One year later, Washburn deal makes sense

I’ve believed all along that the Yankees don’t need to make a trade and I still believe that.  But let’s face it: the Yankees might be the best team in baseball right now and they would be foolish not to do everything possible to make a World Series run.  With Wang going on the shelf for at least a year and perhaps forever, the Yankees could use another pitcher.  Sure, they could use Hughes or Aceves in the #5 spot or stick it out with Mitre, but if they can get a decent arm relatively cheap, they need to do it.

A year ago there was a lot of talk of the Yankees acquiring Jarrod Washburn and I think that it makes more sense now than ever.  He’s having a good season, he’s left-handed, and he won’t break the bank in terms of prospects.  The question, really, is do the Yankees have the finances this season, considering their already high payroll and the deflated economy, to take on Washburn’s salary?  And if they don’t take on his total salary and expect money back from the Mariners, would that mean they’d have to give up some significant prospects?

Cashman is a stealth negotiator, so don’t expect much of what he’s working on to be public.  But considering that both Joba and Hughes have inning limits this season, I fully expect that Cashman will acquire at least one arm.

Pena probably the answer in CF

With Brett Gardner out with a broken thumb, the Yankees need someone to split time with Melky in centerfield.  While prospect Austin Jackson is clearly an option, it seems silly to rush him up when he needs regular playing time.  Shelley Duncan has been hammering the ball all season, but he’s a poor fielding corner outfielder; the Yankees need someone who can man center.

Well, luckily when the Yankees sent Ramiro Pena back down, they did so with the intention of him learning centerfield.  Looks like they made a good decision.  Calling Pena up gives the Yanks a ton of versatility, as we know he can also play a very good infield.  Gardner shouldn’t be out that long, so really Pena would only be a temporary.  And he only needs to give Melky a break probably once a week.

Tough break for Gardner who has been having a nice season.  The pressure is on Melky now to recapture some of his early season form.

Red Sox trying to shake things up

The Red Sox acquired Adam LaRoche and Chris Duncan yesterday, in an attempt to bolster an offense that has been mediocre despite playing in a little league park.  Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay both are having fine seasons, but otherwise the Red Sox lineup has a lot of question marks.  Will LaRoche or Duncan help?  Probably not significantly, as both figure to be more bench players – similar to the Yankees’ acquisition of Eric Hinske.  LaRoche is the better player of the two, but he’s a first baseman, which begs the question: is Mike Lowell healthy?  If Lowell is healthy, LaRoche becomes largely irrelevant, as he’s not that significant of an upgrade over Mark Kotsay, considering their relative amount of playing time.

Much like Cashman likes to “throw things against the wall and see what sticks,” Epstein probably figures that since these players cost only money and low level prospects, they are low risk and if one of them can get hot for a month, there is potential for upside.

I will definitely be following Mike Lowell’s playing time from here on in though.

Bruney could be key to dominant bullpen

In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Yankee bullpen has been pretty damn good of late.  Rivera is at his usual level of greatness and Phil Hughes is quickly becoming one of the best setup men in the game.  Phil Coke is as solid a lefty as anyone and Aceves is effective and versatile.  Both Robertson and Melancon, while not being key contributors now, are young and developing and have promise.  Who’s that leave?  Well, Brian Bruney of course.

In the beginning of the year, Bruney was absolutely dominant.  However, he’s been mostly terrible since coming back from injury.

In today’s appearance, he struck out the first two batters he faced and then promptly allowed home runs to the next two.  So clearly, the potential is still there.

Girardi needs to keep trying to get Bruney work whenever he can.  If Bruney gets even close to being the guy he was in the beginning of the year – and he was throwing 95-96 today so it’s not unreasonable – the Yankees bullpen could be the best in baseball.  The fact that I can say that should show just how volatile bullpens are.  After all, wasn’t long ago everyone was lamenting how terrible the Yankee ‘pen was.  This is why Cashman was smart not to overreact.  All the pieces were there, they just needed to be put together.

In need of a strong 2nd half

The first half of the season was largely successful for the Yankees but because they’re in the same division as the Red Sox and Rays, they’ll need a strong second half as well to get to the playoffs.  What players individually need strong second halves?  Let’s take a look.

Andy Pettitte. Recently I said that if Andy wanted, he could probably float around the NL for a few more years and make a run at 300 wins.  I still think this is true, but he absolutely needs to have a consistent second half.  Otherwise, the Yankees letting him walk at the end of the season will be a complete no-brainer.

