The 25 man roster approaches

For the most part the Yankees 25 man roster is set, we are really down to the last three or four spots on the roster and it seems likely that the Yankees already know who they will be taking with them. The Yankees do not have any obvious release candidates on their 40 man roster and so their options related to who makes the team a are somewhat limited. The 5th starter competition ended up being a two man race between David Phelps and Michael Pineda and it would seem that while you can make the argument for Phelps the Yankees love what they have seen with Pineda. I guess theoretically they could send Pineda down to the minors to start the year but I do not think that's what they are going to do. Obviously this does not really change the roster as Phelps will be in the bullpen and even if Pineda was sent down to the minors then I expect Nuno would simply go to the bullpen.

The bench and bullpen are a little more interesting as you have to take the 40 man roster crunch into account when looking at who will make the team. Five of the spots are pretty much guaranteed as Adam Warren, David Robertson, Shawn Kelly, Matt Thorton and presumably David Phelps are all going to be in the bullpen. That leaves two spots in the bullpen open and it seems likely that Dellin Betances will make the team but that still leaves a spot open in the bullpen. Chris Leroux and Matt Daley have been great this spring pitching a combined 18 innings with sixteen strikeouts to eight total base runners, however neither of these guys has faced many MLB quality bats this spring and while relievers do have a hard time facing quality opponents in spring training, neither of these pitchers is on the 40 man roster and would it really be worth designating someone to carry one of these guys on the 25 man roster? Neither Preston Claiborne nor Cesar Cabral has had a particularly good spring and haven't faced opponents any better than Daley or Leroux but their being on the 40 man roster likely gives them a leg up on them. If I had to guess I would say that the Yankees will probably go with Betances and Claiborne to fill out their bullpen as it would allow them to maximize their depth, remember Cody Eppley broke camp with the team last year after an awful spring but they did not wait long to designate him for assignment and that could be what happens here with Claiborne.I also expect that they will keep Nuno in AAA as rotation depth in case they quickly need a starter early on in the season. The bullpen will change as the season goes on and its very possible that Leroux and Daley will end up in the Yankees bullpen at some point this season but I expect they will go to Scranton to start the year.

The story of the bench battle is a little different as the only way Ichiro or Cervelli were not going to be on the bench was if they were traded away and it seems unlikely that a trade for either player will happen at this point in the spring, but it still remains a possibility. Their was initially only going to be one spot to battle for and it seemed likely that Eduardo Nunez would keep his job, but with Brendan Ryan going down with a variety of injuries it would seem likely that Eduardo Nunez will make the team based on the fact that he has major league experience, but of all the bench spot competitors he has arguably had the worst spring. With Sizemore still not looking 100% ready it seems likely that he will go to the minors to start the season, which really leaves Yangervis Solarte, Dean Anna and I suppose Zelous Wheeler to compete over the last bench spot, none of whom have any time in the majors. Solarte is a switch hitter who is raking this spring and had a very good last two years in AAA, however this is only 39 PA and Solarte played in the hitter friendly Pacific coast league the last two years. We see this all the time where a player hits the crap out of the ball in spring training and then goes to the majors or the minors and does absolutely nothing, the same is true for Anna or Wheeler but at least Wheeler and Solarte have actually hit this spring and they have all faced around the same quality of pitchers. Again just like with Claiborne, Dean Anna's being on the 40 man roster will likely be the deciding factor as they would not want to risk losing the depth given Ryan's injury, in this case if Anna is terrible then they can remove him from the 40 man and bring up someone from the minors or wait out his terribleness until Ryan comes back but if they lose him on waivers by designating him now then they would need Solarte to play even if he was playing poorly. The other factor in this is simply that Anna is regarded as a glove man and that is what the Yankees need to replace Brendan Ryan with right now and so it would be a surprise to me if Anna did not make the team.

Is it finaly time for Betances?

Betances in spring training

Dellin Betances was one of the top Yankee prospects a few years ago but despite some good signs along the way he was never able to harness his stuff as a starter and was moved into the bullpen. Betances has had a taste of the majors last season and in 2011, but was not successful in either brief September stint. However this Spring Betances has looked very good as he has pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, giving up only one hit and two walks, while striking out four batters and the Yankees are definitely trying to see if he can break camp with the team. Betances has great stuff with a great swing and miss curveball, a fastball that is mid to upper 90’s, a slider that he almost never uses and a changeup that has really yo-yoed around in terms of effectiveness.  This arsenal of pitches and Dellins imposing 6’8 body has made the Yankees keep him in the rotation for as long as they could but last season they finally relented and put him in the bullpen where he was much improved, putting up a 1.35 ERA in the Scranton bullpen as opposed to 6.00 as a starter. 

