The Yanks’ 22-man roster

May 31, 2009 by Benjamin Kabak 88 Comments

With the Yanks up 10-3 in the ninth inning last night, Joe Girardi turned the ball over to Jose Veras for the final three outs of the game. Veras, as Mike said, pitched to the score, and it was ugly.

The first batter, Shin-Soo Choo, homered. Then, Jose Veras hit Mark DeRosa with a pitch. After a ground-out, Ben Francisco plated DeRosa with a double. All of a sudden, the Yankees were a Cleveland home run away from a save situation.

For Veras, his appearance capped off a May to forget. After beginning the season with a 5.73 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in April, Veras has been utterly terrible. This month, he has thrown 8.2 innings and has allowed 11 hits and 8 walks. He has a 7.27 ERA to go with that 2.31 WHIP. Jose Veras is now so bad that the Yanks can’t even trust him in a seven-run game.

Meanwhile, also making an appearance last night was Angel Berroa. The Yanks’ 25th man pinch ran for Matsui and never made it past second base. In his last pinch-running cameo, Berroa was thrown out at the plate by about 15 feet on a foul ball down the line. He earned himself a whopping four at-bats this month and hasn’t done anything.

Finally we arrive at Brett Tomko. Since being called up by the Yanks during the first week of May, Tomko has made five appearances for the team. His last outing was a one-inning effort against the Phillies last Sunday when he gave up a hit and two walks in the 11th. He got the loss and threw just 14 of 30 pitches for strikes.

With these three players rarely used or underperforming to an extreme degree, the Yankees are playing at a peak level with a 22-man roster. At AAA, they have Shelley Duncan, the International League’s leading home run hitter who would give the bench far more pop than Berroa provides. They have Mark Melancon and George Kontos throwing well and throwing strikes for Scranton.

At this point, we don’t even need to offer up more analysis. The Yankees have three dead spots on their roster. They owe nothing to these players, and we’ve seen enough — sometimes by simply seeing nothing at all — to know that they don’t belong anymore. It’s time for the Yankees and Brian Cashman to pull the trigger on these three players. With a full 25-man roster, the first-place Yankees, 16-5 over their last 21 games, could be that much better.

jonathan

Wow bravo!! I honestly couldnt have said it better myself. Shelley would be a complement to Matsui at DH against lefties that we expect Nady to be when he gets back, and he could fill in at LF, RF, and 1B. Both Kontos and Melancon would be better options for mopup duty than Tomko or Veras are right now, and we could start building them up. Damn I wish Cashman took suggestions….
- dane bramage
  
  The Ghost of Kyle Farnsworth.
- Bill
  
  Not Cashman….he don’t get the blame here….this is a very good article …well written and to the point.
  Girardi….please start managing this team, you have cost us 3-4 games so far this year with your (1) selection of players to take north (2) in game managerial mistakes (3) Ransom over Pena starting at third…are you kidding me….No long relievers to start the season….Aceves didn’t deserve a spot on this club…Albadajeo instead….come on…Melancon has to be in the bullpen, I don’t care if he is mop up. He throws strikes. Any reliever that throws strikes at Scranton should be on this team.
  Girardi is a stubborn manager and there is no place for that in the Majors, have to be flexible, its a must. Use all 25 of your guys and if they become unusable then send them out with the knowledge if they do well at scranton they will be back.
  Duncan, not having an ab on the big team is a disgrace. You have 35 yr old Damon, brent Gardner, melky (injured) and Swisher. You need another DH and another OF, and where is the power, Duncan has more hrs than almost all of this group combined. 3 run homers win games and Duncan is not that bad after watching swisher who is a lot worse in the OF than I thought , I’m surprized how poor his arm and of coverage is. Hes real average or below in rf..I’m surprized, but Duncan fits, replace with gardner or melky in the late innings.
  GIRARDI WAKE UP & MANAGE HIS TEAM…
  
  I also like to say that Melky and Gardner have played outstanding baseball, proud of both of those guys, I like to see, regardless of talent guys play hard and be a factor in the outcome of games, they’ve both done that. real proud of those guys…
  - Mike
    
    His name is Brett Gardner not Brent….and he sucks. If they have a stat for running the bases as fast as you can then he would be great, but he can’t get on base, so he is of no use to the yanks. Bring back up Duncan and see if you cant shop matsui to the rockies for street. cause you need bench players and bullpen relif. and pray nady comes back otherwise trade for holliday cause swisher isnt a very good outfielder, remember he was supposed to be your 1st baseman not to long ago. but if nady comes back. your bench problem is solved, you would have duncan, matsui, and swisher. and if you can trade matsui obviously berroa or jackson.
    - Yankfan
      
