I can’t take this team next year. I hope to all mighty yankeee god it is split up and some energetic—shelly duncan type—players and I mean more than just Shelly are on this team.
We need a Juan Pierre type of player, speed, energy and skill. We need a motivating manager!!!!! Joe, if your reading this, STOP BEING COMPLACENT AND GET IT TOGETHER YOU LAZY F!!! Anyone can point to the bullpen or put on a hit and run. Get fired up already, stop sleeping, please!!!!
Anyone see Luis Castillo play on the mets. Pierre and Castillo made for one of the best 1 and 2 hitters in baseball. I am not saying bring them to the Yankees, but broken Damon sure is not doing it and Jeter is so damn banged up from trying to do everything to carry this team (arod/posada excluded) that his body is paying for it now.
Imaging where we would be if this team was hitting like they were for the first 3 weeks after the all-star break!!! They had fire… and they lost it. It’s the managers job to rekindle that flame.
In conclusion..
JOE GET OF YOUR ARSE AND LIGHT A FIRE!
he made a good pitch Guillen just hit out, but it is frustrating as hell Henn needs to close out those situations 1 -2 2 outs com’on man !!
Juan Pierre? No thanks.
I don’t think the idea of needing a lefty in the pen is outmoded. We just haven’t seen a good one since Stanton is his heyday. Hey, remember what happened to Bos last yr when they didn’t have a lefty in the pen…Son of Boston Massacre. A bad pen…with a changing cast…has plagued the Yanks all year. I’m not sure Britton’s the answer, but what the hell… I guess someone doesn’t like the fact that he’s 50-80 lbs overweight. Heck, CC Sabathia ain’t no lightweight either.
I agree with another thing SJ posted. give cano the day off(maybe he can practice bunting during the game). give betemit the game. a righty is pitching, cano is in his brain cramp mode so make sure he undersatnds he needs to turn it up and give him the day off to think about it.
the yanks had many chances to win both henn loses this week but they did not do what teams do to win games..
Bottom line-If Britton’s weight is a problem, why did they trade for him, why did he do well last year and why is he doing well this year in SWB….I can’t believe that is the problem but that might be their answer just to get us off their backs..BRITTON DESERVES HIS TURN…
I couldn’t agree more, Pete – I said at the beginning of the season that I officially had given up on Henn and was going to consider him a lost cause. Then he had, what, one good relief outing against the Indians in the game where A-Rod hit the walkoff? Based on that one decent outing he is now given carte blanche to stink it up out of the pen for the rest of the season to the tune of 10 homers and 40 ER? Continuing to give him the ball is disgustingly irresponsible.
Out of curiousity, how many homers has Bruney given up this season? 2? 3? Sure we’re all well aware of what Bruney’s problems are but look how many Henn has walked!
I don’t want to be too much of a MMQB so I will preface this with saying I swear I was also thinking this last night as the situation unfolded…
What does everyone think would have happened had Bruney come in to the game? Same result? I think we still might well have lost but I bet it wouldn’t have been on that HR. There’s a reason why Henn’s ERA is several runs higher than Bruney’s – Bruney doesn’t get hit as hard. I know everybody would have flipped if Bruney had walked in the winning run, myself likely included. But, I’m sorry, but if I need a strikeout, I like Bruney’s chances of getting one far, far better than Henn’s.
I agree with Global Warming that Henn is given far too much leeway because he’s a lefty. What f’n good is a lefty if he can’t get anyone out? If he has NEVER proven to be effective for more than 1-2 fluke outings at the Major League level?
Bruney has shown that he can get ML hitters out a lot more than Henn has. But by no means am I saying Bruney is the huge-difference maker…
Chris Britton is!!! It is so appalling on so many levels that he has not been given a chance yet that the words really don’t even begin to exist to describe how appalling it is. It is despicable, deplorable, disgusting, scandalous, monumentally stupid, and just AN ENTIRE CONTINENT OF WRONG.
We as fans put a ton of time, energy and money into following our team. Not only do we deserve better than Sean Henn but we deserve a coherent explanation as to why Britton has not been called up yet!!! This is disgusting and I want answers.
