Hankenstein

In his short tenure, Hank Steinbrenner has already shown himself to be a loudmouthed idiot; but, he made a good deal of sense in his most recent tirade about Joba Chamberlain:

I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now. There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.

Winners of Yankees’ Bullpen Battle Announced

I’ve mentioned the group of Yankees’ righty relievers vying for several spots a few times. Well, Manager Girardi announced his 25-man roster today. And the winners are…

• Brian Bruney – the power of the mustache carries B.B.
• Ross Ohlendorf – makes the cattle call
• Dejo – loved this guy since the Yanks traded for him; I’m getting a Dejo jersey!

Losers, for now: Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras, Darrell Rasner, and Scott Patterson, who came out of nowhere this spring training and dominated.

2008 Preview: AL Contenders’ Bullpens

There are always surprises over the court of 162 games, but heading into 2008, there appear to be two playoff-caliber teams in each American League division. I’ve ranked the bullpens of those teams below. While rankings are generally useless, particularly for bullpens, it’s fun to look back on them months later and realize how wrong you were.

(1) Cleveland Indians - Joe Borowski is still the closer, but I think Eric Wedge realizes that the Rafaels are so much more valuable as a righty/lefty relief tandem; there isn’t a better bullpen duo in all of baseball. The Tribe added a hot-dog-eating champion cum relief pitcher in the off-season, and I’m a fan of young Vanderbilt alumnus, Jensen Lewis.

(2) New York Yankees - Playing favorites, are we? Well, kind of, but I really do like the Yankees’ bullpen this year more than I have in several years. When Joba moves out in June, as reportedly planned, this ranking might not hold, but as we stand right now, the Yanks have Joba, Mariano, Hawkins, Farnsworth, and the winners of the Bruney/Dejo/Ramirez/Ohlendorf/Veras/Britton battle for innings. The Yankees ascribed to the relief-pitcher free-agent method I’ve generally espoused on this site. In some respects, their success or lack thereof this year will be a reflection on me.

(3) Boston Red Sox - to quote Mr. Kesuke Miyagi, “Daniel-San! OK to lose to opponent. Never OK to lose to FEAR.”

I think the Okajimer Steamer is going to get hit early this year, lose confidence, and be a shell of his 2007 self. And that’ll be the thing that separates the Yanks’ bullpen and Red Sox’s bullpen; Joba will be better than Okajima. Boston’s supporting cast — Delcarmen, Timlin, Tavarez, Lopez, Snyder, Aardsma — shows promise similar to the Yankees’ bullpen.

(4) Los Angeles Angels - the once-dominant Angels bullpen comes into the 2008 season with more question marks than in recent years. K-Rod should be fine, but Scot Shields showed signs of wear-and-tear last season. That’s what happens when a reliever goes close to one-hundred innings per season for several years. Justin Speier is pretty solid, but let’s hope his recent hard-core spat with semi-competent lefty-reliever Darren Oliver doesn’t carry into the season. The rest of the bullpen consists of Chris Bootcheck, who is hurt and not very good anyway, and several rookies. Look out for Darren O’Day to emerge from this group and play an important role in the Angels’ bullpen this year.

(5) Seattle Mariners - After J.J. Putz, who emerged last season as the best closer in baseball, this bullpen is not too hot. It lost George Sherrill to the Orioles in the off-season, leaving Brandon Morrow and Sean Green to pick up the slack. In 2007, Morrow walked 50 batters in 63 IP and opponents hit .298 against Green. Those numbers are scary. There is some promise, however, for the Mariners. Eric O’Flaherty is a decent lefty specialist, and several young guys could be in line for the job left open by Sherrill. I expect Ryan Rowland-Smith to be in the mix at some point this season, if not right away. Oh, the Mariners also have a knuckle-balling reliever with no ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. So they’ve got that going for them.