      There are multiple things wrong with what you’ve said, first off Matsui is useless to the Rox, cuz he can’t play the field and they don’t have a DH spot, plus Matsui’s trade value with his injury risk and contract is negative right now, he isn’t going anywhere until his contract is up at the end of the year. Bringing up Duncan does make sense but saying Swisher isn’t a good OF is just ignorant, his BABIP is still at a low .263 which would explain the .229 AVG, but he is still putting up an .858 OPS which is fine from your 6/7 hitter. Not to mention his defense plays better in the OF than at 1B, his career UZR in the OF is 8.7, compared to a 1B UZR of -5.1. Not to mention he is a better player overall than Nady, who had a flukish year last year and was coming down to earth when he was traded to the Yanks, all stats point to Swisher being the better player.
Andy In Sunny Daytona

Agreed Ben. Tomko and Berroa are as useless as you can get. Veras is so frustrating. It’s probably just my imagination, but he seems to pitch better when there is more on the line. But, he is utterly horrible in low-leverage situations.
- Moshe Mandel
  
  I get the same vibe from Veras, but a look at his numbers in high leverage spots disagrees with that feeling.
Mike HC

Having these guys on the roster is pointless. There have got to be better options in the Yanks system, as you laid out. Strictly from an entertainment and fan perspective, it would be far more enjoyable to watch some of our younger guys work their stuff out on the big league level.
- steve (different one)
  
  again, answer this question:
  
  if Nady is ready in a week, was it a smart decision to add Shelley Duncan to the 40 man roster?
  - UWS
    
    Yes, because (a) we don’t know what we’re going to get from Nady; and (b) Nady won’t be able to throw yet, so he cannot play the OF. Also, what’s the big deal about adding Shelley to the 40-man? Is he so valuable that you’d be afraid to lose him to waivers if he needs to be jettisoned?
    - http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      “Also, what’s the big deal about adding Shelley to the 40-man? Is he so valuable that you’d be afraid to lose him to waivers if he needs to be jettisoned?”
      
      No… But that doesn’t mean the Yankees should make a move that will likely lead to that scenario.
  - http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
    
    I was just about to make the same exact comment (since you said “again” it seems as though it’s been discussed before, I haven’t been around much lately). I’m terrible with options – does Shelly have 1 remaining? If he does, why burn it when you’re just going to send him right back down to AAA within the next month or so? And even if not, I’m not so sure it’s prudent to jettison one of your (admittedly absolutely worst-case scenario) safety-nets in case A-Rod has an injury setback a few weeks early just to get Shelly Duncan on the bench.
    - UWS
      
      Shelley has no options – they had to DFA him last year.
      
      That’s how I remember it, anyways :)
      - http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        Yeah I think you’re right… So, in essence, they’d be recalling Shelly with the knowledge/expectation of DFA’ing him within weeks.
        
        I don’t know, I can’t get too worked up about it either way. I just don’t know that the incremental gain they’d get from having his bat on the bench for a matter of weeks is necessarily worth more than having a bat at AAA in case the Yankees all come down with bubonic plague and need warm bodies to fill roster spots. It’s not like he’d improve the team that much for the next few weeks.
        
        And now I’m changing my mind. Whatever, I guess he’s relatively disposable to this organization.
        
        http://mantisfists.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/julius-carry-aka-shonuff.jpg The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        PS: What a bunch of gobbledy-gook, huh? I shouldn’t comment while hungover. My bad.
        
        Mike Pop
        
        Cool it, hotshot.
        
        ;)
steve (different one)

except the basic premise of your post is flawed.

playing with a 22 man roster would mean you have 3 guys who are hurt or unavailable. they aren’t. those guys are available, they just aren’t needed. and if they are needed, they are there. that is what the 24th and 25th spot on your roster are for.

the yankees right now are rolling out a MONSTER starting lineup. they really have no one to pinch hit for. and when Melky is back in 2 days, they have 2 good pinch runners.

they are also slowly getting their team healthy. Bruney will be throwing this week. Nady is close.

as those guys come back, the roster will start to approach it’s optimal state. Bruney will replace Veras or Tomko. when Marte comes back, the other guy will be gone. if that isn’t happening fast enough, Melancon will be up.