If scrubs like Sean Henn end up costing us the season, Lord help whoever made the decision not to call Britton up. I really cannot remember the last time I was this angry with an organizational decision – probably not since they failed to retain Pettitte and El Duque.
Sorry for the book but I needed to rant.
*We need a Juan Pierre type of player, speed, energy and skill. *
We need a player who is really great at making outs?
Henn is definitely someone who should not be on the roster. The one part that I disagree with SJ44 on is that he shouldn’t even be sent to the minors… The best case scenario is trade him for a low to mid level prospect. He might fair better in the NL and there are a few teams out there willing to give an AL struggling lefty bp’er a chance. Henn has been nothing but brutal to this team and should go. Henn has been so awful, that I’d probably even welcome Melcanon or pulling another Joba and try Kennedy or White in as another one inning option. I do not understand why Henn is still here. Britton has to be the better option – why is Cash having such a hard time with this??
Chris Britton is not overweight, he’s just a big man. Cashman must have been in Scranton one day and saw him shagging fly balls during batting practice standing next to Edwar Ramirez and said, “Oh man Britton is overweight” !!!
Henn is still here? NFW
Hey Pete – if you make a post titled Bring Up Britton – and we all sign it as posts (kind of like a petition) – could you bring it to Cashman?
Sunny,
Melancon has not thrown a single pitch in professional baseball. He had surgery right after he signed last year.
Also, I have a comment regarding Moose’s next outing, I will post it here instead of in the entry that discusses Moose so it will get seen by more people…
Someone had mentioned in the other comments section that Moose needs to be kept on a short leash Mon. and the bullpen in immediately if he proves ineffective.
This poses an interesting dilemma. Do we really want to tire out the bullpen for the Boston series? I’m tempted to say it would be better to make Moose take one for the team but we really need every game possible.
But I REALLY don’t want to kill the bullpen. So what if they call up White or (I can’t believe I’m about to say this) Igawa to use as a long reliever if Moose proves ineffective? Right now that is the best solution I can think of.
By the WTF’s up with Mo’? He has been pretty bad since he worked his magic in that Sunday game against Cleveland(and he was still shaky in that game but he managed to conjure up some old Marino magic and get out of it)
“he made a good pitch Guillen just hit out, but it is frustrating as hell Henn needs to close out those situations 1 -2 2 outs com’on man !!”
Brandon, agreed 100% That was a good pitch and probably the best one someone as disgustingly mediocre as Henn could possibly have thrown. Despite what I just posted about how Bruney most likely would not have given up that homer, I am more inclined to credit Guillen with very good hitting than to rip Henn for THAT particular pitch.
However, it is Henn’s meltdown leading to that particular pitch that I’m extremely angry with. He had 2 out and no one on…how damn useless do you have to be, ya know?!? His inability to dial it up and get out of the inning after Molina picked him up with that 2nd out just proves that he is useless at the major league level.
You guys need to ease up of the Henn man…..maybe he isn’t mentally ready for the bigs, but he def. isn’t garbage…how many times has he been up and down all year like 5? I’m sure that has no effect on him…..his comand/control needs work, but to say he is garbage and will never be a big league pitcher is tough… The pitch he made to Guillen was a good one and Casey being on base has nothing to do with loss. He isn’t a lefty specialist. Against the Angels he got that loss and he admitted that it was him who let the ball get hit, just when the media was looking for him to call out Melky….The Anderson granny was mop up.eat innings nothing more…..he warmed up like 4 times the night before..let it go…..he shouldn’t be put in big spots but he isn’t garbage….
…..also I have nothing against Britton, but you guys act like we have CY Young sitting in Scranton….jeez…
Yo, anyone have a sopcast channel for the Red Sux-White Sox game?
Henn would make a good batting practice pitcher.
WAIT! He already is
Come on how the hell is Wake throwing a one hitter??? Lets go boys. Earn your money. Tee time is till 1 month away!!
One hit!! UGH!!!
97 baserunners in 57 career innings? Sorry, that’s awful.
