A quick look at the AAA roster doesn’t look too promising for possible starters to fill in for Wang while he’s out. If Ian Kennedy was healthy, he’d be the logical choice, but we can’t do anything on that front but wish him a quick and full recovery. Kei Igawa is… well… Kei Igawa, Kontos is on the 7-day DL, Nova has only just been promoted and McCallister is still in AA Trenton. The one name mentioned as a possibility is Sergio Mitre. Is he a legitimate option?
History: The Accused psp The Yanks acquired Mitre as a FA in January, after Mitre recovered from Tommy John surgery (the Yanks loooove their guys coming off of TJ, don’t they?). He’s been with the Cubs and the Marlins organizations, having good success in the minors, but never putting it together in the big leagues, due either to injuries or just sheer lack of stuff, it’s hard to be sure. He put up a 2.98 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 8.3 k/9 in AAA of 2004 (age 23) which got him a promotion to the Cubbies rotation, but his career major league ERA of 5.36 in 310 innings pretty much sums up his general futility against big league competition. This year, he’s gone 2-1 with a 3.26 ERA for Scranton.
Stuff: Mitre has a sinking fastball averaging 90.1 mph for his career. He mainly relies on that sinker, tossing in an average change and curve on occasion. A 90 mph sinker is slightly above average for a major league pitcher, but to rely on it extensively is dangerous. Lefties have generally slaughtered him.
A Mighty Heart video Outlook: The Yankees must have a certain amount of faith in him if they bothered to sign him off of all his injury problems, but his track record is not good. He’s been as bad as Igawa in the big leagues with similar questions, mainly: is his stuff good enough to get major league hitters out? The answer so far is no. Mitre may be a last ditch type option with the primary option being to stretch out Aceves and fit him into the role. Why not just stretch out Hughes, then? I don’t think they want to jerk him around, making him start the season as a starter, make him into a reliever, stretch him back out into a starter, only to put him back in the pen after a month. Aceves is an older, more experienced pitcher with a more resilient arm, so the risk is lesser. What do you guys think the Yanks should do?
