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.

White Sox F*** Up Again

First, Scott Linebrink. Now, Octavio Dotel. Here’s a list of things that are wrong with this signing (feel free to add anything I forget):

1. $5.5 million per year! Dotel is now the 3rd highest paid pitcher on the White Sox behind Mark Buehrle and Jose Contreras. Bobby Jenks, who pitched like 800 shutout innings in a row last year, makes less than $500,000 per year. To land a big contract as a relief pitcher, I guess you have to wait until you’re over-the-hill.
2. A two-year deal for a guy who cannot stay healthy for two years. I can’t wait for the White Sox to pay Dotel $5.5 million in 2009 while he rehabs his inevitable shoulder injury.
3. Maybe I’m missing something, but Dotel, who’s 34 now, has been pretty mediocre since 2004. Do White Sox execs have updated statistics incorporating the 2005-2007 seasons? If not, let’s get them those numbers. If so, I guess the White Sox expect some kind of Roger Clemens-non-steroid-induced-late-30’s resurgence.

Apropos to the White Sox, I read an article a few weeks ago (which I can’t find right now), opining that the White Sox are now one of the top AL teams. This is wrong. Their bullpen isn’t all that great, even if they get healthy years from Linebrink and Dotel. Their projected five starters — Buehrle, Vazquez, Contreras, Danks, and Floyd — are middle-of-the-road by AL standards. And, despite the additions of Orlando Cabrera and Nick Swisher, their offense is nowhere near the likes of the Red Sox, Tigers, and Yankees. Led by the inept Ozzie Guillen, I expect this team to be marginally better than last year, but not a playoff contender.

Remember Our Veterans

I like old people. But why do teams want veteran free-agent middle-relief pitchers so badly? Today’s example comes from an article discussing the Rangers’ off-season needs:

They want to add a veteran relief pitcher who can work late in the game...

They have interest in Eric Gagne coming back as their closer, but they may stick with Otsuka or Wilson as their ninth-inning guy and concentrate on finding a setup reliever. There is depth on the free-agent market in that area, including David Riske, Octavio Dotel, LaTroy Hawkins, Matt Herges, Ron Mahay, Rudy Seanez and Doug Brocail.

31-year-old Riske is a nice arm, and hasn’t exhibited Linebrink-like decline yet. After that, despite various degrees of success last year, there’s a lot of mileage on the arms of Dotel (33), Hawkins (34), Herges (37), Mahay (36), Seanez (39), Brocail (40). As I’ve written before, having these guys in your bullpen isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But veterans — like Linebrink — require more money and more security. To fill that last hole or two in the bullpen, a team would be wiser to take its chances with young pitchers who they won’t be stuck with if things don’t work out.