Forget the Guillen AB. What about Casey? He can’t hit lefties and Henn couldn’t get him out. Get Casey out, you are out of the inning.
If he can’t get lefties or righties out, what pray tell is he doing on the roster?
He’s awful. He really is. If he played for an opposing team, and that team played the Yankees, we would PRAY they would put him in the game. It would mean, “game over”.
No business being on the roster. I don’t even think its debatable, IMO.
Britton is a better option because he is a better pitcher. Unless, of course, the new plan is to not have the better pitchers on the big league roster.
If that’s the new plan, then the Yankees are succeeding. If that’s not the plan, Henn has to be gone ASAP.
“Sunny,
Melancon has not thrown a single pitch in professional baseball. He had surgery right after he signed last year.”
yea, he has. he ended up closing for the SI yanks on thier championship run, then went out to hawaii before ending up having surgery
“I have nothing against Britton, but you guys act like we have CY Young sitting in Scranton”
I don’t think anyone is acting like Britton is Cy Young except maybe as a running joke since 99% of posters on this blog have been wanting him with the big club for many months. I only feel that we have an effective ML pitcher sitting in Scranton, and an ineffective one in the ML bullpen. I don’t wish Henn any ill will and he certainly seems like a stand up guy. But what is wrong with this picture that the better pitcher is in the minors and the inferior one is in the majors blowing 2 games within a week?
it’s embarrassing enough that sean henn is on the yankees’ 25 man roster.
it’s even more embarrassing that he takes the mound in big spots (partly because torre inexcusably burns relievers who work effortless innings by not using them for a second inning in tie games…joba, edwar, and yes, even krazy kyle could have given us two last night).
but it is intolerable that sean henn (and others) continue to occupy roster spots over chris britton, who did nothing last year in baltimore, this year in AAA, or this year in his 5 innings with the yankees to show that he doesn’t deserve a spot more than all of them, or at least a fair shot at the spot.
sj44 and bring up britton just said it much better than me. but bottom line britton for henn is such a no-brainer that it baffles the minds of many on this site. much like the hesitancy with edwar a few months ago. even once he was up, they rarely used him and he was on a short leash. now, in his second stint, i think most of us feel pretty comfortable with edwar in middle/late innings.
bottom line they were too slow on edwar, and it’s the same thing with britton, and it’s a joke.
Can anyone even begin to imagine the rationale behind using Henn in the bigs and not Britton? I mean seriously, I can’t even fathom an ILLOGICAL reason why they would do this, nevermind a logical one. If anyone is capable of putting yourselves in their shoes enough to even conjure up some even marginally plausible possibility as to what is causing this blasphemy, PLEASE share because I am absolutely positively stumped.
The White Sox need to replace their divots and make sure they don’t drive their golf carts up on the green. Their minds are definitely on the golf course at this point. Good call, Jennifer!
I know we bash Torre good, but..
The Yankees were not pleased with the idea of starting the game at 11:06 p.m. But..the umpires had control of the situation.
“I _may_ have had said something but it wasn’t my decision,� Torre said.
Joe, its called working the refs. Everybody does it. Well, almost everyone.
Wth all the septuagenarian on the team, I’m sure AARP filed a complaint with Selig. but that aside, I was better to play late than play a double header. Still Bob Davidson was calling craptastic balls as strikes. The umps have leaked on us all season long, and in my opinion, they’ve done so, in part, cuz they get no friction from Torre.
Chicago is a joke.
They’ve got ONE hit off Satchel Wakefield
Are you kidding me? For all you Juan Pierre haters..
He is second in leading MLB with stolen bases (50). He has only struck out 32 times this year. OBO .324 AVG .290
Sometimes you people *(Mr Faded Glory)* don’t have a clue what your talking about.
Do you know what a fast lead off hitter with 50 stolen bases to this team? Do you also know that JP has one of the best work ethics inbaseball? He is there working out before anyone else EVERYDAY.
I am not saying replace Melky with him — Melky is the best defense CF I have ever seen. I was making a point hypothetically, we need some speed on the bases!!! Some fire and energy. How many WS have we won with that type of player? How many without.
