Former Yankees: The Pitchers

The Yankees had 10 different pitchers who were with the team in 2010 and are now elsewhere. The Reason I did Chan Ho Park separate was because he is actually the only one who was released during the season. 9 other pitchers spent time in the rotation, bullpen or both.

The man with the name Jonathan Albaladejo, he was the closer in AAA Scranton last year and his numbers were phenomenal with a 1.42 ERA and 43 saves. However with the Yankees Albaladejo was unimpressive sporting a 3.97 ERA in 11.1 innings, which is especially annoying considering that we traded Tyler Clippard for this guy and he has been good with the Nationals since being moved to the bullpen. Granted Albaladejo had been good with the Nats before coming to the Yankees and the AL east is a different beast. Albaladejo asked to be released after the season so that he could sign with the Yomiuri Giants, The Yankees received some type of compensation for Albaladejo and he just got his first win in Japan after failing to earn the closers job for the Giants. I expect that he could be back in the majors next year and i was a little surprised he had no trade interest as some bullpens could really use him and hope to catch his AAA magic in an easier division.

The man with the Name

Another former Pitcher who likely wont have much of an impact this year is LHP Royce Ring. He only pitched 2.1 innings with the bombers and was awful giving up 4 runs. The former first round pick has had a disappointing MLB career spending only 1 full year in the majors where he was beyond bad with a 8.46 ERA in 42 appearances. His only positive is a good HR/9 rate, but its amazing what being a lefty will do for you. He's not on the Seattle 40 man, but his good AAA numbers means the 30 year old could earn another cup of coffee with a MLB team.






 Javier Vazquez: There is a lot to say about Vazquez and I don't want to say it all. We traded two top pitching prospects in Michael Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino, as well as fan favorite OF Melky Cabrera for Vazquez. Vazquez had a sub 3 ERA in 2009, but the Yankees only needed him to repeat his numbes with the White Sox which was of a mid rotation innings eater with a lot of strike outs. The Yankees hoped that Vazquez could serve the team until some of their pitching prospects developed in the next few years, that didn't happen and the Yankees lost some real good pieces in that trade. Vazquez signed a 1 year $7 million deal with the Marlins who thought he would bounce back with a return to the NL. That proved to be untrue so far until his most recent start where he 3 hit the Rays through 7 innings. His fast ball has remained bad and will have to wait and see how this year turns out for him.

We saw the Javy sad face a lot

 Mark Melancon was a prospect who was viewed highly and as a future key man out of the Bullpen perhaps even the successor to Mariano. He only pitched 20.1 innings with the Bombers before he was traded to the Astros for Lance Berkman. Many people have decried this trade especially since he was good with the Astros last year and this year he has really been the only good one in their bullpen and is now closing for Houston. Again hard to know if he would ever have been sucessful as a Bomber, but we wont have to face him very often to find out if we regret this trade.Best of luck to you in Houston Mark.

Chad Gaudin was a Yankee who was brought in as a Starter in 2009, where we won every game he pitched. He competed for the 5th starter job in 2010 spring training, didnt make it and was cut and signed by the A's. When he was cut by the A's we brought him in as our Lets just get this over with guy. He boasted a 4.5 ERA through 48 innings and his biggest contribution was a very attractive girlfriend and now wife by the name of Syndal Gordan. My girlfriend informed me that their wedding and dress picking out was on TLC. After the season he was cut and signed with the Nationals where he was mediocre before going on the DL with Shoulder trouble and he could be out for awhile.

His wife is literally the first thing that comes up when you google him

Segio Mitre, the experience if you will, was traded in spring training for Chris Dickerson. The Brewers needed another bullpen arm espchily a long reliver/spot starter as Greinke was on the DL and Chris Dickerson has the potential to be a decent all around backup and is a better backup lefty bat option than Colin Curtis, i wrote about this trade here. The Yankees didn't need Mitre and getting Dickerson was a steal because they probably would have just released him if not for the trade. Mitre posted a career year in 2010 with a decent 3.33 ERA, but no wins and fans did not like "the experience" despite a good job as the long man in 2010. Mitre has been very good with the Brewers posting a sub 2 ERA in 21 inning of work so far and while that is likely not where he will finish the year he will likely be more appreciated in Milwaukee than he was in New York.

