Sherman: Yankees expected to bottom-feed for rotation depth
ByVia Joel Sherman: Expect the Yankees to bottom-feed for rotation depth later in the offseason (January or February), meaning a Freddy Garcia-type on a “prove yourself” contract. Sherman suggests Dallas Braden, who is coming off two shoulder surgeries and hasn’t pitched since April 2011, but he has a bit of a history with the Yankees and it ain’t good.
The free agent market is littered with reclamation-type starters, guys who will presumably take a minor league contract. Someone like Tim Stauffer (a personal fave), Jonathan Sanchez, Kevin Correia, or even former Yankees Dustin Moseley and (gasp!) Carl Pavano could fit the bill. With Hiroki Kuroda back in the fold and Andy Pettitte hopefully on his way back as well, the Yankees would have Ivan Nova and David Phelps as their fifth and sixth starters (in whatever order) with Michael Pineda theoretically on the way at midseason. Signing a veteran to stash in Triple-A for the first few weeks of the season seems more like a necessity than a luxury, actually.





Kevin Correia is straight up trash. Want nothing to do with that guy. Can’t even cut it in the NL Central
Fans are going to bottom-feed too.
Fans no come to Scranton!
Catcher Position – 200 hitting Bottom Feeder
Center Field – 200 Strikeout .300 obp Bottom Feeder
Left Field – The injury prone AAA player Gardner Bottom Feeder
Right Field – The cycle of bench warmers to play one position bottom feeders
DH – The endless cycle of .200 hitters bottom feeders
More then %50 of the Yankees lineup hits under .250 how anyone could spend any money on tickets and going to games is crazy.
Your 2013 Ny Yankees
1. Jeter
2. Bust
3. Cano
4. Arod
5. Tex just about a bust now
DH. bust
LF. BUst
RF. bust
CF. bust
C. bust
The collection of bench players finally made this team what it really is one and done and a cycle of utter crap.
I’m surprised you didn’t include Arod in the “bust” category too. That one seemed obvious.
why is it u get but the others do not….the yankees are on a budget…189.
Bottom feeder bottom feeder bottom feeder. Does anyone else bottom feeder? Bottom feeder BOTTOM FEEDER bottom feeder.
In conclusion, bottom feeder. Yankees suck.
SIncerely yours,
Bottom Feeder.
I’d rather go with Brett Marshall – shoot, I’d rather go with Thurgood Marshall than any of those guys.
Marshall is not ready to go yet, I’d rather let him get 10-15 starts at AAA before throwing him to the wolves in the AL East. Any of these guys we sign would be slated as the seventh starter (CC, Hirok, Hughes, Nova, Phelps, Warren, 8th if Pettitte returns), so it would be an emergency only kind of thing. Let one of these re-treads make the emergency start and don’t stunt Marshall’s development by throwing him in there too early.
Lol, I understand that Justice Sonia Sotomayor may be available.
Sign Braden and put his locker next to ARod’s. Film ensuing hijinks.
Excuse me, the New York Yankees bottom feeders? What’s next, a fire sale? This is ridiculous. You either use the kids as depth or you go out there and get a starter that’s worth a damn. Phelps is the 6th starter with Pineda returning in June. But go ahead and sign Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner and see how well that goes the second time around.
Sigh, no idea why I am bothering but…
Did you actually read the post? They would be doing everything you said:
1) signing a real starter (Kuroda and Pettitte)
2) making Phelps the 6th starter
Even after all of that, they might want to sign veteran depth to stash in AAA.
There is absolutely nothing objectionable about this plan. Nothing.
Maybe they can sign Anibal Sanchez or Edwin Jackson to stash in AAA in case of an emergency.
They should trade for David Price. I hear the Trenton Thunder could use a decent LOOGY.
Why are you complaining? You’re constant advocating every bottom-feeding punch-n-judy hitter available. Why should pitching be different?
what about mitre…he sucks and no one wants him…189.
we actually already tried Ponson a second time.
It was no good.
Bring back Igawa. Stash him away in AAA.
I’d try to get Scott Feldman, because I actually think he’d be useful. I’d pursue Wang for nostalgia, and Takahashi because it might be nice to have a lefty swingman. Bedard would be interesting but I suspect that he’ll actually end up with a rotation spot somewhere.
Good idea, but I’d think Feldman will get better offers.
Any time you’re trying to fill your 6th or 7th starter spot, you’re going to be picking off the scrap heap. This isn’t a big deal.