Nady is close. explain to me the point of adding Shelley to the 40 man if Nady is coming back in the next week or 2? how many ABs is Shelley going to get until then, 5? then we’d have a post complaining about how Shelley isn’t getting ABs. and once you add him, Shelley is then stuck on the 40 man.

i see your point on the bullpen situation, but there ARE legitimate reasons to not add Shelley Duncan if Nady is close to returning.

this isn’t an NL team, nor is it a team that has any holes in the lineup. if an emergency happens, those players are 2 hours away.

PS. Alex Rodriguez said right on the post-game last night that his hip felt a little stiff. maybe THAT’S why Berroa is still around?
- mike
  
  Best point is Arod by far – while Pena seems capapble of fielding the position, if Arod needs a day or two off, Pena will start and the bench will be empty ( as are the minor leagues as well) of an additional player. Its not the same as losing a DH if starting both catchers in the lineup, and no manager wants to get caught short an option for a position player.
- http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
  
  I agree wholeheartedly, especially with the Angel Berroa point. I really don’t get why people undervalue the importance of having the ability to PH for Ramiro Pena when he plays third base and Alex Rodriguez is the DH. Without a second utility infielder on the roster Joe Girardi would have no choice but to give Pena AB’s in high-leverage situations.
  
  Is that the only valid purpose Berroa serves on the active roster? Yes, but that does not mean that as a utility infielder it is not a a pretty serviceable purpose.
  - steve (different one)
    
    also, the yankees made 2 demotions of relievers in the last 2 weeks. it’s not like they are unaware of the underachievers.
    
    but, Marte and Bruney are on the DL. with Edwar and Albie sent down, that’s 4/7 of your opening day bullpen GONE. Veras would make it 5/7. it’s not easy to just replace 5 relievers in a month. they still need major leaguers to suck up innings.
    
    so what, so Veras pitches in blowouts until the team is 100% he can’t be fixed. why does that bother everyone so much?
    
    the lack of patience with a FIRST PLACE team is simply stunning.
    - http://forums.projectcovo.com/images/smilies/e6omir.gif OmgZombies!
      
      Patience for a player thats progressively getting worse? Everytime someone defends Veras he goes out and has a his Veras like inning.
    - http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
      
      so what, so Veras pitches in blowouts until the team is 100% he can’t be fixed. why does that bother everyone so much?
      
      I think only the usage patterns of CMW has irked me more than this in recent weeks.
      - http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
        
        Sorry, I meant the complaining of the usage patterns of CMW.
      - Bill
        
        Jamal,
        You, like I, must be smoking about today’s events.
        Wang looked like he could of cruised the next 3-4 innings, he literally was blowing away the Tribe.
        But out he comes and bye-bye ballgame.
        If there was a good reason to take him out, like he was exhausted (highly unlikely) or they were preparing him for an upcoming start (maybe, but doubtful) then ignore the rest of my comments, but if not:
        Girardi “outmaganged” himself.
        Right now the Tribe is banged up and who knows how many goose eggs Wang may have posted, the announcers on TBS Eckersly and the other guy kept coommenting on how nasty he was, and how in control and confident he looked. The Tribe is having problems right now and they are not a good team, they were very happy to accept the Yankee/Girardi gift, nice to have “essentially” a “rookie” manager make a stupid mistake. He does it all the time, goes to the bullpen to change pitchers like he has a plethora of quality relievers out there?
        Just comical. Yeah don’t let Wang get too confident?
        3 rd or 4th game Girardi has “gifted” to other teams.
        Alos the Yanks need to get the tape of Eckersley, who actually critiqued Hughes and gave his HOP opinion on the 23 yr old pitcher. He was on the money, real good stuff. Yanks should get todays tape and play it back so Eiland and Hughes can hear it. Hughes basically throws everything to one part of the plate and can’t throw his curve for strikes. Every pitch is hard 88 to 93 mph. If he ever controls his cutter and throws it for strikes, his cutter is every bit as good as Mo’s according to Eck. One of the best he has seen. He needs a change up or sinker…Great comments by ECK, a HOF’er on young Hughes….
    - Mike HC
      
