Inside the spring-training roster: Infielders
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- February
- 8
40-man roster players: Wilson Betemit, Robinson Cano, Shelley Duncan, Jason Giambi, Alberto Gonzalez, Derek Jeter, Juan Miranda, Alex Rodriguez,
Non-roster invitees: Bernie Castro, Eric Duncan, Morgan Ensberg, Nick Green, Cody Ransom, Marcos Vechionacci.
On the way: It is believed the Yankees have agreed to terms with veteran infielder Chris Woodward, who played all four spots for the Braves last season but hit only .199.
Competition: Jeter (shortstop), Rodriguez (third base) and Cano (second base) are guaranteed to start barring injury or alien invasion. First base is up in the air. The Yankees used 10 players at first base last season. The two players who saw the most action – Doug Mientkiewicz and Andy Phillips – were not offered contracts to return. The Yankees would welcome right-handed hitting Shelley Duncan to grab the spot but signed Ensberg, a veteran third baseman, to give him competition. Giambi can play first but the Yankees would rather not go use that option.
Don’t Sleep On: Ensberg could well end up at first base. His power numbers have taken a dive in recent years (hmmm) but he had a .396 OBP with the Astros in 2006 and drew 101 walks. He would seem to fit right in with the team’s offensive approach. But Ensberg has played only one game of first in his pro career. It’s not so easy, just ask Mike Piazza.
Promotion Possibilities: Slim pickings here. Miranda is ticketed for Triple-A but could slug his way into the mix. If Green or Woodward can’t do the job, Gonzalez couldd emerge as the utiility infielder. The Attorney General has a slick glove.
Youngster of Interest: Eric Duncan has been with the Yankees for five years but is only 23. The former first-round pick out of Seton Hall Prep was left unprotected for the Rule 5 Draft and went unclaimed. He has hit only .250 in the minors – .234 at Triple-A. The Yankees are holding out hope that he will emerge at some point. But this year could be his last chance.
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on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 2:56 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Hoping good things for Eric Duncan. It’d be a shame for him not to reach his potential.
Is 10 players at 1B a MLB record?
They should pick a righty. Go with Betemit, righty, and Jason the lefty at 1B. (assuming Shelley is a bench player).
If Betemit is out of shape or doesn’t improve his plate discipline, then he should be DFA’ed sooner rather than later. There are lots of guys who want that spot.
Hoping DJ’s knee(s) is improved. He should benefit from slimming down like Alex did last year.
I’m worried about the new 3B. Not sure he’ll be able to play in New York.
Shouldn’t that be the former Attorney General?
“Barring alien invasion”
Yes, we don’t need another one of those. The flies were enough.
What troubles me is, of course, 1st base. More the fact that Cashman seems to be of the understanding that it’s a position that requires no fielding skill at all. If you can hit, it’s only natural that you can play 1st.
Of course, everyone bar Cashman knows that 1st base is a skilled position like all the others. And yet… here we are again. How many this year? 11 players, 12?
Really not sure why we didn’t re-sign Doug. For Wang and Andy’s ground balls he was perfect. And he wasted a lot of pitches, even if he didn’t always get the hits.
He is fine until we find a real permanent 1st baseman (and Giambi is off the payroll).
Pete you’re great you’re one and only keep up this great work. I really really love your site. You Rock. May god bless you with only good.
Betemit has hit .232/.281/.353 as a righty in his career, as opposed to .268/.347/.464 as a lefty. He should by no means be the right handed portion of a platoon.
Pete
Nice “hmmm”…did Ensberg previously work out with Brian McNamee?
Eric Duncan is my sleeper pick!
i’ve never see AG play, but even going back to the RJ trade, it was noted that he had the glove at SS to be a MLB ready player immediately. I’m very interested to watch him play some games this spring, and see how slick he really is.
For me, even if he has a great spring, I wonder if it would be more beneficial to his offensive development to keep him at Scranton to play everyday as opposed to sitting on the bench at the MLB level and get an opportunity to play maybe once a week.
I think Shelley will prove he can handle 1B..
I hope he can keep his swing going though.. Or at least get his strikeout numbers down..
If anything, thats what would keep him out of the lineup, with the way more patient Ensburg sitting on the bench.
Lets just hope he doesn’t crash into any of the infielders and send them flying into the outfield..
