Bonds and Wells? Now is not the time
-
- May
- 1
Today must be creative solutions day. I’ve received e-mails suggesting the Yankees sign:
Barry Bonds
David Wells
Mike Piazza
My response?
No
No
No
To begin with, those guys aren’t ready to play. By the time they are, Alex Rodriguez will be back and Phil Hughes could be over whatever it troubling him. It also sends a terrible message.
The Yankees conceived this plan to develop their prospects and now they have to live with it. As I wrote in the beginning of the season, this could be a year where you need to take a step back to take several steps forward in years to come.
Filling in the gaps with guys like Bonds and Wells would only delay that process.
Beyond that, have some perspective. It’s May 1 and they’re three games out of first. They were 6.5 games out at this time last year. They were running out the likes of Matt DeSalvo and Chase Wright to start games.
David Wells is a lifeboat they don’t need to jump into.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 3:00 pm by Peter Abraham.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: 
| 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Peter Abraham
I say yes to Bonds….like the t-shirt says…screw everyone, I love Barry
pete, were you sitting next to dawhite goods last night?
OK, I’m not in favor of any of those suggestions, but I will say this:
If we had to jump to the lifeboat of David Wells, he could in fact hold the entire team afloat. I mean that literally, and not figuratively.
Pete, Amen.
And I so agree with Pete. JUST SAY NO!
I was listening to Mike and Russo today, something I don’t often do because I don’t have a lot of radio time in the day. But I was in my car. I don’t know how they usually go but both were very positive about their thoughts that the Yankees would be fine. It was good to hear.
I am off to a meeting but if anyone wants to hear my tale of the penny later (another one of my superstitions that weirdly comes out), I’ll tell ya. But let me warn you. Today’s tale isn’t a good one in terms of tonight’s game.
That said, I would love for it not to work out so I could release myself from this penny bondage!
GO YANKEES!
where’s my middle finger for that e-mail
“They were running out the likes of Matt DeSalvo, Chase Wright to start games.”
Sadly, their results were better than what Hughes and Kennedy have offered to this point.
This is a repost from the last thread, but seems more appropriate for this one:
Fran,
Almost everything that can possibly go wrong has gone wrong (knock on wood). Plenty of time.
I think most people are disappointed in the young pitching, frustrated with the injuries and lack of offense, as well as puzzled, or plain ol’ hating on Girardi. But the mood is just so palpable. Hopefully, a nice win streak would clear the fog.
I still like our guys. Hopefully they’ll come around, but we can’t depend on a miraculous turnaround like last season.
No, no & no. Haven’t we learned from the Clemens mess? 28M blown & no championship. Let the kids grow, let A-Rod & Po heal and just accept that this may be a rebuilding year.
All of those ideas are pretty much the stupidest ideas I’ve ever heard.
Bonds - seriously? Let’s get the steroid king to come to the Yankees, be DH # 11, be old, washed up and unpopular. He’s also unanimously a horrible clubhouse guy. The only upside is that the press will stop hating on Girardi and channel all their wrath onto Barry. The day Bonds joins the Yankees is the day I throw out all my NY clothing and start rooting for the Little League team that plays at the park on the corner of my block.
Piazza - old, out of shape, can’t catch, and the last thing we need is another half-@ss first baseman.
Wells - he was old, fat and slow the last time he was a Yankee. What’s some extra age going to do to that? We should just sign Curt Schilling instead. He’s probably closer to being in playing shape.
Who remembers the game against the Mets where Mike Myers pitched 4 innings?
Sorry to stir up bad feelings.
Ye but how awesome would it be for David Wells to announce he’s coming back to the Yankees during a 7th inning stretch to a completely indifferent Yankee Stadium
But what does Buzz Bissinger say?
What we need is some Wang, Chacon, and Small magic. What a season that was.
And Rebecca, I take issue with you poo-poohing on Miggy!
If people want to see those players…
Buy a ticket to an Old-Timers’ Day game.
mel:
Sorry!
But I mean, the fact is, we’re in a better situation than we were last year. Well, we should be, anyway.
Mel,
Right now they don’t need a miraculous turn around. They just need to start hitting (especially with runners in scoring position) and get some good starting pitching.