(6) Detroit Tigers - We’ve gone over the Tigers bullpen before with our friend, Michael Rosenberg. While I disagreed that the bullpen was the Tigers’ biggest problem — the starting pitching sucks after Verlander — it certainly is a problem. And it’s even more of a problem now that Fernando Rodney is out to begin the season. The Tigers are going to need a breakthrough performance from someone, because Tim Byrdak, Denny Bautista, Jason Grilli, Zach Miner, and Bobby Seay is not going to hack it all season. At least the city of Detroit has hope for the bullpen…

• http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080319/SPORTS0104/803190366/1129/rss15
• http://blog.mlive.com/cutoffman/2008/03/sicom_tigers_bullpen_a_serious.html
• http://www.mlive.com/sportsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/sports-28/1206192544317550.xml&storylist=michigansports
• http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/COL22/802120384/1081

Guest Blogger: MJ’s Thoughts on Joba Rules 2.0 (In Brief)

Although my inclination is to believe manager Joe Girardi when he says that players’ roles will be defined at the end of spring training and not the beginning, it does seem fairly certain that the Yanks will be employing some form of the “Joba Rules” in 2008.

The current story is that Joba will be the primary setup man for Mariano Rivera from April-June and that at some point thereafter, he’ll be sent down to the minors to make a few starts in order to prepare his arm for the more taxing role of joining the rotation. Once he is recalled (probably sometime after the All-Star Break), he will be inserted into the rotation for the remainder of the season.

Here are my comments:

• Before addressing this version of the plan, I must ask: who will Chamberlain be replacing after he comes back from the minors in July? If everything goes according to plan – and we all know that over 162 games, it never does – the Yanks will have a rotation of Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Philip Hughes, and Ian Kennedy. If they’re all doing their jobs, where does Chamberlain fit in?
• Assuming something goes awry (safe assumption), the Yanks will be relying on Jeff Karstens, Darrell Rasner, and (don’t laugh) Kei Igawa. Of the three, Karstens is the most capable of filling in as a spot-starter. Check out his stats at this year’s World Cup…not too shabby! I’m still not seeing a spot for Chamberlain since I don’t predict the Yanks will go to a six-man rotation.
• Ok, onto the meat and potatoes of my problems with this version of the plan being floated by the media…

1. Although Girardi has a reputation for being less than old-school, I generally believe that all managers are conservative by nature, especially in New York where the second-guess rate is so high. If Chamberlain excels as an 8th inning pitcher and the next guy (Farnsworth? Veras? Britton?) flops, the temptation to pigeon-hole Joba back into that role will be too great.
2. If the inclination is to make Joba a starter, why not use him in the Johan Santana 2002/2003 role? Santana would get 3-5 innings every week or so, plus he could be used against selected batters or in high-leverage situations. Breaking him in at the big league level with that kind of workload worked for Santana so I don’t see why people are talking about putting him into two different worlds (short relief, then starting).
3. I don’t like the expectation that a pitcher can use two pitches (fastball/slider) for the first two months of the season, then go down to the minors for a while, and then come back with a good feel for his secondary pitches (curveball/changeup). Pitchers work on all of their stuff in spring training and then develop their feel as the weather improves in April and into May. Pitchers usually hit their stride six weeks into the season. This plan would ask Joba to work on all four pitches in spring training, shelve them for a long period of time, go back and work on them again (against minor league hitting), and then expect them to be sharp against big league hitters.
4. Finally, what is the opportunity cost in the form of replacement players? By this I mean, why would the Yanks want to take such a good pitcher and put him back in the minors for a three to five week period? By giving Chamberlain his apprenticeship in a Santana-like role, the team wouldn’t have to bring up an otherwise ill-prepared and no doubt inferior player onto their 25 man roster.

I guess that wasn’t so brief. I hope, at least, that it was coherent. Like I said before, this is just the media’s theory on Joba Rules 2.0. We’ll know more in six weeks.

Yanks Re-Sign Bruney; Hope He Re-Grows Mustache

The Yankees avoided salary arbitration and signed Brian Bruney to a one-year, $725,000 contract. Bruney had a disappointing 2007 after a short, successful stint with the Yanks in 2006, at which time he had a killer mustache.  Should Bruney re-grow said mustache for the 2008 season, it will be a very interesting bullpen battle between him, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Chris Britton, Ross Ohlendorf, and Jonathan “Dejo” Albaladejo.

Prediction: The pitchers that emerge from this group will be better than Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel this year.

Joba to Relieve and Start in 2008?

With Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Hughes, and Kennedy (assuming no trades), does it make more sense to put Joba in the bullpen next year and insert him into the rotation when one of those guys either goes down or is ineffective?