Shelley is working with Tino Martinez with the glove and Kevin Long with the bat to strengthen his position in the 1st base mix.
Betemit is the one that will need to work the hardest with the competition he has all over the infield.
The mouth speaks, and if you read what he posted carefully he knows how to twist the truth.
” Please understand that a lot of what has been reported is not true. ….Dr Morgan did NOT diagnose me with a tear of the rotator cuff at any time during this process, nor did he recommend rotator cuff surgery.”
So the red soxs doctor did?
“I hope he can keep his swing going though.. Or at least get his strikeout numbers down..”
I really don’t think he’ll hit for enough average or take enough walks to be the everyday guy over there. I think he’s a good platoon guy and weapon off the bench…but that’s really it.
i agree with whozat… i think what you see is what you get from Shelley. i kind of think of him as a somewhat lesser version of Richie Sexson.
he’ll be able to catch balls at 1B well enough to play the position, and he’ll prob slug for a fairly high percentage, but he’s going to strike out at least once a game… more like an ‘all or nothing’ type hitter.
if he can hit .250 and give you 20-25 HRs/60-80RBIs, i think you can afford to keep him at first. but, anything less than that, and I dont think he’s your full time option.
Yah I agree with you guys..
I’m just wondering if they team will valu a higher OBP or a higher SLG
Youll get more HR’s and extra basehits out of Shelley, but Ensburg should walk more and work more counts.
“if he can hit .250 and give you 20-25 HRs/60-80RBIs”
I think 20 HRs is pushing it. I mean…the guy’s got holes in his swing and he’ll get exposed with too much playing time. I’m figuring .250/.320/.460 (a small discount from his minor league numbers). If they use him mostly against lefties, and he adapts well to part-time play, he could have significantly better rates than that, but I don’t think they’d scale.
whozat, thats what i’m saying… if they go with him at the start of the season, and figure he’s not going to reach that line at the MLB level, then you need to tweek the lineup a little bit, and maybe play more matchups than just filling out the scorecard day in and day out…
but with Girardi as manager, i think you’re going to get that a bit more than the team would have in the past- he’s reportedly very much a numbers-cruncher kind of guy.
“Youll get more HR’s and extra basehits out of Shelley, but Ensburg should walk more and work more counts.”
Well…it all depends. If Ensberg’s power outage was due to a shoulder injury he sustained in 06, and he’s recovered from that now…I dunno if that’s true.
Also, if Duncan gets figured out, I don’t think that’s necessarily true either. But we’ll see.
Peter,
Did you notice last year that Matsui was almost always taking a peek into right field while the ball was on the way to him, before taking a swing of the bat ? I can’t imagine him taking his eyes off the ball like that can be helping him ? What do you think ?
Tabata?
wait nevermind. infielders. I’m not paying attention haha
“Ensberg could well end up at first base. His power numbers have taken a dive in recent years (hmmm) but he had a .396 OBP with the Astros in 2006 and drew 101 walks.”
this is a BS comment, Pete. sorry.
i know you are joking around, but i think it’s wrong to imply someone took steroids (and that’s exactly what you are doing here) with absolutely zero proof.
if you did some research, you would learn that Ensberg suffered a serious shoulder injury in 2006. from that point, it became very painful for him to swing and his power numbers dipped.
here is an article:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-02-28-3978178480_x.htm
he hurt himself on June 9, 2006.
up to that point, he already had 18 HRs and was hitting .256/.380/.562. after that point, he hit .208/.415/.333.
seems pretty obvious to me.
also, steroid testing went into effect in 2004, and he hit 36 HRs in 2005.
it’s not just you, Pete, many of the posters here have made similar comments about Ensberg, and they are completely uninformed.
if Ensberg shoulder is healthy, he could be the steal of the off-season.
I expect Alberto Gonzalez to be our utility infielder for many seasons to come. His glove is really good and his bat is fairly decent.
The first base situation should be interesting. It seems to me that of the available options, Betemit has the best fielding ability despite his natural position being 3B. Giambi has the best bat if he’s healthy, Duncan is a good platoon option against lefties. The other good thing about Duncan is he can also fill in at RF if Abreu needs a day off. I don’t expect Ensberg to make the team but he might make it interesting. Whichever guy steps up should get the majority of the at-bats.