I think a lot of us are frustrated and expected the Yanks to come flying out of the box. But as you said, a winning streak would certainly cure that.
Whatever happened to Jeff Karstens? Is he hurt? Seriously, anybody know?
Let’s face it, they tried the youth movement and it hasn’t worked.
Sarcasm.
Gotta love the “patience” of some Yankee fans! lol
One month was enough patience for the youth movement. Gotta go back to signing aging vets.
No on all and thankfully the Yankees concur.
if the yankees had Bonds batting behind The Rod instead of Giambi, Alex would hit 60 home runs this season.
Maybe Rasner is this year’s Chacon/Aaron Small. Who knows? Only the baseball gods.
Ah, breath of new air
I have no idea why Yankees fans are thinking its the end of the world at we are sitting at 14-15, we will be fine!
The Yankees played the most road games in April history, and a good amount of those games were delayed because of rain.
Look at our track record, the Yankees are far better of a team in the second half of the season anyway, if we can finish the month of May within a couple of games back of Boston and a record around .500, that will be a good thing.
We are far better of a team last year, our starting pitching (even with the kids) is much better along with the bullpen; the hitting will come. When the hitting comes, these knee-jerk fans will become mute, as always.
Matt DeSalvo was 1 - 3 6.18 ERA in 6 starts.
Tyler Clippard was 3 - 1 6.33 ERA in 6 starts.
Darrell Rasner was 1 -3 4.01 ERA in 6 starts.
Any of the 3 would be a major upgrade at this point over Kennedy & Hughes. Substitute DeSalvo and Clippard for Hughes & Kennedy this year and the Yanks would have 4 more wins and be tied fro 1st place.
So many people today are so detail oriented that you lose site of the larger picture.
I for one am in support of the Yankees signing Barry Bonds. He was supposedly playing on a half a knee in 2006 and look what he did, in San Francisco. Bonds, in this lineup, in this stadium? Are you kidding me? You can never have too much production. I would love to have Bonds batting third in the Yankee lineup. If A-Rod likes Abreu’s patience, wait till he gets a look at what Bonds does.
I wonder if Bonds could play first.
“What we need is some Wang, Chacon, and Small magic. What a season that was.”
ahh, the days cashman had to decide between overworking his johnson, fiddling his bean, or seeing if wang could rise to the occasion.
Rebecca,
I’m just kidding. I don’t know why, but I always liked Miggy. People used to tease him because he was a Jeter wannabe. What’s wrong with that? He was a good teammate and always did what was asked of him. Too bad they didn’t ask him to hit homeruns!
Karstens was traded to the Nipon Ham Fighters of Japans northern division for the rioghts to a catcher that knows how to get Kei Igawa results to turn around.
If we want to continue having 3 inning starts, then Karstens is our guy.
Piazza is a terrible idea. Jorge can throw to 2nd better than him and he’s injured.
Wells? Come on. Even I haven’t brought him up.
However, if we didn’t have Giambi, I’d take a chance on Bonds.
I believe that there is some sort of character redemption arc (give me a break, I’m a writer) to be written for him.
Everything about him with the Yankees seems so wrong it could be right.
What if he brought no entourage and just came here to play and win showing he’s been somewhat humbled by the overwhelming lack of interest in him?
It won’t happen though. Cashman is such a nerd he wouldn’t have the stones to make that kind of move.
Sign Clemens! I heard he’s available…
I’m not putting the sub-par record to date all on the two kids, if this offense could’ve had some timely hits the record could easily have been 3-4 games over .500
We got beat by Byrd, Rogers & Bonderman, for crying out loud.
Ugh, if I see another Giambi, Cano pop up…
No, no, no. With the caveat that I would trade Giambi and Bonds in a heartbeat. I know, I know Jason’s not going anywhere. Jason’s a good guy, but a bat in Barry’s hands is a dangerous thing. Too bad about that little inconvenience. You know, the federal indictment. Also, Barry would push the record further out of Alex’s reach.
Rebecca,
I love your optimism, but the fact is the Yanks mistakenly placed an emphasis on Kennedy & Hughes and threw them into the rotation rather than letting them develop.
