When we heard that Ross Ohlendorf had been traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates as a cog in the Nady/Marte trade, I found myself a bit disappointed. Sure, he was a disappointment as a reliever in the majors, but he was finding some level of success as a starter at Scranton. With the Yankees pitching woes at the time, I thought that maybe he could pull a few spot starts later in the season. Alas, it was not meant to be. He’s with Pittsbugh now, starting for their AAA Indianapolis team. He’s tossed 41.2 innings since the trade, all as a starter, and has struck out 35 to just eight walks. His ERA sits at 3.24. This past Sunday, he pitched eight innings, allowing just one run while striking out six and walking one. He’d tossed eight innings of no-run ball on August 13.

The Princeton Packet, hometown newspaper of Ohlie’s alma mater, caught up with the alum to see how things are going in Hoosier country.

“I would prefer to start,” said Ohlendorf, who went back to finish his coursework and graduated from Princeton in 2005. “Before the draft, I think there was a little discussion about whether I should be a reliever. I relieved some in Cape Cod the year before. I certainly am looking forward to hopefully having the opportunity to be a starter.”
…
“I do feel like I’ve been getting used to starting again. I need to get back to using my change-up more. I was able to do that. Overall, I’m definitely happy with how it’s going. It could be going better, but I feel like I’m headed in the right direction.”

He also reminisces about his times with the Yanks, particularly about his above-6.00 ERA as a reliever in the majors.

“I felt I pitched well the majority of the time,” the 6-foot-4 right-hander said. “I had four to five really bad outings. I was able to see that as long as I pitched well, I could get guys out. At the same time, I was able to see things that got me into trouble and what I needed to work on to be able to do consistently better. It’s mainly throwing my off-speed pitches for strikes and locating my fastball and not overthrowing it.”

Checking his game log, that statement checks out. He allowed more than two runs in four appearances, getting hammered against the White Sox, Mets, Orioles, and finally again against the Mets, which was the final nail in his coffin. In his 25 appearances, he held the opponent scoreless 13 times, and allowed just one run six times, three of which were in appearances of more than one inning.

Here’s to hoping Ohlie enjoys a long and fruitful career as a starter for the Pirates. Or at least a better career than Bobby Bradley, Sean Burnett, John VanBenschoten, Brian Bullington, Brad Lincoln, etc., etc., etc.

A sentence in a recent Tom Verducci mailbag set a few Yankees a-twitter this week. “Remember,” wrote Verducci, “the Yankees preferred Ross Ohlendorf over Owings in the Big Unit trade, otherwise he’d be their No. 3 starter and DH these days!”

Now while Ross Ohlendorf clearly has a bright future as a Major League reliever ahead of him — his stuff and his recent 6 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 K line are testaments to that — Micah Owings is a desirable starter with excellent stuff. Yankee fans would have every right to be a little dismayed if the team truly favored Ohlendorf over Owings. But the problem with Verducci’s claim is that it’s simply not true.

A few weeks earlier, Verducci’s Sports Illustrated colleague and fellow columnist Jon Heyman wrote about Micah Owings’ role in the Randy Johnson trade talk as well. His take, however, was completely different from that of Verducci’s: “The Yankees tried hard for Owings in Randy Johnson trade talks after the 2006 season, even offering to send Arizona a few million more if they’d include him. No go.”

What Heyman wrote jibes with press reports from the time of the trade in December 2006 and January 2007. At the time, New York reporters offered up differing takes. Some said that the Yankees maybe could have landed Owings if they were prepared to shell out more money for the D-Backs and accept fewer players in return. Others said that Owings was considered to be an “untouchable” in Arizona’s farm system.

While Verducci’s analysis seems off the mark, what Heyman offers seems most realistic. The Yanks wanted Owings as any team would, and the Diamondbacks opted to hold on to their prized prospect. With Ohlendorf on the team, a compensation pick from Vizcaino on the way and the Big Unit’s health issues lately, I’d say the Yankees did just fine for themselves in that trade.

I just finished watching my DVR recording of today’s game, and all I have to say about Ohlendorf is wow. I know it’s only early March, but man, that was impressive. Go back and check him out if you can.

Two good stories today in the New York papers about some of the lesser-known names vying for spots in the Yankees pen. Peter Abraham takes a look at Dan McCutchen, the pitcher who handed Joba Chamberlain his first college loss. Abraham’s story details McCutchen’s 50-game suspension that came about as a result of a paperwork snafu over an Adderall prescription. Mark Feinsand sat down with Ross Ohlendorf.

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.

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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AFL Javelinas (7-6 loss to the Scottsdale Scorpions in 10 innings)

Brett Gardner: 1-5, 1 R, 3 K’s. Beat the pitcher to 1B for an infield single
Juan Miranda: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K. Picked off second base.
Steven Jackson: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K’s. His grandfather, Scott Jackson, was a three-year letter winner at Clemson in the 1950’s
Ross Ohlendorf: 1 IP, zeros. 3-0 GB/FB ratio. Say goodbye to the taxi squad.

Remember when I said that outfielders don’t get errors if the sun was in their eye. Well that goes for the moon as well. Miranda’s double was a sinking line drive but the left fielder got a terrible jump and the ball skipped under his glove when he tried to make a diving catch. It was originally ruled an error but later changed to a hit. (more…)

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Time for the unveiling of the post-season roster.

As you may have guessed, Ron Villone is not on the roster. The gods are rejoicing. The Yanks, however, are going with no lefties in the pen. Filling the last spots are Jose Veras and, more impressively, Ross Ohlendorf. Torre really liked what he saw from Ohlendorf down the stretch. I did too. I see big things for this kid next year.

Meanwhile, as we noted yesterday, Bronson Sardinha is on the roster, but Chris Britton, contrary to what The Post reported, is not.

Here’s your Game 1 roster and line up courtesy of Peter Abraham. All of you Melky lovers will be happy to see he’s playing. Shelley Duncan, however, is on the bench and not in the lineup against a tough left. I wish Torre had gone with Duncan:

Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B - MVP! MVP!
Jorge Posada C
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera CF
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B

Chien-Ming Wang P

The Bench
Wilson Betemit
Jason Giambi - Most expensive bench player ever.
Shelley Duncan - He’s gotta come up big at some point this October, right?
Jose Molina - .318/.333/.439 in 71 Bronx PAs. Remember Wil Nieves?
Bronson Sardinha

Starting Pitchers
Andy Pettitte - Only lefty on the ALDS roster
Roger Clemens
Mike Mussina
Phil Hughes - Should be starting game 4. No word on that yet.

Bullpen
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Luis Vizcaino
Kyle Farnsworth
Ross Ohlendorf
Jose Veras

There has been some talk in the comments about the change Ross Ohlendorf has undergone since moving to the bullpen. Chad Jennings has some info on his must-read blog:

Today, I asked Newman whether the team told Ohlendorf to let it all loose in his relief appearance. Newman said that the team actually just told him to be agreesive and that he was only going to be pitching an inning or two. The results were different than they expected. Ohlendorf added about five mph to his fastball and he was grunting with nearly every pitch, something out of character for the normally reserved Princeton kid.

I remember saying back in April (though I’m not searching through the archives right now) that the Yanks could have a backup bullpen for the second half. The Yanks could conceivably add three arms in the very near future: Ohlendorf, Joba, and Karstens — and that’s not even counting the currently-injured Britton and the never-used Edwar.

This has to mean Kyle will be packing, right?