Kerry Wood has had a very interesting career formerly being one of the top starters in baseball before burning out his arm. He then moved to the bullpen where he was very effective and signed a two year deal with the Indians before the 2009 season. He struggle in Cleveland and was traded to New York where he posted an unreal 0.69 ERA in 26 innings. The Yankees declined his $11 Million option for 2011 but were reportedly still considering him before he turned down more money to sign a 1 year $1.5 Million deal to return to the Cubs. He has been pretty good with the Cubs so far posting a 2.41 ERA. Wood apparently really wanted to resign with the Cubs, but in retrospect picking up his option may have been a good idea as Carl Pavano 2.0 aka Rafiel Soriano is being paid $35 million over 3 year and may need season ending elbow surgery. The Yankees will definitely miss Wood this season and all genitalia related jokes that now cannot be said while watching the Yankees (however we do have Dickerson).

Wood is missed

Dustin Mosely began the season with AAA Scranton after spending parts of each of the last 4 years with the Angels. He took Pettitte's spot in the rotation after looking better than Mitre and was overall mediocre in the rotation and poor in the bullpen. He was non tendered after the season and signed with the Padres. He became something of note for going winless in his first 5 starts despite a sub 2 ERA. however his most recent starts have been mediocre to bad, but his most recent on May 23rd was again good but no run support. Some may show this as the Yankees missing out but we saw what he did in the AL East and I don't miss him.

Do you have to grow a beard when you stop being a Yankee?

The Reason we don't still have Alfredo Aceves is a mystery to me. I know he missed almost the entire 2010 season because of his back and that he got into a motor cycle accident during the off-season, but the guy still had minor league options, was versatile as he could start or relive very well. On top of that he is only 28 and if we got something for Mitre we definitely could have got a return on Aceves. The worst part is that Aceves signed a deal with the Red Sox and has been good for them this year. I talked about it before he signed here and I am still upset about this as I would really really like to have Ace back right now. Of all the people that we lost/dealt Ace is the only one I just do not understand, Brain Cashman said that the Yankees Doctors thought his back would continue to be an issue, but seriously why non tender a guy with a 14-1 record and minor league options.

Apparently it is a rule. You are missed Ace

Millwoood, Pitching, Outfield depth and more!

After a winter and spring full of courting the Yankees finally signed Kevin Millwood to a minor league contract. Millwood had been holding out for a major league contract but it became very obvious that nobody other than the Yankees was interested in his services. Millwood's deal is incentive laced and he could earn up to $5 million with base pay and incentives. He will have a base pay of  $1.5 million get half a million for every 5 starts and $1 million for 30 starts.  Unfortunately for Millwood he has been throwing 85 mph potato's and he hasn't thrown any real innings all spring; he also had a 4-16 record last year with a 5.10 ERA in 190.2 innings. Millwood deal is no risk for the Yankees and while some think he's going to battle for a rotation spot he will start the year in AAA, with an opt out date of May 1st. Millwood is a depth signing and he is only a year removed from a good year in 2009 when he went 13-10 with an ERA of 3.97 in 198.2 Innings for Texas. Millwood's stats are strange to see, in his last 4 seasons he had an ERA over 5 except in 2009. Brian Cashman made a smart move, he knows that Millwood is an experienced starting pitcher and this signing is a no risk with possible reward signing. I think that it's very unlikely that Millwood will ever be a true part of the rotation this year, but if Nova, Garcia or Colon falter early then he could be a useful depth pitcher to have until a better alternative can be found and that is what he was signed for.