If Pettitte doesn’t come back, they’ll need to go after someone more reliable. Can’t have phelps and nova as your 4 & 5.
Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre and Roger Clemens… I think that we should start calling them “cougars.”
More profits, less spending. Sweet.
Yeah, cause that’s exactly the point of this article.
The reason they need to bottomfeed is because of their upcoming austerity (in addition to their problem of developing starters). So yeah, it’s exactly the point.
They’ve been bottom feeding for depth starters for years. Where do you think Aaron Small came from?
And they’ve been really good at it too.
But the reason they needed Small was their inability to develop starters.
Sure, but now you’re moving the goalposts. No one is disputing this part, but you were originally linking it to the austerity plan. Which it has little to do with.
Unless of course Pettitte doesn’t sign and they sign one of these guys to a major league deal, that would be relevant.
Austerity is another impediment to adding quality players, in this instance pitchers, but it also applies to position players.
So I’m not moving anything. I am merely adding another reason why they need to bottomfeed.
And if the article was about signing pitchers for the 25 man roster, you’d have a point. But it isnt. or at least Mike’s interpretation of Sherman’s article isn’t.
It’s interrelated. The stronger your 25 man roster is (which in the Yankees’ situation is almost exclusively a function of payroll size), the less you need fungible marginal veterans.
The Giants have developed as much starting pitching as any team and they still signed Vogelsong and stashed him in Triple-A last year just in case. This idea that teams don’t need to sign depth players because they should have the replacements internally is not realistic at all.
Yes, but this doesn’t really hold with respect to their rotation (assuming Pettitte signs).
If Pettitte signs, they will have a very strong and very expensive 5 man rotation (I’d guess the most expensive in the AL depending on what Pettitte gets and maybe only behind the Phils and Giants overall) .
I don’t always agree with you, but I usually find your points to be well thought out. That said, I think you are reaching here. Agree to disagree I guess.
Their 2012 payroll was almost $80m less than the Yankees, so they have to watch what they spend on depth.
You’re right though. The Giants develop pitchers well and it’s understandable that they would want a cheap veteran in reserve.
With the Yankees, at times Colon/Garcia types have to be #2/#3 starters because of the problems they have had assembling a quality starting staff despite their abundant resources.
Yeah, no it isn’t.
Every team with the financial means looks to stash away pitching depth on minor league contracts. It is neither here nor there with your “doom” rhetoric.
double sweet….
Please sign Dallas Braden. I want to watch the 25+ interviews Arod has about playing with him after every game.
Plus the back page would be awesome.
I thought the two of them kissed and made up? Didn’t they sign some memorabilia and sell it for charity or something. I don’t think it would be an issue after ST.
This.
Get off my mound!!
Eff Dallas Braden.
Fine with me. Depth is depth. Not much to see here.
Braden is the only one I would look into. As long as they bring back pettitte then they still have phelps and nova for the 5th slot.
I really think our lord and savior has a sense of humor (for more proof, see the platypus). Please god, if you have any sense of chuckles, you’d give us Carl Pavano back on a minor league contract. I think that would be pure gold. The articles, the narrative, the #EddardWorld spin… Great times to be had by all.
I see nothing wrong in signing a few minor league free agents and letting it play out and see if a guy still has it. It has been mentioned here that Cashman has good success in this department and I think there will be 2-3 guys on the roster from this method.
Actually, Mike, assuming (as you suggest) that Pettitte re-signs, they’d also have Phil Hughes along with Phelps and Nova for two spots, with Pineda on his way at some point. So no, it wouldn’t be more than a luxury, rather than a necessity to have a guy like Pavano around.
Not sure what you have against Hughes that you’d forget him, but he’s clearly better than any of the scrap-heap guys you mention and probably better than Nova or Phelps.
I take it back. You said fifth or sixth. You were including Hughes as the 4th. I’m a dope. Forget what I said.
Your point still stands, though. Having veterans stashed away in AAA is always a good idea, and the Yankees will be far from the only team doing this. This is fodder only for those who have zero understanding as to what baseball teams do with the spots in their minor league systems.
Anybody but Pavano. But knowing how much Cashman seems to love the guy, I see the writing on the wall already.
Cashman does have a mancrush, but if Pavano had two equal minor league offers, do you think he’d come back to NY? I don’t see it.
I sure hope he wouldn’t.
One can feel the rotting Yankee edifice about to collapse as the toxicity of the Arod contract extension and subsequent performance collapse eats away at their foundation and prevents pursuing avenues of improvement.
It must be hell living your life.