Yankees bullpen advice

With Spring Training coming to a close soon, both Joe Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland have tough decisions to make.

Right now, Joe has said there would be 12 pitchers on the team (in recent years Joe Torre carried 12, but hardly used them).

The MEDIA assumes that all 5 starters will be healthy by Opening Day. I truthfully doubt Andy Pettitte will, so theoretically a starter MAY start the season on the DL. That being said, let’s just look at the guys officially penciled in:

Wang
Phil Hughes
Pettitte
Mussina
Ian Kennedy
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Kyle Farnsworth
LaTroy Hawkins

That’s NINE already. In my ideal world, Cashman should NOT have signed LaTroy and Kyle should have been traded last year.

Let’s go over the contenders:

Billy Traber has been impressive this Spring. He’s left-handed. He’s a journeyman with a so-so career (only 3 major league seasons). He was a non-roster invitee, who made the most of it.

Jeff Karstens hopes to be the long man and spot starter for the Yanks this year. He was horrible last year in his limited appearances. He really doesn’t have good stuff. His outings this Spring have been super and very bad.

Darrell Rasner is in the EXACT same boat.

Kei Igawa could be a sunk cost at this point. He dominated Double-A batters yesterday, which is a bittersweet victory. He’d best work on AA and AAA guys before he gets brought up to the majors again. His Spring has been inconsistent as well. He is a lefty.

Jonathan Albaladejo is a big guy who was excellent (14 games, and was almost untouchable) for the Washington Nationals last year. He’s had a good Spring.

Chris Britton is another big guy, who is well-known on baseball Internet message boards. He really is a hot prospect who has had a great Spring. He pitched for Torre last year in mop-up rolls, and did fine. He could be a breakout star one day.

Brian Bruney is the third heavy bullpen pitcher on the team. In 2006 he was great in limited appearances. Come 2007, he lost Joe Torre’s confidence and had serious attitude problems last year. Come Spring 2008, he dropped his extra weight and did a 180 degrees on the bad attitude. His Spring has been great, too. All three of these big guys remind me of Dave Weathers (circa 1996), which is a good thing.

Ross Ohlendorf did great in September last year. He’s tall, and has a great college background. He can actually start as well. He came over in the Randy Johnson trade on 2006. He is a smart pitcher and has excellent potential. He’s ready to be in the majors now.

My buddy Edwar Ramirez has struggled this Spring and will be hanging around AAA for a while again.

Scott Patterson is a Double-AA prospect who had a superb Spring (6 shutout innings). He’s too raw to call up, but he has made his name known to Girardi now.

Jose Veras has 2 years of mop-up innings under his belt with the Yanks, but at this point is nothing special.

Sean Henn, meanwhile, would be put on waivers and picked up by another team if he gets sent down again. Henn is a lefty and can be a long man or spot starter. Unfortunately, there is an argument that he has been one of the worst Yankees pitchers in history. Henn only pitched in 3 Spring Training games.

Assuming nothing changes in a week, here is my view of what Joe Girardi is thinking:

He likes guys who work hard and are trying to make the best of Spring. Girardi logically knows that he must evaluate past performance as well, but must weigh the morale of sending guys down with great Spring numbers.

This gives Billy Traber the inside track to make the team as the sole lefty. The bad news is that more than likely he will be like last year’s mistake of giving Jim Brower (a career journeyman) a chance because he was excellent in AAA minor leagues last year.

Girardi needs a guy with stamina to be a long man, so he’s probably looking at Karstens, Igawa, and Rasner. The bad part is that these guys have problems getting outs, and are “inning eaters”.

Girardi is probably considering Bruney, Britton, or Ohlendorf, with Albaladejo with an outside shot. As much as he likes the 23 year old Patterson, I doubt he’ll make the team at this point in the season.

Of course, IF one of the starters starts the season on the DL, someone will get a shot to make the team.

Here are my predictions for Joe Girardi’s 2008 Yankees 12-Man pitching staff (assuming all 5 starters are on the roster):

Wang
Phil Hughes
Pettitte
Mussina
Ian Kennedy
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Kyle Farnsworth
LaTroy Hawkins
Billy Traber
Jeff Karstens
Brian Bruney

Anyway, it is clear that Cashman BLEW it by picking up LaTroy Hawkins and kept Kyle Farnsworth. Those two guys make MILLIONS, and are blocking two young pitchers with potential who make minimum wage.

If I was forced to keep LaTroy and Kyle (like Girardi is):

Wang
Phil Hughes
Pettitte
Mussina
Ian Kennedy
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Kyle Farnsworth
LaTroy Hawkins
Ross Ohlendorf
Chris Britton
Jonathan Albaladejo

Here is my IDEAL bullpen if I was the GM:

Wang
Phil Hughes
Pettitte
Mussina
Ian Kennedy
Mariano Rivera
Joba Chamberlain
Ross Ohlendorf
Chris Britton
Jonathan Albaladejo
Brian Bruney
Scott Patterson

In this situation, Oheldorf could be the “long man”, and everyone else would pitch on the days Joba and Mo are resting. I couldn’t care less about having a “lefty” just to get David Ortiz out, simply because David Ortiz hits righties AND lefties. I’m not buying Traber. Igawa and Ramirez need more mork. Rasner and Karstens are cannon fodder. I would have traded away LaTroy and Kyle.

Ultimately, no one can predict with any confidence how a relief pitcher will perform since they throw such a small number of innings. That being said, I’d give spots to guys who are solid now, and whom the scouts said were good, as opposed to guys with poor major league track records.

I also want to stress that once Girardi picks his guys, he should let them play for a month (sim it), and only make promotions or demotions if someone gets injured. Playing revolving doors in April is unfair to the players and bad for the morale.

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Tags: andy pettitte, billy traber, brian bruney, bullpen pitcher, chris britton, darrell rasner, internet message boards, jeff karstens, Joe Girardi, Jonathan Albaladejo