I think the best choice of the bunch is Betemit. Not many people realize this but before he was traded from the dodgers he had an OPS of .833. I think he could put that up over a full year with 20+ homeruns and at least average fielding.
Hmmm:
That short LF porch at Enron Field has me far more worried about Ensberg’s potential as a Yankee than any potential PED use.
As far as Shelley Duncan goes, I hate to say it but he has Kevin Maas written all over him.
“That short LF porch at Enron Field has me far more worried about Ensberg’s potential as a Yankee than any potential PED use.”
They don’t really need him to hit 35 homers. If he got on base 38% of the time and hit 20 HR, that’d still be a pretty huge steal.
“The other good thing about Duncan is he can also fill in at RF if Abreu needs a day off. I don’t expect Ensberg to make the team but he might make it interesting. ”
i will be shocked if Ensberg doesn’t make the team.
what i will NOT at all be surprised about is if Duncan does not make the team. i think a lot of people here need to be prepared for that possibility.
Duncan has options, and because of that, you could see him starting the season in AAA.
if the Yankees sign Mench, and i don’t know if they will, i think Duncan is the odd man out.
and while we all love Shelley, i think it’s a GOOD thing that the Yankees would have 3 bench players all better than Duncan.
the Yankees could really have an awesome bench this season.
I’ll miss Doug alphabet soup at 1F, I thought he was constantly super alert (as opposed to Giambi) and would dive for anything.
“I’ll miss Doug alphabet soup”
I’ll be excited if the Yankees can get league-average performance on both sides of the ball out of 1B.
The question is whether or Eric Duncan is FINALLY healthy. IF he is I’m hoping he will show why he was drafted so high. And prove all the teams wrong who didn’t pick him up in the rule V draft. He is still very young, and had a lot of bad luck in his stint with the Yankees. Some of which could be blamed on the Yankees for rushing him thru the system.
Hey great pics Pete of the new stadium Pete. Thanks. You take such good care of us, you the man!
Let me ask you this– Shelley Duncan at a Nascar event? I couldn’t imagine how someone didn’t get hurt… I can see the report now… Dale Earnhardt junior had to withdraw from the race due to a manly ‘forearm bash’ with NYY first baseman / outfielder Shelley Duncan. When asked about the incident, Earnhardt’s camp issued a no comment, while Duncan’s handlers replied…”dude..”
Whoops, I used too many Pete’s. I was in a Duncan frenzy over those pics, I was so excited. My bads!
“But Ensberg has played only one game of first in his pro career. It’s not so easy, just ask Mike Piazza.”
i don’t really see the relevance of the Piazza comparison.
Piazza was a bad defensive catcher (at the time they moved him).
Ensberg is a good defensive 3Bman.
the skillset from 3B to 1B is a lot more comparable than catcher to 1B.
i really don’t see how any competent major league 3Bman would struggle playing 1B.
just because there is *one* example of a player who couldn’t move to 1B, that doesn’t really prove anything.
there are countless examples of players who HAVE made the move to 1B without any problems.
LOL– the Schilling news is the best news I’ve gotten all week !!! I never wish injury on someone… but, c’mon… It’s El Bloggo, Table for One, Pass the Salt, Red Light Schill…
He can handle it… And if he can’t, he’ll cry about it on his blog, ‘38pitches to get out of an inning.com’
Always a good post from Hmmm.. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Going from C to 1B might be a big deal, but one would assume (yah yah, I know, assuming makes an arse out of u and me!) that the transition from 3B to 1B wouldn’t be so bad.
But what do I know ?
Can he play 1st base though? Ensberg that is? It seems we’ve got a lot of softball players playing defensive positions. I can’t stand Minky (I won’t try to spell his last name) since he couldn’t hit for poop, but his glove was fantastic. With all the mediocre gloves on the Yankees, you tend to forget what a great glove is really like. Minky stuck out in that fashion.
I know that everyone loves Shelley Duncan, but let’s not get used to the idea of his making any sort of real, sustained contribution. Before putting up a .380 OBP last year at Scranton, he hadn’t gone above .336 since 2002, and that was with Greensboro of the Sally League.
Miranda is probably the better bet to get on base more, and to OPS higher. Duncan would obviously get the nod, since he played well last year, but no one should be afraid to give him a short hook. What looks like a “slump” in May will likely be his norm.