      This post was just saying that maybe some other guys in the minor league system deserve a shot. Veras, Berroa and Tomko have not exactly been lighting the world on fire, and there is a chance some of the minor league talent can produce, or do some on the job training. The Yanks clearly cannot trust Tomko or Veras in a big spot, and I don’t think they are going to earn that trust in the near future. While we are waiting/hoping for Bruney and Marte to come back and pitch effectively, why not see what these minor league guys can do. This is not a panic move, but merely playing around with the last couple of spots on the roster.
      - steve (different one)
        
        re: Berroa, what is the on the job training this “minor league guy” is going to get?
        
        there is no on in the minors who deserves to take playing time from any of the starters.
        
        so, by definition, that player is going to come up and ride the pine. how does that benefit the player?
        
        that’s the part of the argument that bothers me. the fact that Berroa isn’t being used is GOOD NEWS. it means the starting lineup is healthy and productive.
        
        you guys seem to want to take ABs from superior players just so you feel better that there isn’t a “dead” roster spot. yet no one has made a compelling argument WHY that’s so important when you have a lineup with no holes in it.
    - http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ Eric
      
      I think Todd Linden should have been called up while Melky was out. He can play all 3 outfield positions and has some pop.
      - http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
        
        Melky will probably be back in the lineup tomorrow or Tuesday. They weren’t going to DL him for what will amount to a four- or five-game stint on the bench. Adding Linden to the 40-man in that situation would have been more trouble than it’s worth.
- mustang
  
  I totally agree and well done. The only one that I could see Ben’s argument for is Shelley Duncan. Mark Melancon and George Kontos are still developing and probably are better off getting steady work in AAA. It funny some of us here are often criticized for our lack of patience with kids when they reach the MLB level. Yet it seems to me like the same lack of patience pushing kids though the minor league system just to see them on the MLB level.
Rich

Oh Heavens! Only 2 runs from a SAVE SITUATION. That’s still a 5 run lead. Maybe if managers weren’t robots they would still be able to win games with other pitchers than THE STOPPER.
LiveFromNewYork

It is definitely time for Shelley and Mark.

If Mo gives up back to back homers, we’ll all like “Comon Mo hunker down and put this thing away.” If Veras gives up a homer in a 7 run game we’re hoping for extra innings so we can come back.

Girardi seems to be all Zen about it but I agree. I think that Veras and Berroa need to be swapped for Melancon and Duncan.
- pepe
  
  Absalutely bring Shelly and Mark, Veras is useless and so is Berroa.
Jake H

Get that old man Berroa out of there. The guy has sucked since his fluke rookie year.
UWS

I understand what you guys are trying to say. Yes, it’s fine to have a mop-up man to soak up garbage innings. But there is zero need to have two of them. I’ll grant you one of Tomko/Veras, but there’s absolutely no reason why they should both be on the roster at this point.

As for Berroa PHing for Pena…he’s a terrible hitter and a terrible fielder. He may run into a fastball once in a blue moon, but overall he has no value as a bench player.
- LiveFromNewYork
  
  Agree with all.
- http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
  
  You misunderstand our point. Berroa does not serve as the pinch hitter for Ramiro Pena, Hideki Matsui does as he would be on the bench when ARod is the DH. Berroa’s purpose is to play third base after Pena is PH for. Without Berroa, the Yanks can not PH for Pena in a high-leverage situation. I’m sorry, but having an extra Quad-A outfielder is not more of a serviceable use of a roster spot when both Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner are hitting at above-average and average levels, respectively.
  - UWS
    
    Well, yes, I agree. Ideally, you want to replace Berroa with an actual infielder.
    - http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
      
      Yeah, we agree on that, but who is actually a better option than Angel Berroa at this point in the organization? That’s why I like Berroa on the team for this purpose and the odd-man out when Xavier Nady makes his return.
SP

21.. if you count the rarely used Chien-Ming Wang
Rob

Veras and Berroa are a waste, that much is certain. But leave Kontos out of the conversation. He is having a great season as a starter at SWB and you want to bring him up and have him fill a seat at the end of the bullpen. So much for developing young players!

The Yankees are 16-5, right. That’s pretty damn good in my opinion.

Quit whining and complaining about the end of the lineup and enjoy the rest of the team.

Sometimes I wonder why I waste my time reading RAB trash!
- UWS
  
  Sometimes we wonder why you bother to comment if you hate it so much. There’s a lot of other blogs if this one is not to your liking.
  - http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ The Artist
    
    Seriously, its not like there aren’t a zillion other Yankee blogs out there. Find one who has a take that matches you own, if you’re not intellectually curious enough to listen to people who have a different take on things.
- 27 this year
  
  you really think Kontos is ever going to be more than a reliever. He is like Phil Coke but righty and just as old really. He is nothing more than a middle reliever/spot starter in emergencies. He isn’t like a young starter with any real potential.
http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ The Artist

steve (different one) brought up an interesting question, but I want to make a separate post out of it.