Kennedy only had 4 major league starts before he was thrown into the spotlight. I dont think the Yanks have done a good job at all about bringing them along slowly and letting them develop at their own pace.
Hughes pitched too many games with high pitch counts last year. He actually got a no decision last September when the in a game he started and the Yanks scored 12 runs.
They both would have been better off with less pressure on them.
I agree with the principle of this, but David Wells not ready ? What are you talking about ? The guy has a rubber arm and does no conditioning whatsover. He could go out and pitch 5 - 6 innings tonight.
Wells was a great Yankee. He loved being a Yankee so much he cried when Joe Torre told him he was traded to Toronto. I’d welcome him back as a mop up/ fill in type of guy.
Andrew YF, as a Yankees fan, I get that Bonds could be a good fit in the Stadium. Left handed hitter, sees tons of pitches, gets walked all the time, A-Rod will knock in 600 rbi a year, etc.
I just think that, as a fan of baseball as a whole, some things are more important than who bats third in the Yankees lineup.
I feel like as Yankees fans, we’ve put up with a lot of junk for the last decade: people accuse us of buying wins; people accuse us of being overrated; and lately, the steroids scandal has the Yankees in its bullseye (more than any other team - because what better way to sell papers than to dump on the Yankees?). Bonds would make me lose the small amount of hope I hang on to that most of that criticism is unjustified. Again, some things are bigger than who hits in front of A-Rod.
Bonds is obviously black-balled. He is a non issue. He will never play again.
If Freddy Garcia is healthy and available, it sounds like a good time to sign him.
As for Wells and his “rubber arm,” ask him how his back is doing. That’s a whole different story and plenty enough to put him on the DL after 3 innings. Emotion isn’t going to get you through 15 starts or 40 games out of the pen.
Drive: I kinda agree with you and I kinda don’t. I mean, I do think Phil and Ian need more time to develop, but I’m nowhere near giving up on them. Anyway, we’ll see how Kennedy does tonight. Or, rrather, you will, cos I got more minor league tickets.
…What? When you can sit second row behind home plate for $9, and the stadium is only 10 minutes away, of course you bite!
bigjf. It’s gunna take him a few weeks before he’s even ready. Might as well wait for Hughes to come back.
100% agree Pete!!
Yanks are 3 games out of first. It can’t get any worse. Hughes and Kennedy can’t be any worse, they can only get better.
Let’s not jump ship yet people!
David Wells, as much as I loved him when he was a Yankee, is 45 years old. He is not on a major league roster this season (anybody want to guess why?). He posted a 5.00 era in the national league last year. He pitched 150 innings in 29 games - a little more than 5 innings a game. He’s also not a relief pitcher, he’s a starter. I don’t want him starting (out of the frying pan into the fire if he replaces mussina, for example), and I don’t want him relieving (different warm up process, different mentality, different strategy). I don’t think he’s the answer, no matter how good he was for us a few years ago. He really hasn’t been any good for anybody since.
Steve, I understand that, but he can still be useful. He’s young enough yet, and there’s no guarantee that the Yanks will stick with either Hughes or Kennedy this season if they continue to struggle. Doesn’t mean they’ll trade or dump them, but they may need more minor league time.
Drive 4-5,
You’ve made some good points. Hughes does need to be more economical, and he is not responding to the pressure well.
But dude, you can’t use that game in September to support your argument. Hughes pitched better in that game than Andy did his last 2 outings.
Box score from that game: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270922110
I’m going to barf if I continue listening to Kay.
Pete, where’s today’s lineup? we need something else to discuss. This post is obviously a trick post…Bonds, Wells & Piazza reads like a roster in a nursing home for the aged & infirm.
Update:
Torre: 15 - 13
Girardi: 14 - 15
“Any of the 3 would be a major upgrade at this point over Kennedy & Hughes. Substitute DeSalvo and Clippard for Hughes & Kennedy this year and the Yanks would have 4 more wins and be tied fro 1st place….”
Oh really? Clippard is 0-3, 5.61 at AAA right now. DeSalvo is 1-4, 4.91 at AAA right now.
You know JF, I hear you, and it makes sense. I’d just be hesitant right now to make the move. How do you feel about Rasner? Would you give him a longer look?
