Yanks Shopping For Bullpen Help?
Via Ken Rosenthal -
The Yankees, in dire need of a setup man, eventually will target the best available late-inning relievers — the Rockies’ Huston Street, Diamondbacks’ Chad Qualls and Astros’ Jose Valverde. In fact, they already have expressed interest in Street, according to major-league sources.
Each of those pursuits, however, would be complicated.
The Rockies, lacking an internal replacement for Street, do not plan to trade him until just before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, if they trade him at all. Don’t look now, but the Rockies’ eight-game winning streak has left the team only 4 1/2 games back in the wild-card race.
Qualls, meanwhile, recently missed time with forearm tightness. And Valverde has been on the disabled list since April 26 with a right calf strain. The last thing the Yankees would want is a health risk, so other relievers such as the Orioles’ Danys Baez also could appear on their wish list.
Street, Qualls and Valverde?
Hey, they’re the LaTroy Hawkins, Damaso Marte, Felix Heredia, Tanyon Sturtze, Scott Proctor, Gabe White, Felix Rodriguez, Alan Embree, Chris Britton, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Juan Acevedo and Paul Quantrill of the Yankeeland future!
Speaking of “future,” what ever happened to Sean Henn, Steven White, J. B. Cox, Matt Smith, T.J. Beam and Steven Jackson?
So what would your solution be, oh wise one? And let us be honest, outside of Marte and Quantrill, the three relievers discussed here are much better than anyone on that list.
Fire the G.M. and hire one who can build a solid pitching staff.
@ Steve Lombardi:
Yeah, good answer. Instead of identifying viable bullpen options, you deflect to your trusty “fire the GM” meme.
You asked for my opinion and I gave an honest answer. No deflection. If you don’t like my opinion, then do not ask for it or read this blog.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
C’mon Steve. You know as well as I did that my question regarded who you would acquire to help in the bullpen. You ignored that question because you dont have an answer better than the three listed names.
perhaps the best bullpen arms are the guys you’ve never heard of?
yagottagotomo1 – - No. The “who to trade for” question is a bandaid. Better, in my opinion, to look at the root cause of the issue – meaning why do the Yankees have a need for help in the pen? And, to me, the answer there is that their GM has done a poor job at building it. Hence, my answer.
I dunno, the bullpen seemed to do well last year, and most, if not all the guys were returning…
(1) Florida’s Dan Meyer seems like a pretty effective lefty this year. Wonder what it would take to pry him away from the fish…
(2) Come on, Steve, at least try to develop a cogent and responsive reply.
Raf wrote:
Right. This whole line of argumentation ignores the indisputable reality that bullpens are absurdly volatile. The Yankees had a better bullpen than Boston last year. The year before that, the Red Sox had a better bullpen. The year before that, the Yankees had a better bullpen. See a pattern?
The reason bullpens are volatile is because they are composed of middle relievers, who are flawed pitchers. It is impossible to fill your bullpen with consistently excellent relievers because there are so few consistently excellent relievers.
The best strategy is probably to have a great closer and a reasonably consistent set-up man and fill the rest of the bullpen with a stable of young pitchers who don’t cost very much and can be mixed and matched as needed based on performance. Sometimes it will work better than others, because that stable of young relievers that doesn’t cost very much is bound to be volatile, and there’s always the chance that those two reasonably consistent relievers will get get hurt. This is the strategy the Yankees have taken for the past couple seasons. Worked well last year. This year, not so much. Maybe it will work well again next year.
Why anybody would think another GM could do better, I have no idea. No GM has cracked the code to the perfect bullpen. Because there is no such thing. It’s mostly an exercise in luck.
I will say, though, that Jose Veras has been given way too long a leash.
Cashman has consistently proven he knows NOTHING about pitching. Why keep throwing darts at a board?
I dont see Theo having these issues in regards to bullpen.
I generally disagree with most of what Steve writes about Cashman and his account of the 2001-08 Yankees, but I think he’s dead on about Cashman’s inability to build a bullpen. Yes, I know that relievers are flawed and unpredictable, but the amount of money at Cashman’s disposal can correct for at least some of that. Instead, every year it’s basically the same retreads + Mariano and a prayer that they’ll hold it together. Sometimes that works out better than others, but I’m sick of hanging hopes on the return date of people like Brian Bruney or Marte. When Cashman has spent money, Farnsworth, Hawkins, it’s gone to transparently flawed relievers. Every baseball fan knew when Farnsworth was signed that he’s inherently untrustworthy. Somehow Cashman didn’t think so. And all of the minor league help that was supposed to bolster the pen has not really materialized other than Aceves, who may be turning into a pumpkin as we speak, and maybe Coke, who is hard to get psyched about.
I think they should get Dotel. Never should’ve let him sign somewhere else in the first place. I think he’s tradable for less than what Street or Valverde would cost.
@ Jake1:
look at RS bullpen from last year. I want some one to name one bullpen that has been consistent for the past 4 years with the same pitchers. doesn’t happen because your in the bullpen because you’re FAILED STARTER. I take my leave from this blog now.
Jake1 wrote:
2005? 2006?