“Bruney will replace Veras or Tomko.”

Which one? If you have to choose right now between the two, which one do you keep? The Veteran who’s pitched reasonably well or the younger guy with more upside?

What makes this question great is that in BOTH cases, Veras and Tomko, you will lose the player if you send them down.
- http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ The Artist
  
  My answer is that this is an easy one, I keep Tomko. I’ll take performance over upside any day of the week.
- Jeremy
  
  It’s a good question albeit one I wouldn’t lose sleep over. I get rid of Veras. Even last year, when he was supposedly so good, he allowed way too many baserunners.
- JGS
  
  Veras, probably–he is 28 years old and has a pretty good upside. Then again, the Nats released Daniel Cabrera for pretty much the same reason the Yankees would be cutting ties with Veras–has anyone picked him up?
  
  Tomko would probably clear waivers
  - http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ The Artist
    
    Exactly, that’s the guy who came to mind for me too. Cabrera and Veras have a lot in common. They both have great arms, they both have no idea where the ball is going and they’re both absolute blockheads who only know to attack, but not how to think out on the mound.
    - JGS
      
      yup–I think the Nats GM said he was just tired of watching Cabrera pitch.
      
      If only Cashman would say something like that
      - steve (different one)
        
        i agree, if only the yankee FO was more like the nationals.
http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ The Artist

Every bullpen has a pecking order, what do you think ours is right now?

I’ll say
Mo
Aceves
Coke
Tomko

and then a mish-mash of garbage time guys looking for a promotion with Wang, Veras and Robertson.
- Mike HC
  
  The pecking order is Mo or hope we have a seven run lead.
- Jake S
  
  Dealin’ Dave should be higher on that list.
http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ Mike Francesa

Dis here is my bullpen:

Mo
Joba
Joba
Joba
Joba
Joba
Joba
- http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/profile.php?id=594331910&ref=name Jamal G.
  
  “Joba”? Since when did you learn how to pronounce his name correctly?
  - http://www.theyankeeuniverse.com/ The Artist
    
    I suck.
Michael

1) 14-3 last 17. Let’s start there.
2) Biggest problem at this point is getting CMW regular use to build up his arm strength. While I love Melancon, and believe that HE will be the 8th inning reliver either late this year or next year, bringing him up now, and needing to find him regular innings as well would be problematic. Let Melancon hone his craft at AAA, and only bring him up when he has a legit shot of sticking.
3) Good point with the above on the 2nd infielder. Additionally, Nady will take Berroa’s roster spot in about a week. Why would you want to purchase the contract of Duncan only to be forced to expose him to waivers in a week’s time?
4) On Veras, there is little reason to release him at this point when he has the potential to pitch much better. Use him in blowouts. Work with him on the side. His delivery has a lot of moving parts, and he was effective last year. I agree that Melancon would do better right now, but it isn’t in the best interests of the NYY, or either player to make that move now.
5) Patience, patience, patience. 14-3 last 17; first place by 1.5 games.
- Mike HC
  
  I don’t understand the attitude that just because we are winning, that means we should not attempt to improve. The team is playing really well right now, but there is some room for improvement at the end of the roster. I say we should attempt to improve those spots, and not be content with the underachievers.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
  
  Patience? I’m not saying blow up the lineup, change the starting pitchers. I don’t want to impact the guys actually contributing to the team. I’m saying take the three guys who are dead weight and swap them out for something that isn’t.
  
  The Nady-for-Berroa point is a fine one. So forget Shelley. We’ll wave goodbye to Berroa when Nady is activated. But swapping out someone who will pitch better than Veras should be on the top of the Yanks’ priority list.
  - steve (different one)
    
    We’ll wave goodbye to Berroa when Nady is activated. But swapping out someone who will pitch better than Veras should be on the top of the Yanks’ priority list.
    
