Bruney For October
When it comes to the Yankees post-season roster, I expect them to carry 12 to 13 pitchers.
You know that Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Lidle, Rivera, Farnsworth, Proctor, Villone and Myers will make the cut.
Where it gets interesting is the final 3 (or 4) slots on the post-season pitching roster. Here’s the pool of candidates:
Jaret Wright, Jeff Karstens, Octavio Dotel, Brian Bruney, and T.J. Beam.
Torre will probably want to keep Wright for insurance on Johnson and Mussina – in case they pull a “David Wells 2003″ on the day of one of their starts.
This leaves four pitchers fighting for two, maybe three, slots.
Based on “experience,” Dotel will probably get one of the jobs – unless he explodes during September.
So, assuming the Yankees carry 12 pitchers in the post-season, and you had to choose between Karstens, Bruney, and Beam, for the last man on the staff, who do you choose?
I would toss out Beam, to start, because his results have been mixed, to date. And, this means it’s between Karstens and Bruney.
Now, Bruney has more experience at this level than Karstens – and he’s pitched in pressure (as a closer for the Diamondbacks). Plus, he can gas it up there with the best of them.
But, Karstens probably has better control than Bruney – and, he can give you more length in an appearance (assuming that he does not melt under the playoff spotlight).
And, that’s the thing here – remember Karstens was pitching in Double-A at the start of this season. And, for that reason, I would lean towards Brian Bruney (as being the 12th man on post-season pitching roster).
Of course, how he pitches in September will influence this decision as well.
C’mon, Steve. You know that Wright is the fourth starter on this team. Do you really think they’re going to start Lidle in the playoffs? I think he’s going to be in the ‘pen. And Dotel — even if it’s just because of all the hoopla around the signing — is in the post-season, too (though it would be great if he actually pitched in the REGULAR season a bit).
Karstens, Bruney or Beam? Hard choice. Beam is the most talented of the three (yeah, yeah, he has had some issues). Bruney throws hard, but he has no control, and he’s been hit hard while up here. Karstens can be another longman, but you have Lidle for that, and Karstens in a flyball pitcher. So he could be scary out of the ‘pen (a walk, a bloop and then a home run can erase a lead very quickly).
But it’s probably going to be Karstens (who actually started out in AAA, went back to AA, and then back to AAA) and Bruney, who Torre seems to like.
By the way, Veras is also coming up, and Sean Henn is coming up Sunday with Rasner. After that I’m sure Bubba and/or Thompson will get a call.
I’m curious to see Henn again, who’s coming back from injury and working strictly out of the ‘pen. Before he originally got hurt, Henn threw 100 miles an hour; that reduced greatly after surgery, but they say that now, coming out of the ‘pen, he has some of it back.
baileywalk – you really think Wright’s resume is better than Lidle’s? Joe has said many times that Wright keeps you on the edge of your seat.
If Torre starts Wright over Lidle in the post-season, he’s more clueless than anyone ever thought.
Personally, I think it’s toss-up as to who’s better. I think when Wright trusts his fastball and mostly throws it, he has better stuff than Lidle (his problem is that he nibbles with changes and curves and runs his pitch-count up). I’m not sure Lidle’s resume is special. And while here he’s been good half the time and terrible the other half.
Torre is also about loyalty, and Wright has been here longer (I know that sounds childish, but baseball can get childish sometimes). Torre likes to use words like “grinder” and “guts” and all that old-school macho bullshit — and Wright defines those words. So Torre digs him. And I would be shocked if he wasn’t the fourth starter in the playoffs.
We have to hope the teams to make the playoffs in the AL are the Tigers, the Twins and the A’s. If those are the teams, we’ll be okay with Wright starting. Our pitching staff can pitch to those teams (as far as I’m concerned). I wouldn’t feel the same way about Chicago and Boston (with Ortiz and Manny back).
I think we have a good chance to go to the World Series here — just a good chance, not a lock, no jinxes — but what worries me is that we’ll probably be playing the Mets, who own two of our four starters. Johnson can’t pitch to them and neither can Wright. If we were playing the Mets, I would happily sub Lidle for Wright. But against the Tigers and Oakland? I’ll take my chances with Wright (not an attractive option, but Lidle’s hardly a Santana).
Remember when guys like El Duque and Roger Clemens were our #4 starters? I miss those days.
If the season ended today, I’d guess the Joe would go with Wright as the #4 for the loyalty/grinder reasons that baileywalk mentioned. That’s Joe’s thing. There’s time for that to change though.
As for the last pitcher slot, I think it will be Bruney if Mussina has a clean bill of health. If not, it will be Karstens. I don’t see Beam making the roster.
I’m hoping for the Twins as well and I think we’ll be meeting the A’s in the ALCS.
Between Wright and Lidle, it depends on who pitches better down the stretch. It very well may be a toss up.
However, I don’t know what makes you think they will go with 13 pitchers when Torre likes to cut down on pitchers in the post season. Most years they only carry 10 into the post season.
How about a combo of Wright & Lidle for the #4 slot. The only issue being which one goes the first 4 innings with the other going the next 4. Karstens gets to play long man out of the pen.
10 pitchers in the post-season? I think they’ll want to bring along Dotel, which means 11 for sure. And it’ll probably be 12, so Karstens or Bruney can come along.
With the way Joe uses the bullpen, an extra are is probably beneficial.