Betances was taken by the Yankees in the 8^th round of the 2006 draft and they gave him $1 million to sign but here we are in his 9^th year as a Pro and it might finally be his time, he does have another minor league option available for this season but the Yankees need help in their bullpen and Dellin can step right in and be the pitcher that the Yankees need and turn himself from a hard throwing prospect who could never put it together into a true major league contributor.  Dellin has definitely been frustrated with his slow progress and unfortunately he has been for a while, maybe especially because he is a gy who grew up a Yankees fan in Washington Height, Manhattan and he wants to be able to show everyone that the Yankees did not make a mistake by sticking with him and right now this spring training is probably the most important point in his career because he can do that.

September call ups

Its September and the rosters have expanded so the Yankees called up five players Infielder David Adams, RHP Dellin Betances, LHP Cesar Cabral, RHP Brett Marshall, and C J.R. Murphy. The Yankees will probably call up RHP Preston Claiborne tomorrow and we will have to see if  Zoilo Almonte, Kevin Youkillis or Travis Hafner can return before the end of the year. Betances, Adams and Marshall were already on the 40 man roster but Jayson Nix was moved to the 60 day DL and Melky Mesa was released to make room for Murphy and Cabral. Mesa could have been a call up as a Defensive replacement/pinch runner but he hurt his hamstring and it is apparently serious enough that he would not have been able to help the team in September. Mesa would have likely been Designated for assignment this winter anyways as he would have been out of options, Mesa had great tools but very poor contact ability.

Adams and Betances provide infield and bullpen depth respectively, while Marshall will be a long man which allows Huff to be used as a lefty specialist or for either Huff or Warren to start in case Hughes continues to struggle. None of these guys are going to see any high profile time as long as the Yankees remain in the playoff hunt. If you didn't realize all these guys have been with the big league team at some point this season, in fact Marshall and Adams actually debuted in the same game which I happened to be at.
Cesar Cabral was the Yankees rule 5 draft pick last season from the Red Sox and would have made the team out of spring training over Clay Rapada but he fractured his elbow. He stayed with the organization this season and had overall poor numbers but he has been decent against left handed batters so he gets to be the third lefty in the bullpen.
Murphy is a 22-year old catching prospect who hit very well between Double A and Triple A and has some good reviews about his defense as well. He was going to be added to the 40 man in the off season anyway and they wanted a third catcher for September so this move made a lot of sense. He's a good prospect but don't expect him to get much playing time behind Austin Romine and Chris Stewart.

David Adams & Dellin Betances called up

David Adams has been called up to the New York Yankees and Chris Nelson has been designated for assignment. This was first reported by Josh Norris and I am a little bit late because they did not officially make the move until after I had left to go to the game last night. Adams went 1-4 with a solid single for his first Major league hit and had some good plays at the hot corner and all on his 26th birthday too.  Dellin Betances was called up today and Brett Marshall was optioned after Marshall threw 108 pitches going 5.2 ugly mop up innings after Hughes gave up 7 runs in 2/3 of an inning. Marshall did not look very good, giving up 5 runs, walking 5 and striking out 1 but he did soak up a lot of innings for the Yankees and left the bullpen rested. Betances was part of the Killer B's just three years ago and then Brackman was terrible, Banuelos got hurt and Betances was wild, but Betances was moved to the bullpen recently and is getting the call up until Joba Chamberlain is back from his Oblique injury. This is Betances second stint with the big league club after making two appearances in September 2011, including starting the last game of the year. This is really Betances last chance to carve out a role in the majors with the Yankees as he is out of minor league option years after this year and could very well find himself in jeopardy of being DFA if he cannot pitch well out of the pen.

Dellin Betances: A Frustrated Killer B

From Nalbone

At this point, Betances can only look forward to the Arizona Fall League in October.
Since appearing in the Double-A All-Star Game last month in New Hampshire, Betances is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 23-14.
Over his last 10 starts dating back to June 15, the Yankees’ top preseason pitching prospect, according to Baseball America, is 1-5 with a 5.55 ERA.

Although legitimately thrilled for his good friend Banuelos, Betances expressed frustration with himself, his surprisingly lackluster season and, at times, with the Yankees’ developmental plan for him during a surprisingly candid interview last week with select reporters, including Mike Ashmore of the Hunterdon County Democrat.

“It (stinks) not being able to pitch good, to be honest,’’ Betances said. “It’s frustrating because you know that if I’m throwing as hard as I am, I should be able to pitch better. I have the confidence in myself to bounce back and finish strong … at least for this year.”