“Can he play 1st base though? Ensberg that is? It seems we’ve got a lot of softball players playing defensive positions.”
well, he is an excellent 3Bman.
that means he can field line-drives, field ground balls, field balls on funny hops, throw the ball with accuracy across the diamond, etc.
i think he’ll be just fine. maybe better than fine.
My money is on Shelley. If he can learn how to hit any other pitch besides a fastball, he’d be a force.
You forgot to mention Jason Lane in the mix as well
Curtis Montague Schilling (Charles Emerson Winchester?). As I just posted on another blog, this news is not a big deal. He’s done anyway. Drives me nuts when people say he’s a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame. 216 wins!
Blyleven has 71 more wins and 600 more Ks. Tommy John has 72 more wins. Jim Kaat 67 more wins. Mike Mussina has 34 more wins for crying out loud. Any writer who votes for him had better be ready for the most ridiculous “I” and “me” type of speech ever.
Big mouth Hall of Fame, perhaps.
i would count Jason Lane only in the OF mix, especially with Ensberg on board. Any new news on Kevin Mench?
and i’m guessing that if Shelley couldnt learn to hit a pitch other than a fastball for the last 6 or 7+ years of professional baseball, it’s a safe bet he’s not going to learn it. he’s gotta guess/sit on the fastball, and swing as hard as he can… to me, thats the type of hitter he is.
and if you think about it, his brother Chris in StL is almost the same type hitter, only from the left side… now there’s a platoon for you.
John in Ohio
You’ve heard people say he is a shoe-in to get elected? I’d like to smoke what they are. That would be a absolute joke.
Jenn
Agreed. He himself probably started the discussion.
Seriously though…I’ve heard discussions on sports radio, and I have friends who are Red Sox fans, and they’re adamant about it. Puhhhleeeze.
“I’d like to smoke what they are. That would be a absolute joke.”
i hate Schilling as much as anyone here, but it would not be a joke were he to be elected.
Schilling is a borderline case, and his postseason resume is enough to push him into serious consideration.
i don’t know if he’ll make it, but i wouldn’t be outraged if it happened.
i can’t stand the guy, but he’s had an excellent career and is on the short list of best postseason pitchers in history.
Ensberg’s career has tailed off dramatically over the past year and a half but it’s a pattern that fits very well with a shoulder injury.
Ensberg had a poor overall year last year. However, that’s somewhat deceiving for the what the yankees are hoping to get out of him.
Ensberg had a very extreme split in his production against right handed vs. left handed pitchers.
Against right handers he was terrible – .661 OPS with 5 home runs in 177 at bats. Against lefties he good numbers – .830 OPS with 7 home runs in 105 at bats. That’s 1 HR every 15 at bats. That’s not bad.
So overall, his numbers against lefties last year were very much in line with his prior overall career numbers (career .842 OPS). But for whatever reason he just couldn’t do anything against right handed pitching. He was always better in his career against lefties, but he was never awful against righties before last year.
Whatever made Ensberg’s career tank, it hasn’t affected him against left handed pitching much. A major shoulder injury would be a good explanation for that kind of asymmetric performance.
John McCain has Curt “Table for one” Schilling on his short list of Vice Presidential candidates.
mel…
chuc mung nam moi.
Vietnamese; Happy New Year!
So said my wife, I don’t speak VN but I understand some of it.
On to baseball. Shelly for 1st, I like his power. He hits rightys almost as well as lefty’s…doesn’t he? Anyone have stats? Maybe Ensberg if he regains his earlier stats, I also agree with above comment against rightys. As for Miranda, he can’t play defence and we have to many DHs…so the scouting reports(EJ Fagan) say. See, an old dog can learn. 27/08
for those of you who are enamored of the great morgan ensberg, even in his supposedly great year of 2006, he hit .235 that year. he has declined steadily since 2005.
for those making the argument that his shoulder injury kept him back, that is no doubt true, but his walks declined dramatically as well. i’d say we should have left him on the scrap heap.
many scouts have said that shelley duncan was a late bloomer…that is why the yanks are investing time ( and time with tino ) in him.
we;ll see how it shakes out, but even his career .257 would work out OK if he can keep his walks up. it can’t be denied that he has the right energy and intangibles that are so often overlooked by stat-geeks these days
Ensberg: Look, you rarely get a star off the scrap heap, but all things considered: better numbers against leftiesl; backing up 3B; an OBP typically 80-100 pts above his (typicall terrible) BA; the injury, etc., he might surprise us. He also played on 3 teams last year which can’t help. If he stinks, there’s no loss, he’s a throw-away. We should be able to see in ST if he has his swing/power back.
