River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Mike Myers

Yanks waive good bye to Myers

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Courtesy of Peter Abraham comes the fantastic news that Mike Myers has been designated for assignment. Myers had one role on the Yanks, and he just wasn’t doing it well. After today’s debacle, lefties are hitting .312 (24 for 77) against Myers, and with Ron Villone actually pitching serviceably for the Yanks, Myers was expendable. While the corresponding move may be to activate Jason Giambi tomorrow, I would expect that Joba Chamberlain may find himself in the Yankee pen sooner rather than later.

Update: Newday reports that Jim Brower will join the Yankees to replace Myers. Brower, 34, is a reliever with experience in parts of 8 Major League seasons. At AAA, he’s thrown 43.2 innings, nailing 40 Ks and pitching to an ERA of 1.65. With this move, there’s no way Miguel Cairo is still on the team after Giambi is activated.

Update by Joe: Ah, but the Post reports that Joba will be activated this afternoon to take Myers’s spot. We’ll clear this one up once it’s made official.

Cashman for a day, fool for a lifetime

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The Boss has spoken, and Cashman and Torre are safe for the time being. This may be upsetting to some, but it’s a relief for others. The Yankees head to Texas in tact, in search of a few wins (with Phil Hughes’s’ first as a collateral gain).

This doesn’t mean, however, that there won’t be any shakeups. There are a few roster moves that could be made over the next few weeks that will completely alter the team’s game plan headed into the season. But that’s the beautify of baseball: the season is long, so if your initial plan fails, there’s still time to tinker with it and create something that works. And when you have a bank account like the Yanks, changing courses becomes that much easier.

Before any moves are made, questions must be asked. Is this person going to work out? Are we dealing with too small a sample size to make a decision? If we don’t unload this person now, what are the possible ramifications down the road? And on and on. We’re all pretty familiar with the team’s shortcomings right now, so let’s get down to it.

Mike Myers
Most want him DFA’d, and I can’t disagree. Myers’s job is to get out tough lefties, but he’s been more of a mop up man this year — and there’s been tons of mopping to do. And, when he has been summoned to get a lefty out, he hasn’t been at the top of his game (though an Ortiz double and the Crawford slam are the only ones standing out in my mind).

There is little reason to carry Myers on the roster. Even though the numbers say he’s been better against righties this year, once again we’re faced with a tiny sample size. If he returns to his career norms, he’ll lose value as a mop-up man. And merely having a LOOGY on staff is a questionable practice, especially for a contenting team like the Yanks.

The solution: DFA him and call up Chris Britton. He’ll be able to work in higher leverage situations than Myers without giving the entire Stadium a heart attack. Britton handled his own in the AL East last year. He’s only pitched seven innings this year, and could definitely use the work. This is an easy to execute and smart move. In the words of California’s governor: Do it! Do it now!

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