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Did The Yankees Fall For The Small Sample On Gaudin?

Posted by Moshe Mandel at 6:54 pm 8 Responses »
Mar 232010

According to Ed Price, the Yankees have placed Chad Gaudin on waivers. This means that another club could claim him and take on his entire 3M dollar salary, he could clear waivers and go to AAA, or he could clear and reject the assignment and become a free agent. This move comes after Gaudin moved to 0-3 with an 8.38 ERA on the spring, while his primary competition for a roster spot, Sergio Mitre, continued to impress. However, Gaudin pitched just 9.1 innings, and Mike Axisa at RAB wonders, did the Yankees make this decision based on a tiny sample size?:

In over 460 career innings in the American League, Gaudin has been the definition of league average. His 4.25 ERA equals a 101 ERA+, his .271 batting average against isn’t much worse than the .265-ish league average (basically one extra hit every 142 at-bats), and his 6.5 K/9 is right around the 6.8-ish average as well (one fewer strikeout every 30 IP). His walk rate (4.2 BB/9) is definitely high (~3.4 league average), but he mitigates it somewhat with a strong groundball rate (43.7%). There’s nothing sexy about league average, but it’s very valuable in the role he’s expected to fill.
Mitre, on the other hand, has never been league average at much of anything, even before having Tommy John surgery. Even in his best season (2007), he put up a 4.65 ERA (93 ERA+) and a 4.8 K/9, both below average by any measure. And that came in the NL, in a pitcher’s park. His groundball rate (59.7% career) is spectacular, but missing bats and avoiding contact is the name of the game in the AL East. Oh, and Gaudin’s more than two full years younger.

On the face of it, this seems to be a poor decision based on spring training stats. However, as Mike touched upon earlier in his post and a number of readers on Twitter noted, this may be the best way for the Yankees to keep all of their pitching depth in the organization. If they had waived Mitre, his low salary and strong spring performance make it likely that he would have been picked up by another team. Conversely, Gaudin costs 3 million dollars and has had a poor spring, such that there is a reasonable chance that he makes it through waivers and is available to the Yankees should they need him later in the season. Considering that the role that they are fighting for on the Opening Day Roster is that of mop-up reliever, it is not a huge deal if the lesser pitcher makes the club. While it seems counterintuitive, the Yankees probably made the right move.

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Why Is Berroa Still Here?

Posted by EJ Fagan at 10:14 pm 8 Responses »
May 312009

As Ben at RAB summarized so well, the Yankees are not using their full roster right now. Angel Berroa was virtually unused in the month of May. Jose Veras has allowed runs in the few appearances that Joe Girardi has bothered to give him. Brett Tomko hasn’t been much bet nor frequently used.

The result? The Yankees are essentially playing short handed. We’ve talked at length here about calling up Shelley Duncan or Todd Linden, Mark Melancon, or others. I think that the more interesting question is why the Yankees seem to be going with inferior options.

Angel Berroa?

The Yankees haven’t even made an attempt to keep Berroa fresh. He has just 12 at bats on the year. For some reason, the Yankees don’t want to DFA him and send him to the minor leagues. Why? I can think of three reasons:

  1. They are holding Cody Ransom’s spot on the 40-man roster.
  2. They are afraid of Alex Rodriguez’s hip breaking on them.
  3. They are waiting for a trade.

None are particularly good reasons to hold on to Berroa instead of replacing him with someone useful. The Yankees saw during Ransom’s failures that Ramiro Pena could do anything better than Berroa, and that Brett Gardner was a better pinch hitter. Alex Rodriguez seems to be healthy, so being overly cautious by keeping a back-up for the backp-up is foolish. Cody Ransom’s 60-day DL stint will last at least another two weeks. I have trouble believing that the Yankees held on to Berroa for almost two extra months because they were waiting for Cody Ransom.

But what about a trade? Could the Yankees plan on adding a bench player to the 40-man roster without subtracting one? Mark DeRosa was one rumor, but there are a dozen or more players that the Yankees could attain that could add something to the team.

With Nady returning, the hitting roster could look like this:

9 starters.
Cervelli/Molina
Nady/Swisher
Ramiro Pena
Melky/Gardner

Looking at this roster, it doesn’t make much sense to add Shelley Duncan or Todd Linden. Once Nady returns, the OF/1st base crowd will be crowded without any additions. The veteran who sits will serve as the primary pinch hitter, and Shelley and Linden would see very little time. On the other hand, the 4-man bench looks fairly well balanced with Xavier Nady returning. Mark DeRosa seems superflous except as a poor defensive option at center.

I’m guessing that, barring a trade of an OFer, Berroa comes off the 40-man roster for a relief pitcher. My bet is on George Kontos.

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Brett Tomko Added, David Robertson Optioned

Posted by EJ Fagan at 4:22 pm 15 Responses »
May 092009

Peter Abraham has the news. The Yankees continue to puzzle me. After Robertson did such a good job cleaning up for Mark Melancon the other day, they send him down. Meanwhile, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras, and Jon Albaladejo are stinking up the middle innings. Robertson is now and in the future the better pitcher.

Albaladejo and Edwar have options. No word on the 40-man change. Its probably not Berroa, unless the Yankees have added another player to the 25-man roster that we don’t know about. I’m guessing that Xavier Nady hits the 60-day.

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Yanks make moves

Posted by Chris H. at 3:26 pm 10 Responses »
Mar 212009

From Bryan Hoch:

The Yankees made six roster moves prior to today’s game:

Phil Hughes, Steven Jackson and Anthony Claggett were optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, while Humberto Sanchez was optioned to Double-A Trenton.

Additionally, Jason Johnson and Sergio Mitre have been sent across the street to Minor League camp. Brian Cashman said there just aren’t enough innings to go around this late in camp.

I’m sure we’ll see Phil Hughes again this season…

(props to RAB)

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