A look at trade deadlines past: 2006
ByWe continue our look at the New York Yankees trade deadline moves with 2006. You can check out the 2005 version here.
Lay of the land
After a tumultuous beginning to the 2005 season, the Yankees were in a much better position in 06. At 52-36 they were just a game and a half back of the Red Sox on July 15, and owned the AL’s fourth best record (remember, the Tigers were on pace for 110 wins at that point). Their pitching was much better, even though Carl Pavano, in the second year of his four-year commitment, hadn’t thrown a pitch.
Chien-Ming Wang was emerging as the team’s best pitcher. Mike Mussina had a torrid first half, going 10-3 with a 3.24 ERA in his contract year. Randy Johnson, despite an ERA in tatters, was still getting enough run support to win games. Even Jaret Wright was pitching well enough to be a fifth starer.
The problem was that one hole in the rotation. Shawn Chacon went downhill after taking a line drive off the shin. At the time, Darrell Rasner, freshly plucked off waivers from the Nats earlier in the year, was having some issues and couldn’t come up. In an apparent desperation move to fill a rotation spot, the Yanks signed Sidney Ponson on July 14. That should show their pitching troubles.
In the bullpen, things were a bit better. Mike Myers wasn’t all that bad. Scott Proctor had emerged as Torre’s seventh inning guy. Kyle Farnsworth, in the first season of his three-year deal, was disappointing. Tanyon Sturtze had bombed. Ron Villone was pitching well after sitting dormant for much of the first half. The Yanks were trying various options, including Sean Henn, though not much was sticking. Hell, even Scott Erickson got into nine games.
The look of the offense, though, was a bit more bleak. Hideki Matsui went down in May with a broken wrist and wouldn’t be back until at least September. Gary Sheffield had surgery on his forearm, and it was uncertain if he’d ever be back. The Yanks were running an outfield of Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, and Bernie Williams. It wasn’t the worst, but neither Melky nor Bernie had a lot of power. Things had gotten bad enough that the Yanks signed Terrence Long.
Cashman’s moves
July started slowly for Brian Cashman. The Phillies were demanding Phil Hughes in exchange for Bobby Abreu, which was simply out of the question. Still, Cash made a few under the radar moves, picking up Brian Bruney as a free agent after the Diamondbacks released him, and selecting Aaron Guiel off waivers. Nothing groundbreaking, but again part of Cashman’s strategy to pick up some low risk guys.
In the last week of July, Cash made his move. It started small, trading a nothing prospect to Philly for Sal Fasano. Ed Wade and Cashman would hook up four days later, as Philly sent Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle to New York for C.J. Henry, Matt Smith (who hadn’t yet allowed a run out of the bullpen), and a couple others. It was a clear case of the Yankees taking on salary so they wouldn’t have to send real prospects in a trade. In one swoop Cashman had added his fourth starter and his starting right fielder.
The next day he capped the deadline activity by trading the floundering Shawn Chacon to the Pirates for Craig Wilson, who was to shore up the bench. That didn’t exactly work out, but there was no downside to the trade. A half month later, however, the Yanks made perhaps their worst move by releasing Carlos Pena. Clearly they didn’t foresee his looming breakout season, or else they would have called him up to replace Andy Phillips at first. Plus, who knows if he would have done anything in 06. He was, after all, in the minors for a reason. The Red Sox made a similar judgment.
How it all turned out
There were mixed results with the pitchers, but Cashman scored a bit win with Abreu, who tore it up with a .926 OPS. That helped shore up the outfield, though it would create a logjam later when Gary Sheffield insisted on coming back in late September. Best of all, Abreu gave them an instant replacement for Sheffield, who was going to depart after the season anyway. Aaron Guiel was also a modest success, though nothing to brag about.
Lidle didn’t hold down that fourth rotation spot like they’d hoped, but both Rasner and Jeff Karstens contributed down the stretch. Bruney was a hit in his 19 appearances, allowing just two runs. He did walk 15 in 20.2 innings, which was a sign of things to come for 2007. Still, he helped out a shaky bullpen, which was pretty much without Ron Villone come September.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Abreu acquisition. It powered the Yankees through August, including the glorious five-game sweep of the Red Sox which effectively buried them. The Yanks ran away with the division, winning 97 games and finishing 11 games ahead of second-place Toronto. They actually finished ahead of the Tigers, who blew the division to the Twins at the end. That led to a Yanks-Tigers matchup, and we all know what happened there.