I don’t care who strikes the match I just want to see some fire in this team and NOW!
Paddy R-
they were also slow with Jabba.
SJ and especially the trenton mafia were SCREAMING for his promotion, yet it only happened cuz Farnsworth and Proctor flamed out.
Mike ” Who are they going to replace me with ” needs to go, along with Sean Henn…..There are better options now, unlike a few seasons ago……Please Brian Cashman, before it’s too late….The final lap of the season is approaching real fast……Last nights game was like watching a rerun of Monday’s game out here in So. Cal……Too many give away games especially now that it’s crunch time…..Did someone say Juan Pierre, you got to be kidding……His BA & OB are almost the same….
I said Juan Pierre “type” not specifically. We need someone that hustles every day and can steal 50 bases. Someone that is a great motivator since are manager sure as heck is not!
You know, you watch any other team in baseball just about, and you just get this sense of urgency and energy. Watching the Yanks this year at times is like..”no worries, will put up run s later…wake me up when someone starts a rally”.
I don’t get the synergy lapse in the Yankees clubhouse. I really don’t. What better way offensively to have that synergy then someone that put pressure on pitchers by stealing 50 bases. You tell me!
oh and his AVG and OB being the same means what? That he doesn’t walk or get HBP? Let me remind you he has struck out only 32x this year. and has a .290 avg.
It’s not a matter if he’s the next Cy Young — it’s just a no-brainer that you use your best people to get the job done — and you expect EVERYone who is there to DO THEIR JOB.
… without copping an attitude or acting like a spoiled brat — that you are “entitled”
Stop Crying and start acting like Yankee fans,Cashman is trying his best, so is the team.Losses have consequences, they know it
I get to see about 80 Dodger games a year, he’s nothing special….Now Mickey Rivers, he supports your point well….I do understand what you’re saying and there’s a great deal of truth and validity to it, no doubt….
Henn is a piece of garbage. I knew he was bad, but the numbers Pete put down are even worse than I thought. We don’t need to see anymore of what he can do, he has done enough damage to this team.
Juan Pierre sucks. He’s a leadoff man that doesn’t get on base, and stolen bases are one of the most overrated things in baseball. He’s an out machine and would add no value to the Yankees.
Henn is a ROOKIE! Maybe he doesn’t need to be here but the piece of garbage crap is tough to handle…Obviously the baseball geniuses on this site should call the Yankees offices and get Cashman on the phone and tell him that he is stupid…..Apparently the brass actually get paid to make those decisions, so Henn is there for a reason….
I agree with a lot of what’s been said. Namely:
(1)Henn isn’t very good, has lately been especially bad, and may not ever become a quality major leaguer
(2)The value of a lefty out of the pen is overrated unless its a lefty that has a great record of getting leftys out
(3) Britton deserves a chance and its puzzling that he’s been bypassed so often.
I’m not sure however that a Britton for Henn switch is what the team needs. The role I thought Henn was supposed to be playing is that of a long reliever. They really haven’t had a decent guy in this role all year (Henn, Villone, Karstens) and for much of the year didn’t really have anyone filling that role. Its hurt the team in that whenever they needed an extra starter they HAD to bring someone up and whenever a starter got shelled, they have had to use practically the whole bullpen to get through the game.
I don’t think Britton has been stretched out to where he could play this role. But i think its important to have someone in this role, especially given how Mussina has been pitching lately. Maybe Igawa would be better in this role than he’s been starting? Maybe Rasner will be ready soon? (I haven’t heard any updates on him) or maybe there is someone else I’m not aware of.
I’d have to think Britton will be up when rosters expand anyway. That’s not that long.
JIm=moron
Look again at the numbers Pete mentions in his post, if that not a sign of a AAAA pitcher, I’m not sure what is. Also, Henn is NOT a rookie, do some homework, he started 3 games in 2005 was 0-3 with a 11.12ERA. Once again, NOT a rookie…
And thank you so much for informing all of us “baseball geniuses” (nice spelling) on the role of the GM, we thank you so much…
And yes JIm, let’s all call up Cashman and call him stupid…
Keep up the good work…ROLLS EYES