May
28
Yankees designate Randy Winn for assignment
ByI didn’t expect it, but the Yankees designated Randy Winn for assignment today, clearing room on the roster for Curtis Granderson, who’s been activated off the disabled list. “I was ready, I was prepared,” said Winn. “I played terrible, that’s the bottom line.”
Winn didn’t do much of anything during his short time in pinstripes, except for hitting that three run homer a few weeks back. Otherwise, he’s been a zero with the bat and hasn’t played enough to make a difference on defense. The Yanks still owe Winn the $1.1M his contract calls for, but he didn’t reach any of the incentives.
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thank you for keeping the spot warm for Russo, Winn. My best to you.
Can’t be easy for the guy. Good luck Winn.
what’d you expect the yanks to do, mike…russo?
http://riveraveblues.com/2010/.....ena-29196/
thanks, but that’s from ben
Ah, whoops. My b.
Wow good for russo
He was terrible, but seems like a nice guy. I wish him all the best unless he ends up on a team that plays the Yankees =P
I hope the Yankees aren’t overreacting to a few nice games by Russo, I gotta say. Not that Winn was really offering much.
Yeah, he’s a nice guy. I was rooting for him and he couldn’t perform.
At least he’ll get a fancy ring come next April.
Russo handled AAA and AA pitching pretty well the past two years. Doesn’t have power, but he’s a utility guy. I don’t think this is based on a few games.
Yeah, he was a guy I rooted for, I didn’t like the signing in the first place…but I started to like him more as the season went on. I hope he finds a nice landing spot, preferably in the NL as a bench role on a decent team.
I’m shocked. Somewhat pleased, but shocked.
wow thats incredibly shocking
thought it would be russo who would be sent down
thanks for your serive mr winn, we wish you well and hope to send you a championship ring sometime in may 2011
Russo, Pena, Moeller, and Miranda Scranton representing.
I seem to recall a live chat in spring training, some beat writer said Winn wouldnt be DFA’d b4 july although i thought he was
me = 1 RAB = 0
I seem to remember no one at RAB being a beat writer!
Me 1, You 0
mwahahahaha!
Didn’t Winn hit that 3 run homer against the Orioles?
Good guy whose skills diminished. All the best to him.
yea, he seemed to be a nice guy who was far enough past his prime and the young guys had passed him by
Class Act and a great guy.
it just didn’t work…
Cue the Johnny Damon idiots.
You have NO IDEA how many people I’ve seen at other sites bitching about why we “replaced” Damon with Winn. lolno
That news shocks me. It just doesn’t seem to fit the Yank braintrust’s M.O. But I don’t think it’s a bad move. With Granderson back there’s no need for late-inning defensive replacements and if the Yanks trust their AAA depth to spot injuries more power to them.
I think it sort of does. They go with the veteran until he finally proves that he’s not going to help the team. I think the Yankees gave up on Winn about 4 days ago when Russo began starting ahead of him.
Agreed, Chris. Also there new MO is to build a good portion of the team from the farm and this fits that perfectly.
their, not there
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Seriously though, I hope the guy finds work I just did not enjoy him on my favorite team…at all.
awwwwwwwww…poor Randy..I’m not shocked though
brendog fail. i said there was no way they do this. shows how much i know.
I think D-Opp and Cash finally have a fully operational Deathstar/farm system!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Kevin Russo is currently hitting .250/.286/.350 with questionable outfield defense, right?
YOU’RE WRONG.
(No, not really.)
But is your point that Winn provides more value as the 4th outfielder or…?
No, though I think the (likely) small upgrade Russo would provide isn’t worth him not developing as a Hairston/Derosa super-sub type of guy in the minors. If there was an injury I’d want Russo getting regular AB’s over Winn, but not as a 4th or even 5th OF.
Ah, there you go. Rose would’ve been all “I’m just pointing it out, I’m not trying to say anything negative!”
Isn’t it possible they decided ~600 ABs at Scranton was enough for Russo? He’s almost 26, there’s only so much developing a guy can do.
Defensively I think he needs to get reps all over the field.
Again, you get thousands of times more reps fielding fungos than you do in games.
Mark DeRosa never once played OF in a minor league game. He was a SS primarily, which seperates him from Russo. Hairston never played OF in a minor league game until he was 29.
600 AB’s is great. That’s not at all the point.
13 games in the OF over the past 5 years.
BTW, that doesn’t include AFL games, but I’m sure he wasn’t getting a ton of reps there either.
That’s true, I was just responding to the “getting regular ABs” part in the original comment. And like I said, I think he’ll be up for 4-6 weeks max anyway.
Yeah, just think there was a better way to go with this, and people have been overvaluing Russo’s performance so far because of one or two timely hits.
I don’t think Russo necessarily has a permanent place in the majors just yet. I’m sure if/when they trade for a Hinske-type, he’ll be sent back down. I don’t think it hurts THAT much for him to miss out on 70 or so at bats in the meantime.
Completely agree with this. If that’s how it plays out, it’s 100% fine to me.