    fair enough.
  - bg90027
    
    Veras has stunk this year. You could have made a similar argument for jettisoning Bruney a few years back though and I think we’re glad that they didn’t. Right now, he’s not costing us games or causing us to abuse the other guys so I don’t really have a problem with them keeping him on the roster and trying to get him in games where we have a big lead to try to turn things around. If it starts costing us games then I think they’d be forced to let him go. He’s probably on a short leash though anyway as you’d have to think if he hasn’t turned it around before Bruney is ready, he’d be the one to go. I’m not a big believer in Tomko but he throws strikes and hasn’t pitched that bad. He’s also an arm they could abuse if they needed innings. There’s some value in having a guy like that on the roster. I really wouldn’t lose any sleep if they made all the moves you suggested but its just less clear to me that they really need to do anything now given that we know other moves are coming when Bruney, Nady and Marte are ready. The bigger question is how they get Wang fixed.
AndrewYF

Mark DeRosa will replace Angel Berroa on the roster.
- Mike Pop
  
  In exchange for George Kontos?
http://www.retire21.org Mike R. – Retire 21

We can fully expect a multi HR game from Berroa and a Shutout from Tomko now.
Bonos

Actually Ransom the best athlete, the best defensive 3B on the Yankees, will replace Berroa. He won’t cost prospects and much cash. How soon people forget.
- Accent Shallow
  
  Ransom wasn’t exactly Brooks Robinson earlier in the year.
  
  The sooner A-Rod no longer needs a caddy, and there’s only one UTIF on the bench, the better.
Mike

yes we have basically 3 dead spots on this roster. I would love to have Mark up here but then again i dont want Joe with him because he wont use him and he needs work. I think they are waiting on Shelley because they have so many players right now who might need to DH w Matsui, maybe Jorge, and Nady depending on what he can do when he comes back. If he can play the outfield then you might see Shelley get a call up to be a bat off the bench.
Januz

There are some people who are so negative towards Cashman and this team, that if we traded Veras, Marte and Berroa to Boston for Papplebon, they would be critical of the trade saying we gave too much up, and demand Joba stop starting because we need him to pitch the 7th.
I honestly do not see any major moves, if they were willing to play a month without Alex Rodriguez, then they would be willing to not use Joba as a set up man and (or) mortgage the future on trading for middle inning pitchers. Instead, you will see Bruney, Melancon, and Marte to trplace the likes of Tomho and Veras.
beefy

Are we positive Shelley Duncan is out of options? If I remember correctly, he signed a new contract with the Yanks at the beginning of the year after he was DFA’d, so it is possible options were included.
I do like Shelley and the fact that he plays both corners and first base, I think he can be very important to the team next year. I can see him having a Ryan Ludwick type influence. (I’m stretching with that last sentence.)
http://deleted RollingWave

While I have no faith in Bombko myself. I must say that he doesn’t really deserve to be lobbed together with Berroa and Veras right now. at least Tomko for his career keeps his BB/9 under 3. which is fairly good. (he doesn’t whiff anyone either though). he also doesn’t have the dubious title of being the worest everyday player of the year like Berroa did a few years ago for KC.
Charlie

Great post, I agree with everything written. I’ve been hoping and pushing for the yanks to make some kind of move to improve their bench and bullpen but at this point I don’t know if Cashman ever will. Arod looks perfectly fine 2 months removed from surgery, rendering Berroa useless, Veras just flat out sucks, and Tomko is a 36 year old nobody who shouldn’t be trusted.
Some call me…Nick

Why do people keep saying Duncan for Berroa? It would be Duncan for Veras(or)Tomko. Our pen gets rightsized with the loss of a guy we don’t want to use in exchange for some pop off the bench. However, if he’s out of options I can see not risking him, because losing another oufielder would be pretty scary to me!

Let me make this antagonistic statement, then y’all flame away:
There are starter and closer spots on thepitching part of the (big league) roster. For the remainder, there are a mix of filler relievers, and they should be one of two types: veterans who can’t start but are better than the rest of your ‘surplus’ pen, and young guys trying to earn or prove their way into that group.

Youngins who are developing need regular innings and more intense coaching. If coaches think they’re ready for better hitters, they get three chances to be right or work through it, and then somebody else gets a try.
Nick

Why have a twelve man pen when you have 3 potential long relievers (Wang, Coke, and Aceves)plus a bunch of starters who are now pitching deep into games. As long as Wang is in the pen, I believe the yanks could go with a ten man pen. The two extra bench guys could give some rest to aging/recovering starters.

Even when Wang goes back to the rotation, there is no need for a twelve man pen.

