Since returning from his Lisfranc injury earlier this month, Brian Bruney has pretty much picked up where he left off at the end of April. In August, he’s throw 10 innings and has allowed three runs on six hits, five walks and seven strike outs. He hasn’t allowed a run over his last four appearances, and I have to wonder just how badly the Yankees’ bullpen missed his arm for three months this year. Those Lisfranc injuries have really killed the Yanks this year.

Michael Ashmore sat down with Bruney Bruney during the righty’s rehab stint in Trenton, and while player interviews generally don’t yield much other than stock quotes, Ashmore teased some interesting info out of Bruney. The Lisfranc injury sufferer talks about his mentality coming back from an injury, his trek through the minors and his time meeting the kids. Check it out. Bruney sounds like one of the good guys.

Well, if there was ever good news, this is it. Buried a bit in this notebook, the main part of which I’ll discuss shortly, Ed Price notes that Brian Bruney has been cleared to throw from 60 feet, and could make his way back this season, as early as the All-Star break. I know many of you aren’t convinced that Bruney can cut it, but he looked impressive early on. Considering our current options in the pen, his comeback would be more than welcome.

Tyler Kepner checks in with info on Brian Bruney’s injury. Bruney injured his foot on Tuesday, and the Yanks fear he has two torn ligaments. With the general consensus being that Kyle Farnsworth’s elbow will push him to the DL as well, this trip to Chicago was not a good one for the Yankee bullpen. Expect some roster moves later today.

When the Yankees made their roster announcement last night, I breathed a sigh of relief. Up until the last minute, it looked as though the Yanks were going to take on a sub-par pitcher — Kei Igawa or Darrell Rasner — just to say they had a “long reliever.”

In my opinion, that’s an unnecessary cog. Why waste a roster spot on a pitcher just because? Considering the Yanks’ offensive potential this year, no deficit should be too big for the Bombers.

But, as Mike reported late last night, the bullpen came together nicely. For the first few days of the season, the Yanks will go with eight relievers; the four who were already inked in will be joined by Billy Traber, Ross Ohlendorf, Brian Bruney and Jonathan Albaladejo. While Scott Patterson probably should have made it over Albaladejo, that spot will go to Andy Pettitte when he is activated from the DL on Sunday.

While Peter Abraham see this roster as an indication that things haven’t changed with Joe Torre out, I disagree. The Yanks went with the arms who impressed in Spring Training, and they went with the bats on the bench. They’ve put together a powerful team, but at the same time, this is a team — especially in the bullpen — on a short leash. With numerous pitchers in the minors who can throw strikes effectively, a player who struggesl will get shipped out pretty quickly.

And that’s where Brian Bruney comes in. Last year, we had pretty much written off Bruney. We couldn’t decide what was worse: his attitude or his control. And when he was banished to AAA after throwing walk after walk, he threw a fit about it.

This year, he came to camp ready to pitch. He’s in great shape, and his pitchers are showing life. In 9 Spring Training innings, he gave up 9 hits and 2 ER while striking out 12 and walking 3. He’s been throwing strikes in the mid- to upper-90s all spring, and it’s not an understatement when I say that an effective Brian Bruney could be a very valuable cog in the Yankees bullpen this year.

Bruney is one of the Kyle Farnsworth-type players who GMs cannot resist. He throws hard but has no idea where his pitchers are going. When they’re in the strike zone, they’re nearly unhittable, but oftentimes, their outings as disastrous.

The key to Bruney this year will be his walks. He’s walked 114 in 148 Major League innings for a K/9 IP of just a shade under 7. That’s awful. If he can keep that number around 3 or 4 per 9 IP, the Yanks will finally see Bruney realize his potential.

There’s no doubt that the Yanks are taking some calculated risks this year. Some key pieces on this team’s pitching staff are, by and large, unproven youngsters or veterans on the cusp of AAAA status. But the crazy thing is that this just might work.

When it comes to pitching effectively, Brian Bruney and his control problems don’t warrant much sympathy from Yankee fans. But that’s not stopping Bruney from trying to play his cards anyway.

In a Mark Feinsand-penned profile, Bruney talks about pitching in Spring Training to earn a spot on the team. In the piece, he is judiciously critical of the former Yankee regime:

Bruney credits his offseason conditioning program - daily workouts, no alcohol, a strict diet and plenty of sleep - with improving his outlook, but he also believes the changes on the Yankees’ coaching staff - particularly Dave Eiland taking over as pitching coach for Ron Guidry - have helped him focus on the task at hand rather than worrying constantly about the consequences of a bad outing.

