Comments on: We done here?

By: River Ave. Blues » The need for a lefty reliever

River Ave. Blues » The need for a lefty reliever — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:31:11 +0000

[...] In some ways, this is a luxury the Yankees can afford. As we mentioned earlier this week, the Yanks have a bit of roster flexibility on the offensive side, with backups Duncan and Betemit able to play multiple positions if [...]

By: blah

blah — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:56:13 +0000

I also think the Yankees will lean towards keeping Gonzalez up, assuming he does well enough during spring training. Betemit isn’t really that solid of an infielder, and I thought I read that Girardi wanted to give Jeter and Arod more rest during the regular season.

By: Ray Istorico

Ray Istorico — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:44:30 +0000

the Yanks will indeed be done if Matsui is traded and they don’t improve the bench to a marked degree (or clone Wilson Betemit). does anyone see Damon or Abreu playing in 150+ games without injury? Girardi will be longing for the days of Tim Raines and Chad Curtis if any of the supposed starting outfielders are lost for part of the year.

Regards,
R

By: Kevin23

Kevin23 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:24:31 +0000

I’ll take the 24 year old Melky’s .280 average, great arm, and decent speed on the bases over most guys around the league. Saying he can’t hit is just unfair. Matsui is a one trick pony…hitting. And he only hits a whopping 20 points higher at his peak. He needs to DH. Melky can be worked with on patience at the plate, taking better routes to balls, etc. Damon is aging and falling apart physically.

And the last thing we need is another first baseman who’ll need to be a DH within a few years. With Posada, Damon, and all the young guys able to play there, I really can’t justify paying for an Adam Dunn (who strikes more than anyone in baseball).

But I do like the idea of rotating the starters for a few months to see what sticks. Each season, after all, is like a snowflake.

By: jscape2000

jscape2000 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:23:34 +0000

I saw the Jennings piece right after I posted here.

Re: outfield
I guess I’m not coming up with many scenarios where you’re going to need that sixth option.
You’re never going to pinch run for Damon, Abreu, or Melky. I’d only pinch hit for Melky with Duncan against a lefty.

The real problem is that the Yanks don’t have anyone on the 40-man who could play center or left once every two weeks.
Joe is coming from the NL- I expect him to have Torre’s willingness to give up the DH in the interest of putting the best defense on the field in a pinch.

By: LiveFromNewYork

LiveFromNewYork — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:47:40 +0000

Girardi was a pitcher’s catcher, meaning he could bring out good stuff in a lot of pitchers. I predict he works with Moose and Farnsworth to try to get their stuff shining once again. My gut tells me Girardi is not going to give up on either of them too easily. But if we could convert Moose to a reliever that would be great or rotate Moose and Joba in and out of starting/relieving. Even Hughes did a phenomenol job coming out of the bullpen during the playoffs.

That being said I have no idea how Girardi is going to work the rotation, but it should be interesting.

By: Sky

Sky — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:41:33 +0000

Is the Melky/Damon CF/LF combo really that exciting? Melky can’t hit and Damon’s a poor hitter for a left fielder. Damon’s range is much better than Melky’s and I doubt Melky’s arm comes close to making up the difference. I’d much rather have Damon in center and Hideki in left. Melky’s advantage over Matsui in the field is nowhere near Matsui’s advantage at the plate, and I’m a big fan of defense. Do the Yankees have the funds to take on a real 1B/DH option like Adam Dunn in exchange for Melky?

Mussina’s certainly not an ace any more, but he’s better than his 2007 ERA and he provides innings so that the young guys don’t have to go over 180 each. If Girardi was willing to think outside the box, IPK, Joba, and Hughes would all take turns coming out of the bullpen over the first three or four months, then Girardi would pick a fulltime rotation for the stretch run.

By: Rob_in_CT

Rob_in_CT — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:33:08 +0000

Rotation ideas that do not involve any of the big three going back to the minors:

OPTION 1:

Wang-Pettitte-Kennedy on normal rest.
JobaPhil as tandem starters in the #4 spot. One guy starts and goes 4-5 innings/90-100 pitches (whichever he hits first), the other finishes, and they switch roles the next time ’round.
Moose as 5th starter.

OPTION 2:

First Half:
Wang-Pettitte-IPK-Moose-JobaPhil. JobaPhil, as fifth starter, has innings limited by both tandem starter setup (no more than 5/start) and # of starts.

Second Half:
Wang-Pettitte-IPK-Phil-Joba.

This might be more like “first 2/3, last 1/3″ in order to stick with caps of ~150 innings for Phil and Joba.

OPTION 3:

Wang-Pettitte-IPK-Phil-Joba, with 2 long relievers carried: Moose and Rasner (If you think Rasner sucks, feel free to pick somebody else). Those guys shadow Phil and Joba, who are capped at 5 innings/start.

By: ikl

ikl — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:54:17 +0000

Henn is out of options so he will probably make the team out of ST unless he is really awful in March. Bruney as well. If the Yankees thought that these two wouldn’t make the team, they probably would have removed them from the 40 man roster already. This makes the picture in the pen a lot more clear I think. The real question is how long these guys last in the big leagues. With all the other options, they had better get off to a good start in April.

By: Ben K.

Ben K. — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:02:41 +0000

Why would you exile Phil Hughes to the Minors? After September and October, do you really think he needs more work in the Minors? There’s no point in having him face crappy hitters at AAA anymore.