The other notable transaction that occurred today was the trade of Sergio Mitre "The Experience" to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Chris Dickerson. Chris Dickerson is a depth outfielder who will likely take Granderson's spot if he is not ready for opening day, but he will likely spend most of the year in Scranton. Dickerson is a depth player, but he is a good return for a player was likely going to be released if he wasn't traded. The Brewers got a needed long man and spot starter who had his best ERA (3.33) last season and he will be in a much lighter hitting division that the AL East and could repeat his performance from last year if the Brewers are lucky. Chris Dickerson is now the most experienced depth outfielder for the Yankees to call up, he's a lefty batter and he hits better than our other lefty depth outfielder Colin Curtis.  that it's likely that one of the Yankee's depth outfielders will be traded/released or demoted to AA in the future as the Yankees will want to try and move their outfield prospects up the farm system and get people like Brandon Laird playing time in the Scranton outfield and that will be hard to do with 5 outfielders of AAA starting quality. Jordan Parraz, whom I wrote about in a previous article, is the likeliest candidate to be released and I would expect that he would be released before or when Colin Curtis has recovered from his shoulder injury. Best of luck to you Sergio, I was probably the only Yankee fan who actually liked you.

Good luck as a Brewer (Antonelli/News)

With the trade of Sergio Mitre the 4th, 5th and long relief spots are decided to be Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia and Ivan "Super" Nova. The only person whose role is more than likely set is Ivan Nova who will likely be the Yankees fourth Starter after having a great spring and a decent September, lets hope he can carry that over into the season. The last two spots will go to Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, coming into the spring it seemed likely that Garcia would get the 5th starter job and Colon would be released, however Colon decided to pitch very well this spring and seemingly earn himself a rotation spot over Garcia. However Colon hasn't pitched a single inning anywhere since 2009 and nobody seems to believe that he will be able to last the whole year, he is a former CY young award winner who used to pitch 200 innings every year. Colon has been throwing 93 consistently this spring, but he used to throw 96-97 and has not lasted a full season since he won the CY  in 05. Colon could be used in two ways, he could be given a rotation spot and used until he burns himself out or he could be given a long relief role and he might last the whole year, but Colon has made 1 relief appearance in his career and we don't know how he will fare. Colon is pictured below:

Bartolo Colon

Freddy Garcia is another former top of the rotation pitcher who has never been the same since suffering a shoulder injury, but he went 12-6 last year with a 4.64 ERA in 157 innings and does historically have horrible spring trainings. Garcia will be with the team come opening day and the only real question is if he will start out the year as the 5th starter or the long relief man. There is really nothing Colon or Garcia can do to make their way into the rotation as the Yankees will decide their roles based on how they feel about their other assets in the minors. If the Yankees want to make Colon and Garcia last the whole year then the best scenario would be having Garcia as the 5th starter and put Colon in the long relief role where he can stretch out his innings over the year and hopefully make it through the season free of serious injury. But if they simply want to get as much use out of Colon then Garcia will likely start the season as the long man before he moves into the rotation when Colon eventually falters or if anyone else is ineffective or injured. This may be interesting for the Yankees as they can replace the long man in the bullpen much easier than a new starting pitcher, the Yankees can use any number of their AAA pitchers to replace a long man including Hector Noesi, D.J Mitchell or any number of other players.

You can listen to some much better blogger than me talk about  the Yankees pitching and outfield depth on the RAB radio show:

Mark Prior is also still around and he provides the Yankees with some very good bullpen depth if he can prove himself in AAA. The only note with Prior is that if he really starts doing well in AAA then the Yankees will likely deal him before he has the opportunity to opt out. I'd really like to see Prior get called up but ideally he will never pitch an inning in pinstripes as that would mean that the Yankees bullpen stayed healthy and didn't need him. Prior has looked good this spring and if he can keep it up he will be pitching in the majors this year, but hopefully not with the Yankees.

Another depth not is that the Yankees may be going with Gustavo Molina (no relation to the Molina brothers) as their opening day backup catcher until Francisco Cervelli returns from injury. Doesn't look like Montero will be on the opening day roster but I still fully expect that we will see him at some point this year. Molina is not notable for anything and takes light hitting to the extreme, which makes me think that the Yankees could be knocking on Chad Moeller's because despite his full knolledge that light hitting catchers are great defensively Molina has decided to have never thrown out a base runner in the majors before.