When asked if the Yankees were allowing him to use all of his pitches, Betances said:

“No, right now I feel like I could do whatever I want. I just haven’t got the chance to do it. ’’

Another touchy subject with the 6-foot-8, Brooklyn-educated Betances has been his limited innings, but it is difficult to blame the notoriously cautious Yankees for his inability to reach 100 innings with less a month remaining in the regular season.

Because of his 4.9 walks per nine innings, Betances has been maddeningly inefficient and is averaging less than five innings per start.

“I think now they’re going to let me go,’’ Betances said. “I mean, I would love to go seven innings. I haven’t gone seven innings since Charleston (in 2008) just because they haven’t given me the chance. I’ve had games this year where I could have gone longer than six, but they have something going now and it’s getting to the last month.’’

In his only start following that interview, Sunday in Altoona, Betances again was capped at five innings.

Even if he averages nine innings over his final five (scheduled) regular season starts, Betances will not reach the organization’s preseason goal of 150.

...

“They feel like they have a limit of innings for me,’’ Betances said. “Now that it’s getting into August, the goal is 150 and I’m not even at 100 now. So, it’s one of those things where they probably want to let me go and see if I can get to 130-150 by the end of the year.”

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Betances stats have actually looked better than Banuelsos through this year with their official stats line reading:
Betances is 4-6 with a 3.57 ERA and 54 walks in 98 1/3 innings.
Banuelos was 4-5 with a 3.59 ERA and 52 walks in 95 1/3 innings in AA before his promotion.
I feel for Betances, but if he had pitched better then he would be closer to his 150 innings goal that the Yankees set for him. That being said I feel that the Yankees have not managed high ceiling players like Betances well. Ivan Nova was never a top prospect for the Yankees and he was never tweaked with or capped like High ceiling players like Hughes. Nova has a 3.86 ERA in 2011 as of his 8/10/2011 and is probably their number four pitcher in the playoffs this year. Holding Betances back is the safe approach but their caution may be holding him back from his potential. This is however based on my idea that the innings pitched of a pitching prospect are the most important statistic for someone to build in the minors, especially the pre AAA minors. A lot of fans were hoping that the Killer B's would have done better this year than they have but I think all three of them will be in AAA Scranton next year.

Spring Training assesment after day 2

Spring training began yesterday with the Yankees falling 5-4 to the Phillies at Steinbrenner field and we got our first look at some Yankees and Phillies starters and prospects. We saw even more Yankees prospects and more Phillies starters today as the Yankees beat the Phillies 7-3 in Clearwater.
We got our first look at Bartolo Colon and he went two innings with 2 Hits, 1 BB and 1 ER with no K's. People have been talking about how good Colon looked and while he didn't give up a lot and did hit 93 on his fastball, he has been pitching in the Winter league and so i expected him to be way ahead of the Phillies, but there is a lot more spring training to go and the Phillies are very good.To me through Colon could likely be the odd man out behind Garcia and Nova, but would he accept a AAA assignment.
Joba and Robertson both looked very good with Joba pitching a perfect 3rd with 1K, while Robertson K'd 2 and gave up a walk. These guys are going to be looking to win the primary RHP/7th inning role and I think they will make it hard for Girardi to choose.
Maxwell had a nice catch in the outfield, Curtis once again looked lost at the plate and Andrew Jones had a weird stolen base attempt where he kind of flopped toward second.
The Highlight of yesterdays game was Jorge Vazquez who won the Winter League MVP and went 2-2 Yesterday with a Home Run and 1-1 Today with a Home Run. He looked really good and he is making a case to be a solid piece of trade bait for the Yankees and i expect that we will see him if Tex or A-Rod get hurt as he can play 1st and 3rd.
Today Ivan Nova started and he looked great pitching two perfect innings with 2 strike outs and he kept the ball down and on the ground. I have to agree with Jack Curry that he looks like he could be 4th Starter , but one spring training start doesn't mean anything and he will have to keep it up for all of spring training and hopefully for the whole season.
Logan and Mitre were effective but a little shaky, especially Logan who seemed to be getting behind in the count on every batter.
Dellin Betances wowed everybody today with 3k's and 1 BB in an inning of work and was hitting 97 on the gun. His command wasn't great for his one BB, but the batters had no chance against him on his 3k's. He also credited Montero with his great outing and the two seemed great together. Speaking of Montero he impressed everybody with a great broken bat single that had a lot of power behind it and Yogi Berra said he looked good behind the plate.
Domenic Brown did not look good for the Phillies at all as he went 0-5 with 4 K's and that has got to make people with the Phillies a little nervous and look to Ben Francisco who looked good at the plate. If he has a good spring while Brown continues to struggle then he could possible earn the Starting RF job.