Decisions, Decisions: Bullpen Edition
Yesterday the majority of Yankees positional players reported to spring training. Position player physicals began yesterday at 7:30 a.m. and live batting practice begins tomorrow (Thursday). With spring training barely underway, it seems as if Joe Girardi has already made some decisions in regards to the opening day roster. In an audio file on The LoHud Yankees Blog from February 22nd Girardi said “We’ll make sure that we take what we feel are the 12 best arms”. While this seems like a relatively unimportant and rather obvious statement by Girardi, it has many implications on the formation of the Yankees opening day roster. If Joe Girardi holds true to his words of taking 12 pitchers into the regular season, the Yankees have some major decisions to make.
Barring a significant injury, incredible/horrendous performance, or trade in spring training, the Yankees already have 10 of those 12 spots basically set in stone. The 10 pitchers that are just a formality short of being on the Yankees opening day roster are Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Vasquez, Hughes, Chamberlain, Rivera, Marte, Robertson, and Park. There has been speculation that whoever loses the Hughes vs. Joba battle will head to Triple-A to be stretched out as a starter, however, Girardi said the he sees the other going to the bullpen. With the 10 pitcher spots lining up as stated earlier, that leaves Gaudin, Mitre, Aceves, Boone Logan, Royce Ring, Wilkin De La Rosa, Jonathon Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, and Mark Melancon to battle out the last two spots in the pen. In the audio from February 22nd Girardi also noted that he would prefer to carry a second lefty on the roster. If the Yankees were to take this route the favorite to win the second-lefty job is Boone Logan, with Royce Ring and Wilkin De La Rosa following. Royce Ring is a veteran lefty specialist with funky arm angle (a tad higher than fellow lefty specialit and former Yankees reliever Mike Myers). De La Rosa is a 25 year-old lefty that converted from the outfield to pitcher in the 2006-2007 offseason. While De La Rosa has not broken into the majors, he has posted an impressive 2.61 ERA in the minors while striking out 251 batters in 227.1 innings. De La Rosa stands 6 feet tall and has a lively fastball that is regularly clocked between 93-96 mph and has touched the upper 90′s at times.
Assum
ing the Yankees do take a second lefty, that leaves Gaudin, Mitre, Aceves, Albaladejo, Ramirez, and Melancon to fight for the final pitchers spot. Albaladejo made the opening day roster in ’08 and ’09, Ramirez has had his ups and downs over the last 3 years in the majors, and Melancon was called up midseason in ’09. While all three have major league experience with the Yankees, they are considered long-shots to make the opening day roster at this point. The real battle comes down to Gaudin, Mitre, and Aceves for the final spot. While the three are competing for the fifth starter spot, heavy favorites for the spot are Joba and Phil. This leaves room for just one of the three as an option out of the bullpen. In the audio from February 22nd Girardi gushed about what Aceves did in the majors last year. Should be an easy decision then right?
Interestingly enough, Aceves is the only one out of the three with minor league options remaining (meaning he could be sent to the minors without having to clear waivers). Yankees execs have always referred to the team as a business and this is a circumstance in which I expect to see a business-like move. While Girardi said he expects to the the “12 best arms” , I feel that, barring a spring training roster change, Aceves will begin the season in the minors. The 12th spot will go to either Guadin or Mitre to avoid getting in a situation where one of them would have to clear waivers to reach the minors (neither are likely to clear waivers). While neither Mitre’s nor Gaudin’s contract is guaranteed (meaning the Yankees will not have to pay the contract in full if the players are released), the business move is to not give away what Girardi refers to as “quality arms”.
If the Yankees do decide to go the business route and take Gaudin or Mitre as the 12th pitcher, that still leaves one of them as the odd man out. My guess is that the Yankees will survey the trade market for Gaudin and Mitre and attempt to get a deal done in spring training. If a deal is not reached by the end of spring traning, look for the Yankees to either carry a 13th pitcher, or not carry a second lefty in order to fit both on the roster. If both Mitre and Gaudin made the opening day roster in the form of 13 pitchers or at the expense of a second lefty, it is likely that it would only be to prevent losing them to waivers. In this circumstance the Yankees would likely deal Mitre or Gaudin in the first few weeks of the regular season to make the additional roster spot open for the second lefty or a positional player.