He’s got a full season of AAA under his belt and handled AA and AAA pitching the last two years. At 25 I feel like the Yankees might as well get a look at how he handles ML pitching. I just don’t think a few balls hit his way every game will improve his defense as much as drills which can be done as easily in the majors as minors.
No one is basing anything on a few at bats. This is the 5th year Russo’s been in the Yankees’ system. They know what they’re dealing with. I’m quite sure the front office doesn’t just ignore players until they hit the majors. His AAA OBP is above .380… let’s see if the kid can hit ML pitching. If nothing else you might raise his trade value.
You are very correct. This comment does however reek of Rose-style passive-aggressiveness.
I actually think Russo’s outfield defense is pretty good. Certainly better than what Winn has shown in the outfield thus far. I liked bringing him in before the season started because he was a veteran not too far away from productive seasons, and mostly because he was supposedly good defensively. He has been horrible, by my estimation.
“I actually think Russo’s outfield defense is pretty good. Certainly better than what Winn has shown in the outfield thus far.”
That’s probably because you have 2 or 3 plays stuck in your head. Like Drew said above, Russo has 13 games in the OF over 5 years.
That doesn’t mean he can’t be a good OFer. He may have worked on his OF skills in practice and the offseason for years. He may just be a naturally decent OF. It’s not easy, but being a passable MLB OFer defensively isn’t the hardest thing in the world. Catch the ball, throw the ball.
“Catch the ball, throw the ball.”
Not to say that’s all there is to it, but if you get that part right you’re better than some ML OFers.
I didnt say he can’t be a good OFer, I’m saying after a week I’m not going to say he’s been better in the OF compared to Winn- who has a decade of seeing how the ball comes off the bat, how ball bounces off walls, where the throw should go, how to properly line up a fly ball to prepare for a throw, etc.
That stuff isnt learned over night.
Me thinks Golson will be our 4th OF in a few days. Russo needs to get consistent reps in the OF, down in Scranton.
I could see that happening.
Cant say this is surprising at all considering Russo had been starting in LF over Winn even against RHP the past few games.
Too bad this isn’t Boston, we could have seen a nice smear campaign about Winn.
He was getting in ahhguments in the lawker room! Why I choose to repohht this now is nan of you-uh business!
Granderson is back FTW!
na na na na hey na na na na hey hey hey hey goodbye WINN!
Honestly, as much as Winn sucked, I think this is the wrong move. Russo only had 21 plate appearances so he is still unproven. I hope he continues hitting well and best of luck to Russo. I am all for farm players but this on a SSS.
Incorrect. In a SSS in the MLB he’s been poor, actually. The Yankees are not basing this on his MLB at bats as much as they are on his MiLB at bats. Last season and so far this season he’s had a combined AAA OBP above .380. He was still playing even though he wasn’t in the Bronx, and you can believe that the Yankees weren’t ignoring him while he was in Scranton.
I’m sorry but AAA and The majors are completely different monsters. Look at Melancon, he pitches well in AAA and bad in the majors. Winn at least had some major league success.
YES! Melancon and his 20 innings.
THE YANKEES WENT CHEAP AND R PAYING THE PRICE!
They went cheap with their 4th OF?
writing in all caps doesn’t make you any less wrong.
I’m a little shocked, but I like the move. I guess the Yankees made room in their “budget” to dump 1.1 million for a bit of an upgrade on someone who is going to be riding the bench most of time anyway.
Yankees + budget= Laughable.
yeah it was a total bluff when they said they weren’t going to sign holliday/damon/etc.
Holliday wasn’t needed and if they would of waited Damon out they would of been a lot happier then with Mr “DFA” Winn (1.1 million) and Mr. “ER” Johnson (5.5 Million). Sometimes when Cashman’s tries to save a penny he ends wasting more.
I forgot NJ was the OBP Jesus to bad that this is true:
“Because the only OBP he’s got right now is On Bench Percentage. ”
Love that line.
Ehhh…while Johnson was significantly more injury prone in the past than Matsui or Damon, when healthy he was quite a bit better than either of them, especially if given a park that’s HR friendly to LHH. I see the logic, I liked bringing back Nicky Sticks.
Key words: “WHEN HEALTHY”
But he never seems to be.
I swear NJ has made a career out of those two words.
Johnny Damon said himself to SI that he was NOT taking a 40% pay cut, he wasn’t coming back dude.
Pete,
Hope you are keeping track of our little bet.
LOL
Well if someone picks up Winn, they pay him the minimum for the rest of the season. That minimum is taken out of what the Yankees owe him, and pays for Russo’s contract the rest of the season.
If it happens, but very good point.
But to that end they are still paying the 1.1 million I guess for Russo if Winn is covering his salary.
I don’t anyone thinks that Russo is worth that.
the winn signing wasn’t about making the team better. it was about cashman trying to be cute and play games with boras instead of working out a deal that worked for both sides.
I doubt Boras is foolish enough to think that Winn and Damon had anything to do with each other. Winn was signed as a 4th outfielder, there was never any pretense of him starting.
good teammate. decent outfielder, terrible swing. Let’s face it if Russo can’t keep up he’s gone too.
[...] some debate, Randy Winn was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Granderson. Shane Lindsay was designated for assignment and Boone [...]