DFA both Veras and Tomko…not sure who to fill the extra spots with…maybe Bernier (for IF depth) and Miranda/Duncan?
- Steve
  
  Bernier isn’t even starting in the minors. The Yankees need to DFA Marte, Molina, Tomko and Cash. I don’t think people will understand why Marte, but he really isn’t good. He will never get better. The injury didn’t cause his bad pitching.
http://lennysyankees.blogspot.com lenNY’s Yankees

I agree with the send-downs, but a little unsure about who to call up. Duncan, I do agree with. He’s got 18 homers! The Yankees have Kontos and Melancon doing very well, but they are both prized prospects and I don’t think the Yanks should call them up too early.

I think Kei Igawa’s latest surge is worthy of a call up. In his last six starts, he’s only given up six runs. Also, what about Zach Kroenke? He’s 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA as a reliever.
Bill

I think all you guys are being too tough on Veras. He did well last year and definitely looked like a keeper then. He’s got a live fastball, I’d like to know whats going on with him, why the sudden dropoff in ability. Perhaps its something mechanical, but I wouldn’t just give up on a guy with 96 mph fastball. Tomko is another matter. I understand the argument for keeping Berroa around as a second utility infielder and there is something to be said for that. However I’d love to see Duncan again, I’d like to give him a chance especially as his numbers in AAA justify it. Maybe management has lost all confidence in him though.
- http://lennysyankees.blogspot.com lenNY’s Yankees
  
  in triple-a he can get away with throwing fastballs right down the middle. In the majors, he is punished. He definitely needs to work out some kinks with control.
FINY

6pound8ouncebabyjoba posted this exact idea last night haha
anonymous

Ben,

The guys at 6 pound 8 ounce baby Joba wrote along the same lines earlier today, saying we should get rid of Tomko, Veras, and Berroa and bring up Melancon, Zach Kroenke, and either Shelley, Todd Linden, or John Rodriguez. I saw the link to your article at MLBTR right after I read the one at 6P8OBJ and i honestly thought you had just stolen the idea. Im pretty sure you didn’t but anyways, you should check out their post too.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Joseph Pawlikowski
  
  Honestly thought he stole the idea? Is it unfathomable that two people came to the same conclusion that the Yankees should, um, do something about the three worst players on their roster?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
  
  The next time I read 6P8OBJ will be the first time.
  - TimNYC
    
    Dude, 6P8OBJ is actually a pretty good read…most of the time. It aint “unfathomable” to think that two ppl came up with the same idea…just funny cuz it was like 8 hours apart. haha. Dude Joe, if you read one article and then saw an article with the same topic the first thing you would think was that it was stolen too. I mean duh, it wasn’t stolen, and its a common idea, i think that ppl were just pointing out the fact it was ironic that 2 blogs posted the same idea in the same day. And Ben, you should get to that next time, because they’ve had some pretty good articles recently. Like Kevin’s post on the ’10 roster today.
    - http://www.riveraveblues.com Benjamin Kabak
      
      Alright. If you are going to continue to accuse us of stealing content, I’ll fill you in: I wrote this piece and finished it a good 90 minutes before the 6P8OBJ piece went up. I have the emails to Joe and Mike to prove it if you want to see it.
MeghanLovestheYankees

I saw that too. I doubt Ben stole the idea though…
http://www.keeperleaguegm.com KeeperLeagueGM

I don’t understand the fascination with Shelley Duncan. In 23 games last season he hit exactly 1 HR with a 542 OPS (and -defense)

He’s a prototypical AAAA player…one who might offer the Pirates, Mariners, or even D’Backs some value…but the Yankees? No way. Especially if Nady is going to be available to hit only.

What the Yankeees lack is middle infield utility help. Berroa is worthless, and while I like Pena, you need another bench guy to spell Jeter, ARod and Cano.

Veras shouldn’t be DFA’d. He’s not Farnsworth…scary yes; inconsistent yes; but he has stuff…it should be up to the coaching staff to recognize whether his curve can get over on any given day. When it’s on he’s a guaranteed hold. If not…well then sit him down.

To me, Tomko and Berroa should be replaced…likely by Melachon and a utility player TBNL (DeRosa?)
Bob Michaels

Play Duncan instead of Swisher. Have Nady split the DH Role with Matsui.Relief pitchers just have to throw strikes.
giovanni

look at duncan’s numbers in AAA!!

.304
HR:
18
RBI:
49

bring that man up!
Gary

Kim Jones can come ’round my house anytime she wants to and put a jinx on me and I’ll take my chances.