Come April It’ll be all about the Pinstripes Baby!

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At what time in Tanyon Sturtz’ career was he ever classified as a reliable pitcher, either starter or reliever? He ate up some innings to the tune of a 5.00+ ERA.

Look at a guy like Chris Hammond. Most Yankee fans immediately would say “bust.” And I agree. But his 2.86 ERA would say differently (though some of his other numbers don’t look quite as good). By the end of 2003, Torre wouldn’t even use him. But even when Stanton posted an ERA over 5 (1998) he was “trusted.” Do the numbers just not match the reality or is there a problem of perception here?

Also- I am not ignoring Dave Eiland’s importance. I only mentioned Girardi because Eiland is part of his “regime” so to say and I only had so many words. But I agree he will be crucial. I hated the Guidry signing: just because he was a successful Yankee doesn’t mean he knows anything about coaching.

Lastly, I don’t know if I can even come up with an ideal bullpen. The number of possibilities is truly amazing. I’d like to see Bruney get another shot and of course Mo, Farnsworth, and Hawkins will be there. Then you have Veras, Ohlendorf, Albaladejo, Britton, and Ramirez who should all get a shot. Henn, Wright, Igawa could all be the “token lefty.” Melencon (sp?), and Cox should be on the way with Sanchez too maybe. Then they could always convert a starter like Horne into the “joba” role. Thats a ton of names and I know I’m leaving a few guys out.

Great post, I am just glad we can be speaking intelligently about anything other than steroids. What what you ideal bullpen for the Yanks look like given the current roster?

brian-
good job on raising the question of improving the bullpen, but you didn’t mention dave eiland. even though the manager and pitching coach have to work together, isn’t it more eiland’s job than girardi’s to shape the pen? and more girardi’s job to make the decision when to use pitchers.

i think eiland’s job is more important or at least equally important because when a pitcher is going well .it’s easy to know when to use him. on the other hand, i can see it can a chicken and egg thing because if a pitcher is used well, it brings out the best in him.

but i still think the pitching coach is more important for pitching than the manager.

I would add Nelson and Stanton to the list of Yankee relievers who were pretty reliable during the Torre years, although I’m not entirely sure they would fall into the category of having as much success outside of New York.

I’d have to agree with Doreen as well that how deep those starters go in a game has a big effect on the relief corps. That’s not to suggest that I think Torre’s handling of the pen was undeserving of any criticism. I do think that he could have given certain players a better shot at proving themselves. On the flip sise, I also think there are some players (see: Sean Henn) that he never should have relied on as much as he did. I’m definitely anxious to see how Girardi handles thses things now that he is managing the team.