Peña makes the cut
ByThe Yankees have selected their 25th man. Ramiro Peña, 23 and with no experience above AA, has earned the back-up infielder spot while Angel Berroa has been reassigned to the Minor League camp. To make room for Peña on the 40-man roster, the Yankees DFA’d Dan Giese. There’s a very good chance he will be claimed by the Padres. Peña will back up Cody Ransom, Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano for the next few weeks while A-Rod is on the DL. While Peña has never been much of a hitter, he has flashed some serious leather throughout his career and will be used for this defense.
As I said on Thursday, this is a move that doesn’t really matter, but it is marginally interesting that the Yanks went with Peña. Had they opted for Berroa, they would have just DFA’d him when A-Rod is activated, but Peña will stick on the 40-man and thus limit the Yanks’ roster flexibility. Peña will wear 19 on his jersey even though that number should have been retired in honor of Luis Sojo years ago.
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The Mason Williams Watch
pena looked to be very outmatched against pitcher on at-bats but his glove is a sure thing… i’d like to see how he becomes
I hope Girardi has the guts to take Jeter out late in the game for “defensive purposes.”
I understand the sentiment, but in a close game do you really want Jete’s bat out of the lineup?
Well if it’s the bottom of ninth and we are winning we would not have to worry about that. I see your point but even if were are winning in the 8th and Jeter’s spot in the lineup is not expected up I would put Pena in.
I agree. If the game is tight and Jeet will DEFINITELY bat again, then you’d have to keep the Capt. in. However, there are definitely situations where it will make more sense to put Pena out there, and I hope we do.
i don’t like this at all.
it’s the 25th man on the team, so it shouldn’t make a huge difference, but i think it needlessly ties up a spot on the 40 man.
Yup. That’s the odd part in this equation. Unless the Yanks really view Ramiro Peña as a spare part, they should have kept open that roster space. They’re not going to DFA a 23-year-old with even a slight amount of potential.
This does make sense if they plan on trading an outfielder though. A bench of Swisher/Pena/Ransom/Molina is actually pretty solid.
If they plan on trading an outfielder, it could be Nady or Swish, and in either case Swisher wouldn’t be on the bench.
What about Melky? If he has a good first month and White Sox CF’ers look overmatched(it would seem like they would), could that be a match?
I think Melky gets traded instead of Nady/Swish.
Hopefully, because if it is just to clear a roster spot, I would hope it’s Melky.
Yea sorry, i meant to acknowledge that Melky could be traded, but Chip’s planned bench sort of assumed that Melky was the one being traded, so I was just saying, if he’s not the one to be traded, then the perceived bench is inaccurate.
They could always just put Cody Ransom on waivers instead, no? He’s pretty old, average at best defensively and his bat is questionable, I would think he could quite possibly slip through waivers. Is Pena or Ransom better as a utility man? I don’t know the answer and I’m not sure if it matters too much.
Overall, I’d say that this is a good sign for the organization. It shows that the manager and Cash are on the same page as a commitment to our youth becomes more apparent.
But one could make the case that this isn’t a decision in the best interest for developing young talent. Pena’s bat is already pretty weak and putting him in a back up role will most likely minimize the ABs he can get, further hindering his bat’s development.
what it probably means is that the organization sees his ceiling as a Utility man, so they are just giving him the job now.
i don’t like the roster implications, but maybe they have some trades lined up.
Melky for an ace or two, probably.
You’re probably right. That’s gotta be his ceiling unless he somehow hits, right?
Does anyone know how well he hit from the left side?
He’s going to AAA once A-Rod comes back and will get plenty of ABs.
How better can Pena get? He’s our Alex Cora.
What if Ransom sucks so hard, that they decide to release Ransom and keep Pena on the team?
They also may consider DFA Ransom when Arod is back and keeping Pena. I think there sentiments are players like Pena are a dime a dozen, and they have his twin Reggie Corona back anyway. Before Pena is DFA’d, I think Miranda and Sanchez (if one more injury) are likely candidates to go.
keep Pena. I think their … GRAMMAR CHECK
why would they want to DFA Ransom or Pena for that matter? makes no sense.
Reegie Corona, not Reggie.
They don’t have to DFA anyone when A-Rod comes back, they just have to send someone to minors.
“the Yankees DFA’d Dan Giese”
poor Giese, he was our 2008 verison of Aaron Small but this spring training, he wasn’t doing well. Good luck with him wherever he goes.
He wasn’t nearly as good as Aaron Small was for that half a season, and I don’t think anyone was really counting on him to do much.
no need to harsh his mellow, Ben.
i too, wish Giese well where ever he may end up, he was a nice story last year.