Shelly: Gotta love the kid and hopefully he IS a late bloomer, but he has Shane Maas written all over him. He’s big and strong, but obviously not a ‘natural’ athlete. If he can’t shorten he swing and hit junk, he will struggle to hit .250.
Moose: He may indeed be cooked, but between this being a walk year, his sense of pride and maybe an outside outside shot and the HOF, he should at least be very motivated. While he always had good junk, he also relied heavily on what once was a decent FB. If he can’t hit 90 anymore, it may be an issue of re-learning how to pitch as a ‘pure’ junk baller. If people are gonna sit on his FB, he will have to be a lot more selective about when he throws it.
I really see the key being JD, Abreu, Matsui and to some extent Giambi, having better years. We can’t count on ARod and Po carrying the team again. Our offense will need to give our pitchers some breathing room.
“While he always had good junk, he also relied heavily on what once was a decent FB.”
If he can get his FB back into the high 80s, where it was in 06 — the last year he had a full spring training to build arm strength — I can see Moose having a decent year. Especially if he can be rested to avoid nagging injuries.
Pete, didn’t you say something a couple months ago about how there would be an alien invasion in Central Park before they re-signed A-Rod? What are you trying to achieve here? If Jeter breaks a collarbone and Cano starts throwing to one or all of the twenty seven first basement a la Chuck Knoblauch, I know whom to blame.
Great series on camp so far, by the way.
I’m sure someone else already pointed this out, but I don’t have the time to read through fifty comments.
“But Ensberg has played only one game of first in his pro career. It’s not so easy, just ask Mike Piazza.” Umm, Ensberg played third; Piazza was a catcher. Can you maybe see a bit of difference there? I mean, did you seriously write that?
“for those of you who are enamored of the great morgan ensberg, even in his supposedly great year of 2006, he hit .235 that year. he has declined steadily since 2005.”
no one said his 2006 was great. 2006 was the year he got hurt.
look at the numbers i posted above from before and after he got hurt.
now, i DON’T know if he is healthy. if he isn’t, you’re right, he won’t be very good.
if he is, he might be a killer bargain.
I like how the commenter indicts “stat geeks” while simultaneously predicting good things for Shelley if he can keep his walks up.
1) walks are a stat
2) the predictive value of his career MiLB OBP is to suggest that he won’t keep his walks up
3) he can’t hit anything besides dead red.
Ensberg, on the other hand, is a low risk/high upside guy. Maybe he’ll suck. But maybe his injury issues are behind him. Either way, he has a great eye, and I’d much rather have his low .390s OBP (last 1,000 +/- PA in Houston). Shelley’s value to the team last year was embedded, almost entirely, in an HR:AB ratio that he can’t possibly hope to sustain (unless you honestly believe that he’ll hit 50 HR in 550 AB because pitchers will be too dumb to stop challenging him with the fastball).
… Pete, didn’t you mean Sheff, and not Piazza?
a more directly comparable player.
Curt Schilling is the Mickey Lolich of this era.
Belongs in the Hall of Very, Very Good.
Eric Duncan isn’t even listed in the top 30 for Yankees prospects. I’ve seen him several times over the past few years between Scranton and Trenton and wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t surprised that no one claimed him in Rule 5–it just confirmed what I’ve felt all along. This is indeed his last chance. The numbers Pete stated (.234 at AAA) have been very disappointing. From the moment I first saw Eric Duncan, I thought “Drew Henson all over again.” We know how Drew Henson’s major league career worked out. It’ll be the same with Eric Duncan.
Regarding Ensberg, it’s important to remember where he put up his numbers. There is a big difference between the joke of a short LF Houston has (315 down the line, 362 to LCF, not too much height to the fence) and what he’d have at Yankee Stadium.
I hate Schilling with a passion, but the 11-2, 2.23 postseason record does speak volumes.