Yanks Seek Pen Help
From the Post -
The Yankees continue to talk to the Dodgers about utilityman Wilson Betemit, but the Dodgers are also chatting with the Royals about reliever Octavio Dotel, whom they like a little bit better than Scott Proctor.
The Dodgers had scout Mark Weidemaier at Yankee Stadium yesterday. The Twins, Tigers and Marlins were also represented.
According to an NL talent evaluator, the Yankees’ top priority before the Aug. 1 trading deadline is to acquire a reliever. However, that’s high on a lot of teams’ list. The Tigers are talking to the Rangers about Eric Gagne and have an interest in Dotel.
The pitching-poor Devil Rays have told clubs they will “listen to anything about anybody” on their roster. The Yankees like utility infielder Ty Wigginton, but the Devil Rays are against making trades within the AL East. The Devil Rays could use Proctor, but indications they are looking for more than that for Wigginton, who can play first, second and third.
“The Yankees don’t want to give up the kids, and if they don’t do that, they aren’t going to get anything,” an NL scout said.
The Yankees’ need for bullpen help is directly related to Kyle Farnsworth’s fall from grace and out of the eighth-inning setup role, and to Proctor’s and Brian Bruney’s inability to throw enough strikes.
Jeff Karstens has shown some decent – albeit not awesome – control. Ditto Darrell Rasner. Why not give them a shot in the pen?
why did we pay dotel to rehab just so he could go to another team on his first full year back? that makes no sense. Even though he was bad last year, thats usually the case with that kind of surgery no?
Kartsens, Rasner, Britton, Ramirez, Chamberlain, Kennedy…
Why the Yanks aren’t looking within for help is beyond me.
Why are they interested in Wilson Betemit? Why do they think that Octavio Dotel is worthy of bringing back?
As to why they don’t try Rasner/Karstens/Edwar Ramirez/Chris Britton…well, you’d have to ask Cashman and Torre. Cashman really seems to straddle the line between trying to build from within and yet never fully embracing the minor league system. It makes no sense that he’d try to trade for bullpen help when he hasn’t even given Chris Britton a chance to supplant Farnsworth/Bruney/Proctor/Villone…
MJ, Cashman’s major flaw is his reliance on Torre’s idiosyncratic roster needs. Look at Edwar Ramirez languishing in the pen for 14 days. Don’t you think Cashman sent him up to…maybe…pitch? Instead of acting like a real GM and having some backbone, the little twerp continues to submit to Mr. Torre’s insanity. There is every indication that Cashman knows where this franchise should be headed (the stockpiling of pitching talent from the draft, pursuing superior prospects with signability problems that George’s money can solve, and scouting globally)but Torre has consistently given PT to aging veterans who he can “trust” as well as plausibly blame for any failures (see ARod, Kevin Brown, Tony Womack, the list goes on). He has never shown the kind of patience you need to actually DEVELOP a contending team, he is, at his best, a steady hand at the wheel, no more, no less. He keeps asking for veterans he can place in his “circle of trust” and Cashman keeps feeding the monster. Both behaviors, Torre and Cashman, are based primarily on keeping their jobs, arguably the highest-profile jobs in the industry. Cashman never wanted Piniella because he knew Lou didn’t regard him as a true baseball guy and figured Piniella would be whispering in George’s ear from Day One to get rid of him. The irony is that Piniella would have probably utilized the minor league talent Torre would ignore. Indeed, knowing Piniella, he would have gone through everyone on the 40 man roster and half a dozen others not on the roster. Say what you will about Lou but he wouldn’t have sat Edwar Ramirez in the bullpen for 14 days without seeing what he could do. If Ramirez sucked, he would have had Britton called up, etc., etc. Piniella a priori doesn’t “trust” anyone, he just wants results. All that said, I’d prefer Girardi over Piniella. But, last winter, Cashman’s concern was that Piniella not be offered the job. I hope he’s happy.
If the Yankees are so worried about the ‘pen, why are they willing to trade Scott Proctor? Scott is once again throwing a lot of innings, and he’s an effective middle reliever. Scott had some bad moments this year — I believe he walked in two winning runs already — but he’s definitely getting sucked into the black hole that is Kyle Farnsworth unfairly. No one is perfect — even Mo, Hoffman, etc. — will not get outs when he needs them. But Scott is a guy who’s durable, always willing to take the ball, and gets the job done MOST of the time. I wouldn’t get rid of Proctor.
And, yeah, it’s goddamned ridiculous that they’re talking about needing ‘pen help when Ramirez is in the ‘pen and they won’t pitch him, and Britton is rotting in AAA. I don’t think Karstens would work out of the bullpen as a one-inning guy, but Steven White has always been talked about as someone suited for the bullpen. He might be worth a shot. I wouldn’t make Chamberlain (and definitely not Kennedy) into bullpen arms either, which is something that was suggested on “Mike and the Mad Dog” yesterday. Chamberlain has the ability to become a stud, ace pitcher — there’s no reason to mess with that arm now.
The bottom line is that the Yankees need another arm, but they’re talking about giving away one of the few reliable ones they have, and they’re not giving a shot to two guys (maybe three guys) that can actually help.
(Also, Veras is just starting to throw again, and T.J. Beam is back in AAA.)
Yeah, but bailey, Veras, Beam, and Henn are dead to Torre. He hankers for new (old) blood. Always. That’s what he knows. 12 years of managing the world’s most expensive baseball team. The Farnsworth situation smacks so much of Torre’s favorite ploy…Enrique Wilson in rightfield. It’s the cross Cashman has forced himself to bear.
do Cash & Joe realise there’s a guy named Edwar in the pen who hasn’t been used in two weeks?! the dude has a plus-plus changeup. nevermind Britton, Henn, Karstens, Horne, etc. as other options.
baffling…
Honestly, at this point there’s no reason to even talk about Edwar Ramirez. Given how long it’s been since he last saw action, calling on him would result in failure. There’s no possible way you can not pitch in a game in 2 weeks and then come into a game and be sharp.
I’m not advocating they not use him, just stating that when they do use him, he’ll bomb and then Torre will never use him again after that.