Steve, based on Rasner’s minor league numbers, he obviously deserves a couple of starts, but if I can sign Garcia for nothing, I’d do it. Whether it be a minor league deal or move Bruney to the 60-day. I don’t see the harm in getting another arm. Especially to do it early, because should the struggles continue in June, it would be time to look at trades.
Newsflash the NL stinks.. Torre still will not have a better record and the NL is terrible.. Sre the Mets better then the Yanks? No but the NL sucks..
Surgeons let’s sign Bonds what the heck our quote for slow, old, terrible fielders is 7 and we only have about 5 on the team. Maybe we can give him a 3 yr deal!!!!!!
To bad people are to stupid to realize the Yanks have a very good minor league system, Hughes is 21 and CLippard could not hold his jock nor Desalvo, and etc etc…
“I’m going to barf if I continue listening to Kay.”
Kay is worse than ever this year. I’m doing my best to tune him out, otherwise I find myself screeming at my TV. Luckily, the apartment on the other side has been empty since baseball season started….
“Update:
Torre: 15 - 13
Girardi: 14 - 15″
LOL we want to compare scedules too ? I’m game
Brandon -
And weather - don’t forget comparing the weather!!!
Funny thing is, we could have pulled the trigger for Garcia in 04. I forget what we would have had to give up, but the White Sox gave up almost nothing (Jeremy Reed the best part of the deal) for him
Freddy Garcia hasn’t pitched in a year and had shoulder surgery to boot. Why folks here think he’ll come back this year and be good, I have no idea.
Well he hasn’t been great since then, but he has eaten innings in the past like Bartolo Colon at a buffet. We’d give up nothing right now, and maybe Garcia could deliver kinda like what Kyle Lohse has done so far.
David Wells is not a lifeboat they need to jump into; an average size rowboat could not support him without capsizing.
Ray, got a better idea? We’re talking about a cheap arm here on the FA market.
“One month was enough patience for the youth movement. Gotta go back to signing aging vets.”
it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. there’s a lot numbers between 0% and 100%.
i’d like to see some of the strength of the minor league system used to add some veteran depth to the pitching.
i know it’s a hit to anyone who wholeheartedly backed the all out youth movement, but to be in denial that there s a real problem right now isn’t going to help.
there is a serious problem right now , and i don’t see the the yankees solving it totally in house this year. in my opinion, if the yankees stick to the original plan they won’t be seeing the playoffs.
that said, i hope they mostly stick to the youth plan , but stay flexible if the right veteran pitcher becomes available.
I see how Wells would derail the youth movement if he took over Hughes’s or Kennedy’s spot. It would also be insane to give him anyone’s spot, as he is 45 and unlikely to be much better than replacement level.
My question is: why would bringing in Bonds or Piazza have anything to do with replacing the Yankees’ young players? It’s not as if the Yankees would sign Bonds or Piazza for longer than this season, or use them to displace Melky!
The only young player who these guys could possibly displace would be Duncan, whose future with the team is most likely as lefty-killing DH/PH. As much as we all love Shelley, moving him down a peg on the depth chart for a player of Bonds’s caliber is not exactly bad teambuilding.
Bonds would DH, and I doubt he would need long to get in shape for that job. I think it’s unquestionable that Bonds could help the team on paper. Look at his stats over the last few seasons, he is still one of the most fearsome hitters in baseball. The issue is only whether the team can manage all his baggage, and I can see why the Yankees would pass on him for that reason.
I think the simple reason the Yankees aren’t going to sign Piazza and Wells is because they are old and broken down.
You bite every time Brandon…I love you.
Jeremy, Bonds isn’t a spring chicken and he brings a ton of bad publicity with him, especially now. He would likely be only a DH, and his ego wouldn’t let him sit on the bench quietly. So that removes that spot as far as resting guys like Matsui and Damon but still keeping their bats in the lineup. With A-Rod and Posada also dealing with injuries this season, those are two more that may need to DH from time to time. Normally I would agree with putting that kind of potential production in, but I don’t think the lineup will be a problem in the long run and I think Bonds hurts the team more than he helps. I’m not 100% behind the “team chemistry” concept, but I do believe it is valid to a point.
“David Wells is a lifeboat they don’t need to jump into.”