Joba Chamberlain. Joba has hit a bit of a speedbump in his development.  This is certainly understandable considering his age, but Joba needs to start turning his considerable talent into quality starts.

Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod has had a streaky first half, probably due to his injury.  However, he was heating up right before the break and if he wants to dispel the “he won’t be the same player without streroids” talk, he needs to post a big second half.

Melky Cabrera. The Melkman was a revelation early in the season but once again has begun to swoon.  He doesn’t need to necessarily hit like he did in April – just enough to keep the platoon with Gardner working.

Brett Gardner. The other half of the CF experiment, Gardner has been giving Girardi reason for consistent playing time.  He’s a very good defender and base stealer and seems to be figuring it out at the plate.  The second half will likely determine what his future is moving forward and if he’s a real MLB caliber player.

Chien-Ming Wang. If he can just get healthy and get the ball every 5 days, he should okay.  Those are big ifs at this point though.

Hideki Matsui. Like A-Rod, Matsui was building some momentum going into the break.  A big second half would make him a lock for a major league contract next year, even if it’s not from the Yankees.

Sergio Mitre. Mitre will get his chance to start after the break and will likely be on a short leash.  He’s never done anything at the big league level before and is coming off Tommy John surgery.  He has pitched very well at Triple A though and obviously some scouts think he has potential.  If he can make a contribution, it would be a great find for the Yanks.

Starting Aceves the logical call

Alfredo Aceves will replace Chien-Ming Wang in the rotation on Thursday.  The options were, likely, three: Aceves, Phil Hughes, or Sergio Mitre.  While Mitre has looked good and it’s always exciting to give a new face a try, if you look at his baseball-reference page, he hasn’t exactly been lights out in the past.

Hughes from a talent standpoint would be the best call, but for whatever reason Girardi has refused to use him for more than 1 inning, therefore starting him would be dangerous.  Aceves has been solid all year and recently pitched 4 innings of relief, so his arm is stretched out enough that 5 or 6 innings wouldn’t be completely unreasonable if he’s efficient.  You can probably expect that Hughes will also get some work in that game though.

It’s easy to fall in love with Aceves as a bullpen piece, but this is exactly why having a solid longman is so valuable.  Aceves is the most talented pitcher they could reasonably put out there, and as we’ve been over countless times, you want your best pitchers starting.  If all goes well, Aceves will be back in the ‘pen in a couple weeks once Wang rehabs.

This would be a very difficult situation if the Yankee bullpen was still a mess, but you have to credit Girardi with getting things together (primarily thanks to Hughes and Coke) despite Bruney’s relative ineffectiveness since his return.  If Bruney can shake the rust off, the Yankee bullpen should be formidable.

Glad I missed that one

Since my last post, the Yankees have been on a pretty good stretch and even if the Blue Jays are in a bit of a free fall, taking 3 of 4 from them is a good thing.  You’d like to see more consistency from Joba and Pettitte, but they easily could have won both games those two pitched and did in fact win one.

Yesterday’s game I only listened to part of on the radio and that was probably for the best.  I can’t stand when umpires blow fairly routine calls that have a large impact on the game and from the replays I’ve seen, the Yankees were victims of multiple such calls.  I know, I know, that stuff evens out supposedly, but does it really?  Why can’t we just figure out a way to get it right?  Sure, Pettitte and Bruney should have pitched better, but if the Jays had gotten a few bad calls instead, you’d be saying the same thing about their picthers right now.

The one good thing here is that there seems to be some pretty significant fallout over this game, particularly with Jeter being called out at third and then being told he doesn’t need to be tagged.  Sometimes you need one blown call to act as a tipping point for finally enacting some change.  It will probably take a call on a bigger stage (ie, playoffs) to make a rule change like more instant replay, but yesterday’s umpiring should at least make MLB look on its umpires with a more critical eye.

Building a super-sub

Ramiro Pena has been optioned down to Triple-A to make room for Eric Hinske.  Pena doesn’t project to ever be a great hitter necessarily, but he’s still young enough that regular ABs in the minors should help him.  Interestingly, the Yankees plan on playing him in CF, despite his great fielding ability at SS, 3B, and 2B.

This kind of move would seem to be geared next season.  If Pena can continue to develop as a hitter, even nominally, and play every critical defensive position extremely well, he’ll be a very valuable player coming off the bench, especially when you also figure in that he’s a good base runner.  The Yankees in recent seasons have been desperate to construct rosters that are more flexible and this kind of move can help accomplish that.