Next up is 2007, another season in which the Yankees started off slowly and had a few needs at the deadline.
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Wow, totally forgot about Erickson (thankfully)
Next up is
2007The Year of the ARod, another season in which the Yankees started off slowly and had a few needs at the deadline.“The Year of the ARod”
http://www.geocities.com/jyrof.....rously.jpg (safe)
Mel Gibson > Fabio
Fabio has sugar tits and is responsible for all the wars in the world.
That was a crazy year. I missed the first half because I was in Lpndon, and when I came back everyone at work (all Mets fans) kept teasing me because the Mets were in first place.
And then September happened.
What about Matt Lawton?
My bad…that was 2005.
It’s all good, you’re still my ninja.
Aw….Group hug.
Craig Wilson makes Cody Ransom look like AROD!
And this movie is gonna make House Party look like House Party 2!
Craig Wilson was maddening to watch on defense. He’d often plant the wrong foot on the base when covering first, which meant he’d have to step off if the throw wasn’t dead on. Always plant the foot on your throwing side, not your glove side. I’m amazed someone can make it to the majors and not know that.
I’ll never forget that sweep of Boston, it happened the weekend I moved into college and I had “Go Yankees Sweep the Sox” written on my dry erase board on my door. Can’t believe that was 3 years ago.
2007 was a pretty cool year until the playoffs hit. Great A-Rod year, dramtic comeback, some great games vs. the Red Sox. Until the playoffs hit it was fun.
fucking midges
This year too has been a blast with all the walkoffs and close games we won, the dramtic A-Rod HR, Mo’s 500th and RBI, and now in first place. Except for (so far) the Red Sox debacle, this year has been a blast, this team is fun to watch.
Hey, leave Dustin Pedroia out of this!
Oh, you said “midges”. My bad, I thought you said something else. Nevermind.
That one earned a +50.
Man we have seen a lot of crappy players pass thru the the Bronx. Andy Phillips, Josh Phelps, Clay Bellinger, Enrique Wilson (except when he faced Pedro)lol
clay bellinger has multiple world series rings. let that soak in.
“hey, i’m clay bellinger, wanna see my world series rings?”
ps when i went to spring training in march of 1999 i traveled around and saw a bunch of games and saw clay bellinger make multiple errors on one batted ball at least twice. My dad and I knew he wasn’t going to make it and he became the butt of our jokes. And somehow, he’s got rings.
Sure, Clay Bellinger has world series rings, but is he as ruggedly handsome and irresistible to the ladies as Andy Phillips is? I don’t think so. Andy Phillips is way more awesome than Clay Bellinger, no doubt about it.
Sincerely,
Demi Delia
“Andy Stankewicz says:
Man we have seen a lot of crappy players pass thru the the Bronx.”
I guess irony can be pretty ironic sometimes…
Wow, ironic being used to describe irony. Now isn’t that ironic.
No, I’m pretty sure it’s not.
When in Rome..
Yes, go on…
I think it is. Irony can be ironic. That’s ironic.
Yeah, I think so. Probably. Definitely sort of.
Huh?
Fate can play a strange game sometimes, Lieutenant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywvF71tRR2c (safe)
True he has rings but somehow that doesnt escape him from being a crappy player, lol Its amazing even the club house attendent gets a ring!
LOL I guess irony can be pretty ironic sometimes…
I still rememer when I took over for Pat Kelly!
http://i435.photobucket.com/al.....tton-1.jpg
Well, I remembered when you spelled your name right, Stankiewicz, and when you took over for Alvaro Espinoza because you were a shortstop.
Can we really cut Joba off after 40 or more innings, when he’s just starting to dominate? How on earth are they gonna pull that off??
pat on the butt and a good job kid go get em next year.
Can we really
cut Joba off after 40 or more inningsremember how savvy that Abreu and Lidle trade made Cashman look back in 2006, when he’s just starting todominategear up for another trade deadline? How on earthare theyis Cashman gonna pullthatanother heist off??Fixed that for ya.