“I formed a relationship with Dave where he’s easy to talk to,” Bruney said. “In the past, I might not have had that relationship; I didn’t talk to Gator.”

Bruney also admitted to a level of fear in playing for Joe Torre, who was constantly criticized in recent years for overusing certain relievers.

“With Torre - and I’m not trying to bad-mouth anybody - sometimes you would go out there and try to be so good because you were scared of doing bad,” Bruney said. “You can’t pitch like that. (Joe) Girardi understands that you make mistakes - and I’m going to make them.”

Bruney’s comments aren’t out of line. We’re leaving that job up to Theo Epstein. But they do provide an interesting glimpse behind the closed doors of the Joe Torre regime.

We knew that Torre relied on certain relievers more than others. But did anything that Torre say or do cause other relievers to try too hard? That’s what Bruney claims. But then again, he might just be making excuses for his 37:39 BB:K ratio.

If Bruney can pitch well and pitch effectively, he’ll earn a spot on this team. He’s shown flashes of what he can do with his stuff. Maybe a changing of the guard will do him well or maybe he’s just laying the blame for his shortcomings on someone else. Time will tell.

Via Pinstripes PA, Getty Images has the “photo day” pics available. You should definitely check ‘em out, but here are the highlights:

• Joba must have that Thinner disease. Dude’s downright skinny.
• Jason Giambi definitely avoided the In-N-Out burgers this winter. Wait, didn’t he say that a few years back?
• Here are your top two position prospects.
• Jesus!
• Andrew Brackman is one big dude.
• Brian Bruney lost a ton of weight. Hopefully he practiced throwing strikes with the empty cans of Slim Fast.
• The Fat Relievers™ aren’t so fat anymore; I’d say … husky.
• Check out Ross Ohlendorf. Tell me that kid doesn’t look like he was born to wear pinstripes.

Make sure you take a look at all the photos. Good stuff. Some of ‘em remind me of yearbook picture day.

Is it just me, or has the first few days of Spring Training set the expectations for the Yankees rather high? Sure, many of us can see through the media spin on the events of the past week or so. But even at that point, we’re seeing players do things, rather than just saying them. It’s a careful balance that the Yankees have executed perfectly so far. And I have to say, it has me more excited about this season than I have been in any year I can remember — though I’m fairly certain I say that every year.

First, we heard about the pitchers who showed up early. Joba, Phil, and IPK in particular were there before they required to, which is always reassuring. We also heard about Shelley Duncan showing up to work on his first base skills with Tino Martinez. And, Cap’n Jetes was there early, too. But he resides in Tampa, so it only makes sense for him to be around.

Then we heard about Brian Bruney losing weight. Good news, for sure. If anything, it shows that he’s at least a bit motivated. It’s certainly better than him showing up in the same physical shape as last year, and spouting off lines about his determination to make the team. PeteAbe also noted that Mike Mussina checked in lighter, which spoke to his off-season conditioning. We also heard about Kyle Farnsworth being less bulky, but then it was revealed that he dealt with a rather nasty staph infection last month.

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Kat O’Brien checked in with Brian Bruney today:

Brian Bruney has dropped significant weight. He says he lost 18 pounds and should be down 20 before the season. He wanted to get to 240 and is at 237, and looks even leaner…He also said he focused on his nutrition.

“I’m just in all-around better shape,” he said. “I’ve never really pitched in good physical shape before. I’ve always been kind of average. I knew going in that Joe [Girardi] was kind of a stickler for that, so that was one reason, but mostly I just wanted to do it for myself.”

Infamously last season, Bruney and Joe Torre did not get along. If Bruney shows up willing to pitch and throws strikes, the Yankee bullpen stands to benefit. We may yet see the Joe Girardi Effect on this team fairly quickly.

In 2007, the Padres and the Red Sox topped their respective leagues in bullpen ERA and batting average against. Thing is, entering the season, neither team had much to boast about in that department. In fact, the Sox pen was in such shambles that Jonathan Papelbon told Tony Francona that he wanted to move back to the closer role (or at least that’s how Boston tells the story). So how did these two teams come out ahead?

Skilled closer

Obviously, the first step in building a bullpen is creating a viable endgame. Both Trevor Hoffman and Jonathan Papelbon qualify as such. They keep things relatively stable at the end — Papelbon more than Hoffman, though, as he blew just three saves last year (and we remember a couple of ‘em), while Hoffman was the goat in seven games, including the most important one for the Padres.

There’s not much else to say about this. We have it in Mo, who I think we all can agree is better than Hoffman at this stage of his career.
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