Pena is MLB ready defensively, so there’s not much development to screw.
Defense is only half the equation when it comes to a position player, so there’s 50% of his development to screw, which is quite a lot.
i think Ransom is a slightly better player than Yankee fans are giving him credit for.
he can play all over the IF, his glove isn’t bad, and he can hit a mistake out of the park.
not sure what else you expect from a Utility guy.
All-Star production, duh.
Not to mention his UUUPPSSS!!!
I don’t think we know what Ransom is other than what can be gleaned from the fact that he has been a replacement level player that hasn’t been able to stick on a ML roster for very long.
Apparently they don’t view Pena as a future starter.
New baseball reference sucks. I can’t even view pena’s splits as a left hander. I was tryng to build a case that he’ll play 3rd when we face righties.
Old baseball reference didn’t have MiLB splits either. You’re barking up the wrong tree for that one. (And anyway new B-Ref has so much more information. They did a wonderful job with the redesign, and it’s become even more of a valuable tool.)
Oh I thought they did.. I haven’t liked the new one but I guess I just gotta get used to it. I was able to use the old one with my eyes closed.
So do you know how well Ramiro hits righties?
Yup.
He hit .269/.347/.362 in over 300 ABs vs. RHP at AA. His Major League equivalences are terrible: .219/.278/.284.
All that is from http://minorleaguesplits.com.
Thanks. Yikes, that’s not what I was hoping for.
I know it isn’t exactly “new”, but The Baseball Cube’s redesign is fantastic.
Amen brother about Sojo. I actually have a Sojo jersey. Yes, I had to put the name on as no one would know what 19 represented.
Yeah Pena can field, but he can also run and I think that may have figured in the decision here…late inning sub base runner. Before everybody says what a great asset Swisher is, we better look at the stats…the recent ones. He looked bad last year at the plate and has showed us very little in the spring. He certainly isn’t better defensively than Nady or Melky. As far as I can tell his only advantage right now is his ability to play corner infield positions. in case Tex goes down or needs a day off. Right now he still has to prove his hitting days are not a thing of the past. God, I hope he wasn’t a juicer.
Ummm…he cant play 3rd. And I think we’ve all seen his OBP/plate discipline and last year was a lot of bad luck.
Swisher’s career UZR/150 in RF is 9.4 which is better than Nady at -1.4 while below the light hitting Melky at 14.1 so I don’t know where you’re quite coming from here. He’s a much better hitter than Melky and is probably about on par with Nady while being a better defender than Nady.
Plus he’s never been a great “hitter.” He’s a great power guy that draws walks. I see his future as bright with the yankees. His best years were after testing anyways..
It’s nice to have someone with a good glove on the bench, but I’ll be surprised if he does much more than spell Jeter in blowouts. Here’s hoping he’s at least used occasionally as a defensive replacement in tight games.
Now will Giese be traded, and the Yankees can get something back or is he just taken for some cash?
Dude’s 31 with limited MLB experience and coming off a bad ST. Cash methinks.
They’ll keep him and send him to Triple-A probably, unless he opts to become a free agent instead. No one will grab him off waivers, every team has guys like that in the minors that don’t require a 40-man spot.
The Yanks still need to make a move or two to open up some room on the 40.
There’s no sense in making a move just to open up 40-man spots. Make the moves when you have too.
As much as I love Pena, he really needs time in AAA. To start the season, I would have had Berroa there. If he strugles then you drop Berroa and bring up Pena.
There has got to be a trade going on, Cash knows what he’s doing.
Who gets DFAd when A-Rod comes back?
No one; they’ll probably just send Pena to the minors.
Jeter.
ietc.
i think this says (1) ransom not gettin any days off (2) girardi sees lots of close games while arod’s out and wants the best glove to come in off bench
A-Rod’s not on the 60 day DL, so he still counts for a 40 man roster spot. Thus when he returns Pena will probably just be optioned down. Berroa being kept around would’ve required Giese’s DFA also, since he was in on a minor league contract, as well. This move only makes a difference if the team sees Pena being part of their long term plan, since it starts his arb clock.
Correct. A 40 man move needed to be made regardless. I don’t agree that this hurts any growth either. In fact, I believe this enhances Pena’s growth by working with the best and shows the other youngsters that if they play well they have a chance. If I were a young player in the org right this minute, I’d be really really very pumped up and ready to kick some arse.
I do hope you’re kidding about Sojo, Ben. I don’t sense the sarcasm, however. . .
Of course I’m kidding. Ever since that stupid LaTroy Hawkins/Number 21 thing, it’s been a running joke to advocate for retiring the numbers of undeserved players.
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