An interesting scenario that I have seen in the past few days is that the Yankees take both Gaudin and Mitre into the regular season while waiving rule 5 draft pick Jamie Hoffmann back to the LA Dodgers. Hoffman is a 25 year-old, toolsy outfielder competing for 
a roster spot with Marcus Thames. As in accordance with the Rule 5 draft if Hoffmann does not remain on the Yankees 25 man roster the entire year he will be returned to the Dodgers. Speculation is that the Yankees may trade either Gaudin or Mitre to the Dodgers for the rights to Hoffman’s contract. This is a very sensible idea considering the Dodgers uncertainty around the 5th spot in the rotation and the Yankees lack of depth of positional players in the minors. The deal, which could even happen in spring training, would give the Dodgers a solid and inexpensive 5th starter, while giving the Yankees a solid upper-level minor league outfielder with the potential to compete for the fourth outfielder spot in the near future.
What are your thoughts on the Yankees bullpen situation? Will they take 12 or 13 pitchers? Will they take one or two lefties? Will Gaudin and/or Mitre be sent to the minors at the risk of having to clear waivers or will they be traded?
Photos courtesy of Zimbio.com
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of course all this barring injury ,Mitre will not be on the opening day roster Aceves will along with
Rivera
Marte
Hughes
Robertson
Park
the last spot will boil down to either a lefty ,Melancon if he has a lights out spring or Gaudin but I see Gaudin being traded with Aceves ,Park spot starting if necessary .No one talks about Jason Hirsh but he might turn out to be insurance if the Yanks jettison Mitre and Gaudin.Nova and McAllister could be mid season callups .
Ramirez ,Alba and Ring are zero shots.
I like DeLaRosa but he needs at least 1/2 yr at Scranton
What SHOULD they do?
Have Joba AND Phil in the pen….Gaudin as the 5th starter…Aceves to AAA for insurance as a starter and Mitre to the Dodgers for Hoffman’s contract.
CC, AJ, Javy, Andy and Gaudin
Mo, Joba, Phil, Marte, Robertson, Park and Logan.
Ring actually has a good chance if he keeps performing like he did in the first spring training game. Melancon may be in the majors this year but they will start him in the minors. He may be one of the earlier bullpen callups though.
What good what having Joba and Phil in the bullpen do? so you can pay CC Sabathia to pitch 6 innings a game then go Phil, Joba, Mo? That just doesn’t make sense. There is no way that they both start the season in the pen.
everyone seems to be forgetting about javier vazquez…..
Vasquez has been very quiet and easy to forget. He will be a huge piece of this rotation though. No doubt.
I do not like the idea of trading Mitre just for the rights to Hoffman. This would mean we basically gave up both Bruney and Mitre to get Hoffman, too high a price in my opinion. I would gladly trade Mitre to the Dodgers for the rights to Hoffman AND a Triple A type middle infielder, or better yet a guy who can play third base and be an emergency catcher. This way we traded two surplus pitchers to get two utility type players to fill out our minor league system and/or our 25th man.
I agree that getting Hoffmann’s rights and a utility type player would be much better for the Yankees but there are a few things you have to consider. If the Yankees do try to trade Mitre for Hoffmann’s rights the Dodgers clearly have more leverage because they know that if the Yankees just send Mitre to the minors they could claim him on waivers for nothing. In this instance if Hoffmann doesn’t make the 25 man the Yankees are out Bruney, Hoffmann and Mitre for nothing. If Aceves proves to be better than Mitre it would be beneficial to the Yankees to take on Aceves and get something in return for Mitre rather than just cutting their ties. Basically, beggars can’t be choosers and every club in the majors know the Yankees situations with their surplus of relievers and who has minor league options and who doesn’t so the Yankees will have little leverage under these circumstances.
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Aceves is better than Mitre.
Mitre shouldn’t even be in the conversation.
Mitre has NEVER accomplished anything in his brief stints in the bigs.
Why do people make such a fuss over him?
If it so happens NY dumps Mitre via a trade or releases him certainly no great loss.
Its that time of year guys. I am so pumped for the baseball playoffs. I predict the rangers is going to the WS.