This sentence should simply read: “David Wells is a boat.”
By the way, anyone who says Bonds is washed up is in denial. He put up a 170 OPS+ in 340 AB last season. I would think that making him the DH would improve his chances of hitting well for another season.
The Yankees do have an abundance of DH types already. The problem is none of them is very good. Giambi should be the DH because he’s such a liability in the field, but a DH who hits into a ridiculous shift every time he’s up and can only get on base by drawing walks is useless. Shelley, as I wrote above, is a platoon player, not an every day DH. Splitting the DH spot between Matsui and Damon will work until Damon breaks down and can’t play the field anymore. Damon can’t hit well enough to justify taking up the DH spot.
Let me put it this way: if Bonds were not BARRY BONDS, object of scorn and hatred, the Yankees would be crazy not to sign him for a 1-year deal at some price tag most teams couldn’t afford, make him the everyday DH, and make Damon the 4th outfielder. He would have an impact on the lineup that we need TODAY with Posada potentially out for a long time, Giambi potentially a lost cause, and Cano needing God knows how long to remember how to hit.
Saucy,
I’m actually apartment hunting. Maybe I can move into the vacated apartment and we can scream at him together, through the wall.
bigjf, I essentially agree with you. I guess a lot of what I wrote is wishful thinking: I wish we could get a player of Bonds’s abilities in the DH spot without having it be Bonds himself.
Peter, I’ve been meaning to email you about re-signing Billy Crystal…
oh my. david wells? don’t you guys remember the not so savory savior roger clemens? i bet the steinbrenners wallet does.
“David Wells is a lifeboat they don’t need to jump into.”
lifeboat…. Titanic….
For the sake of the fanbase, this team better make the playoffs. I don’ know if there are fans out there with the emotional makeup to actually handle a real youth movement.
The sad thing is that, right under our noses, we’re seeing it actually work, but are focusing on the parts that are going slower. Last I saw, Jon Albalajedo was the result of trading one of our lesser minor league chips and Ross Ohlendorf was the result of us actually trading a veteran for youth. Chein-Ming Wang is our ace, Melky Cabrera gets better every year, and we wait for Robbie Cano to break out the slump we all know he’s going to break out of.
There is a major difference between this year and last year. Last year marginal players like Karstens got injured. This year ARod and Posada are injured. Who knows when either of them is coming back. If they lose them both for more than a month this team is going to be in serious serious trouble.
The pithcing most nights just cannot sustain a line up that includes Ensberg, Moeller/Molina, a Cano hitting .151 and a Giambi hitting .164.
What about Ramiro Mendoza….what is he doing these days…if not a starter definitely a long reliever?
wow, terrible news. Joe just said on M&MD that Phil has a stress fracture in his rib and will be completely shut down for at least 4 weeks.
I feel for Phil, but he really is injury prone. His career has absolutely taken a HUGE setback. Who knows what this means for his future? He’s going to miss the bulk of this year at least in the bigs. I think he needs to stay in AAA as soon as he recovers, and I mean stay for the rest of the year
Mendoza turns 36 in June. He has pitched ONE major league inning since 2004, giving up 2 runs in 1 IP.
In 2006, his ERA at AAA was 7.00. Whereupon he retired.
“David Wells is a lifeboat they don’t need to jump into.”
yeah, more like tugboat
rb15 your right, we have enough roid users do we
We need someone to give the team a big spark, like another Melky, Shelly or Joba. Get some life into the team. Who? 27/08.
Hello, all!
Wow…Bonds, Wells, Piazza…Pete said it best…
Things haven’t gotten that bad yet, have they?…if you’re going to do that I’d rather sign Cone, O’Neil, and Flaherty…heck they’re already in the ballpark and they’re all ex Yankees…
Or how about Yogi and Reggie?…they always seem to be around…and they’re Hall Of Famers!
GO YANKS!
Clemens Redux anyone?
David Wells is a lifeboat? Huh, more like a friggin’ whale!
Just call the Yankees, “Jonah,” and then he’ll take them for a ride!
What is Pavano’s status? Ha
OPEN YOUR EYES Yankee fans. The run is over. No playoffs this year. No Pitching X No hitting = No Playoffs.