Good, brief analysis on this issue by River Ave. Blues.

My vote:  no.  If the Yanks want Joba in the ‘pen next year, I think you keep him there all year.   If he’s coming in to get 3 batters out during spring training and part of the season (possibly every other game per Joba Rules), I see little upside in putting him into the starter role where he’ll probably have trouble lasting longer than 5 innings.

Thoughts?

Yanks Getting Bullpen Savvy

The Yankees weren’t willing to give an older reliever a multi-year deal, and thus, in effect, ended up trading Luis Vizcaino, 33, to the Rockies for LaTroy Hawkins plus a supplemental draft pick. After rejecting a one-year deal with the Yanks through arbitration, the Rockies signed Vizcaino to a two-year deal for $7.5 million, with a vesting option for a third year that would bring the total amount of the contract to $11 million if Vizcaino makes 68 appearances in 2009. Hawkins will earn the same amount in 2008, but his contract is for just one year.

If you’ve taken anything away from this blog during its one glorious month of existence, it should be this: do not sign thirty-something relief pitchers to multi-year deals. Because of their erratic nature, it’s a huge gamble that cuts into the payrolls of small-market teams and limits the roster flexibility of big-market teams.

Luis Vizcaino and LaTroy Hawkins have had similar levels of success in the majors. If I had to guess, I’d say that Vizcaino will be somewhat more productive next year — as Hawkins was this past year — because he’ll be pitching in the National League. But with relievers, you never know. And that’s why the Yankees came out better in this swap.

Below: Vizcaino in a really awkward, full-body photograph.

LaTroy Hawkins To Be First “LaTroy” to Pitch For Yankees, But Not First “Hawkins”

Here’s a brief, exciting e-mail exchange between me and loyal Loogite and fellow Yankees’ fan, MJ, on this signing:

MJ:

LaTroy Hawkins is close to becoming a Yankee for 2008. He’s apparently going to get himself a one-year deal at $3.75M. It’s a one year deal which is nice but LaTroy Hawkins isn’t exactly what I’d call lights-out. On the bright side, Farnsworth now has a former teammate he can walk back from the bullpen with (2004 Cubs).

John Stevens:

Hawkins is very shaky, but with the current state of free-agent relief signings, I guess a one-year deal is the most you can hope for. This seems to squeeze out one of Veras or Ohlendorf. Not sure Hawkins is an upgrade.

MJ:

I don’t know who it squeezes but the Yanks definitely seem to be collecting righties for the bullpen. I guess it’s not a bad thing because they can always have Bruney/Britton/Veras/Ohlendorf/Ramirez in the minors on the ready as a musical chairs bullpen. Spring training will be interesting to see how Girardi builds his bullpen around Rivera and Farnsworth.

Joba Understands Importance of Relief Pitchers

Joba Chamberlain is a kid with his head on straight. After signing autographs for students at Modell’s in Times Square (Gnopple — did you go to see him?), Joba told reporters that whether it’s starting or relieving next year, it’s a “win-win.” The Yankees have indicated that Joba will start, but it’s clear that he just wants to help the Yanks reclaim their place as baseball’s best:

“Whether I pitch 200 innings or 90, I think the jobs are equal. I’m starting another life. I hope I can help them any way.”

Joba is one of the reasons why — despite Boston’s purported rise to being the best in baseball — it’s fun to be a Yankees fan again. And, apropos to this blog, Joba is the most exciting reliever out there. Unfortunately for us, it looks like he’s exiting Loogy Land, leaving us up to our ears in Scott Linebrink, etc.

The Perfect John Stevens Storm: Yankees Trade for Middle-Relief Pitcher

See that guy to the left? He’s 25 years-old. He’s 6′5″ and weighs 250 pounds. He’s a flame-thrower. He’s a New York Yankee.

With all the attention on Johan Santana, the Yanks made an under-the-radar trade, swapping Tyler Clippard — one of several pre-pubescent starters who was forced into action early last season — for Jonathan Albaladejo. Albaladejo, who I like to call “Dejo,” pitched just 14.1 innings last season out of the Nationals’ bullpen, but was impressive: 12 K’s, .628 WHIP, 1.88 ERA, 224 ERA+.

Welcome to New York, Dejo!