At least the bullpen is settled
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- November
- 17
One of my off-season habits is to create a list of free agents the Yankees are or might be interested in and try and stay in touch with their agents, or the player himself if possible.
I was updating that list today and noticed were no relief pitchers on it. When is the last time that was the case?
If there is one area of the team the Yankees appear settled, it’s the bullpen. Take a look at the depth chart:
Closer: Mariano Rivera.
Left-handed set-up: Damaso Marte, Phil Coke
Right-handed set-up: Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez
Promising young guys who are moving up: David Robertson, Mark Melancon
Injured guys who could have a role: Humberto Sanchez, Jon Albaladejo
Guys you get a sense could help if they didn’t send them back and fourth to Scranton 500 times: Chris Britton
Assorted long reliever candidates: Dan Giese, Alfredo Aceves
Guys they’re still holding a candle for: J.B. Cox
Minor-league starters who could be good major-league relievers: Chase Wright, Alan Horne, Eric Hacker
Prospects below AAA who could make a move in 2009: Kevin Whelan, Anthony Claggett, Zach Kroenke
That’s 20 pitchers and I’m sure I’m missing a few. The point is that the Yankees have done a nice job of finding and cultivating bullpen arms and it saves them from having to invest in free-agent relievers.
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on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Scott Patterson is a Padre.
Didn’t Scott Patterson get picked up by the Padres?
Patterson was sent to the Padres quite a while ago. I remember he had to participate in their rookie hazing, which was infinitely worse than the Yankees’ hazing.
Yes, forgot that
A couple of these guys could be gone by Jan. either via trade, Rule 5, etc.
But the point remains – good pen candidate depth.
This is clearly the earliest returns we are seeing on Cashman farm system rebuilding. It is so hard to build a bullpen through free agency, and now we have a bullpen that ranks in the upper third of MLB teams.
I bet Torre wants back just so he can blow out all these arms!!!
great blog entry pete
Sounds like a solid pen, lots of trade bait, with arms to spare.
what’s a reasonable date by which cc will be signed (by whatever team that is)
Don’t forget Texeira! And isn’t Mike Dunn on the radar?
(p.s. there’s a itty bitty typo in Britton’s entry, I know a UMass guy like yourself would want to get it right)
I’m betting Coke might find himself in the rotation as soon as Micheal Dunn is ready.
Looks like we might have enough for a trade with these young pitchers if we don’t get all these free agents…dare I mention again Jake Peavy?
How do you think this all shakes out on opening day?
I am thniking it will be Mo (closer), Bruney and Marte (the Nelson and Stanton roles), Veras, Coke and Melancon (middle relief until Bruney and/or Marte fail), and Giese or Aceves (Long man/spot starter).
No mentioning Jake Peavy!
I wonder how much Francesa loss on that game.
Peavy is good, but it has to be taken into account he pitched in the NL West, and in a ballpark that no one can hit a homerun in. Bring him to the AL East and his ERA will explode.
nice list Pete.
the pen should be solid. and Melancon is a stud. we’re going to love the guy.
I still think Brad Penny is worth a look before Lowe.
“I wonder how much Francesa loss on that game.”
It must have been a lot. I can actually hear the veins popping in his head talking about this
CB-
Pete’s updating his posts too quickly for my work schedule.
On the previous posts, you were citing Replacement Level Yankees Weblog as your source for projecting the Yanks to score 830 runs in 2009.
That seemed high to me, so I took a look at your link. My quick read on the RLYW’s CAIRO projections is that they are too optimistic on the AB projections, which overweights production from our starting 9. It is extremely unlikely that each of our starting lineup will get 500 ABs – it hasn’t happened for a long time. Also, I also think the 5-4-3-2-1 offensive weighting overweights Posada’s 2007 numbers.
Does CAIRO include a PECOTA-type aging adjustment? RLB’s description of CAIRO was unclear on that. I’m pretty sure the Yanks’ overall performance will decline off of a straight or weighted projection because of age factors for Damon, Matsui, Jeter and Posada.