Big Abreu fan over here; that was such a good signing for the Angels
Yeah, but they lucked out with that signing. He’s magically been rejuvenated defensively for no explicable reason. He had been an Adam Dunn level traveshamockery in the field for half a decade, and now all of a sudden he’s ranging around and vacuuming shit up like he’s Raul Mondesi or something out there.
They bought low and caught lightning in a bottle. Kudos for them. I’m still glad we didn’t reup him, though.
I’m glad we didn’t resign him.
“… and now all of a sudden he’s ranging around and vacuuming shit up like he’s Raul Mondesi or something out there.”
Well I don’t know if I’d go that far, but yeah, he’s been better this year. (blushes)
He’s still tied for most errors by an AL RFer and has the third lowest ZR amongst AL RFers, which is less a testament to how even an improved Abreu is not necessarily a good Abreu and more a testament to how awful he was in the past (since this year he has improved and is still not so great).
That.
(And yeah, I figured I should throw you a bone. Seeing as how you’ve been begging for my bone for so long and all.)
Clown.
I got nothing else, I’ve been reduced to Pinstripe Destiny-ing you. He showed up last night and I hit him with a “CLOWN!” response, which was fun, but it didn’t get him riled up enough to respond to me like a crazy person, which was disappointing.
(And now I’ll walk away, muttering.)
Heh.
Now I have to go peruse the gamethread and see the convo.
I’ll find it, hold on…
Ok got it:
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-502183
No reaction, though, which would have been more fun.
Of course there’s no reaction. He just shows up, spouts some negative bullshit, usually calling TSJC a clown, and leaves.
Yeah… I don’t know why, but I find it fascinating. It’s like he sits there calmly reading and then just explodes in these one-off comments. It’s awesome.
Full disclosure: This is what I look like in person:
http://tinyurl.com/tommieinreallife (safe)
Is this defensive analysis based on watching him play on a regular basis or his UZR ? Just out of curiosity
Bit of both.
there has been talk that we move him to bullpen after a couple more starts. Keith Law this morning mentioned that he thinks we should use Joba for 5 inning, 80 pitch kind of starts from here on out to keep his innings down. If we use Hughes as a pair with Joba for this, I think that could work out quite well.
Does replying to off topic posts counts as going off topic? =(
We have a whole thread for Joba. A whole thread. And you go off-topic on this one, which has exactly nothing to do with Joba?
Please stop. I’m not as vehement about Ben as on-topic posts, but this is an egregious offense.
at least he wears pants. we hope.
I bet they don’t cut Joba off. Not totally, and no bullpen. I’m thinking they just keep starting him, but use him gingerly, and, if possible, skip starts occasionally.
With Wang out and nothing looming in the pipeline, I’m not sure they’ll “risk” using a AAA pitcher to finish out the year.
2006 was a satisfying season…regular season I mean. I really thought that was the year they would win Jeter’s 5th. Damn Angels.
I like the way you made an attempt there at the end to bring it back on topic. Golf clap.
Sorry for the size of the photo:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FJKP.....lfClap.gif
Damn Tigers?
Man, when I remember the teams of yore, I realize that this team is the best in years. I mean, especially in the BP. I know they’ve had some problems with it this year with injury, but all in all it’s been good, and last year it was even better. Shows that Cash learned it’s best to build a BP with farmhands/prospects that are interchangeable. And not by signing Ron Villone and Krazy Kyle.
This is a great series, Joe. You guys have been pumping out unreal content lately, with the overworked post, the Drabek post, and others. Y’all are blogging like Joba’s pitching right now.
Joba, Mike, Joe, and Ben are all hotter than Roger Clemens’s balls.
“Clemens doesn’t have balls anymore.” – Brian McNamee
It’s amazing how many crappy role players come and go.
just as there’s a reason bullpen pitchers aren’t starters there is a reason role players aren’t starters. but I don’t need to tell you that since I assume this was sarcasm….or at least meant to be humorous…
Yes there it, these posts have just been a trip down memory lane, remembering the likes of Guiel, Wilson, and Fasano
We gonna get an open thread for the deadline today?