My guess is when you factor that in, the Yanks in 2009, on our current roster, will score about the same number of runs we did in 2008.
Wow Francesa MUST have bet on that Steelers game, he’s losing his voice because he’s yelling so much. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him this upset. The guy sounds like he’s about to blow a gasket.
Love it.
1/2 the Francesa on the WFAN assets must have been bet in this game. Pujols won the MVP (About time they got it right)
How long has Mike been screaming about this game now? 45 minutes? It must have cost him the twins college fund
Congrats to Pujols
1 hour & 3 mins on this crap.
Prediction: CC will not be an Angel.
The Angels need Tex more than they need CC. I don’t think they would get too involved with CC while Tex is still out there.
Boras won’t let Tex sign if there is an external factor which could drive up Tex’s value even more. Tex’s value, both to the Angels and perhaps in general, goes up once CC is off the table. Therefore, Boras will let CC sign before he lets Tex sign.
I might be using some circular logic, but I think what I say will come to pass.
Unreal on Francessa – I am home sick today – and his ranting is not helping me.
This is becoming comical. Move on Francesa. Hell, talk about McNabb not knowing about the OT rules in the NFL. Anything else but this.
This can be the best and most versatile bullpen the Yankees have had since the late 90’s.
A good combination of youth, experience, and balance. A good reason for C.C. and others coming to the Bronx knowing that leads can be protected.
So the Yankees definitely view Coke as a reliever going forward? I hadn’t been sure either way about that one.
It is a great pen though. I think the Yanks should look into selling high on Veras though. He could be a good piece to get a bigger deal done and to be honest, I just don’t trust him all that much, still. I think he started to show his true colors towards the end of the season. Bruney is much better and he is who I want to see in the 8th in 2009.
Don’t forget, Coke was a starter in the minors and only moved to the pen to limit his innings. He is probably going to be the Ramiro Mendoza of this team. He can spot start, long relief, set-up, and with his stuff, even close if Mo has been used too many days in a row. Our pen is a strength. Yet, if the starters suck, it will turn into a weekness from over-use. Let’s go get CC and Lowe.
Hopefully Texeira can continue his success as he moves up the system. That could be a real option in the future.
I hear that Suzyn Waldman is sitting shivah for Darrell Rasner.
Maybe I should send her some ruggalech or a nice bobkah.
Or we could all chip in for a cold cuts platter. Or some nice smoked fish…
Whitey Fraud ;
Oy Vey !
Suzyn Waldman has 24 karat chutspa already. Just give her a pickle.
Great trade chips in that pen, especially if they are diminant in the spring. Coke could go either way, but the fact he was so good in September may indicate that could be his forte’. Remember most if not all relievers began as starters including the best in Yankees history.
This pen should be a great selling point to starting pitchers. Just give me Burnett over Lowe. Take the risk and reap the reward. A post-season rotation of CC, AJ, Joba and Wang would be a bitch.
Why isn’t Aceves more highly regarded?
Since the Dog left, I no longer watch Francesa. His condescending and insulting attitude to callers whom he doesn’t agree with coupled with his overall pomposity becomes grating. Also, I find it amusing how obsequious he is with the coaches, managers and players, rarely challenging them as a good journalist should do; in short, an obvious Celebrity Parasite. Other than that, he’s ok!!!
seems great but where does Phil Hughes factor into this list?
Dunn is absolutely in the mix, w/3 pitches and mid-nineties FB. Guy could be lethal out of the pen for us in 2009. No mention of Garcia. He looked great in Trenton. What’s the club’s view of him? Will he even be protected?
Humberto Sanchez?? You mean the one with the 11.00 ERA in the Arizona Fall League?
Sanchez has been hit hard but the guy is technically still coming back, building up his arm, etc.
You can’t get too worked up about results in this various leagues. Everybody goes nuts whenever Hughes has a “bad” outing; the kid is 22 and he’s working on his pitch repertoire, delivery, etc.