TwitterHow Not To Spend $12 Million
14 Apr 2011
The Yankees have three lefty pitchers who each earn $4 million a year and none of them will probably be of any use to the club in 2011.
Start with Pedro Feliciano who has a torn shoulder capsule. Brian Cashman said the other day that Feliciano was “abused” by the Mets which leads me to wonder why the Yankees signed him feeling that way?
Damaso Marte had labrum surgery last October and has started playing catch. There a chance, not a big one, that he could be back at some point this year. Should we blame the Pirates for his problems?
Last, and certainly least, is Kei Igawa, the $51 million man. Kei set the career wins record at Scranton and is now currently pitching out of the bullpen in Trenton. Thankfully, this is the last year of his disaster of a contract.
That leaves the current Yankees with only one lefty in the pen, Boone Logan, and Logan doesn’t seem to be able to get lefties out right now. He has only faced eight of them this season, but they have tattooed him at a rate of .500/.625/.667.
The Yankees will obviously give Logan every chance to show he can improve, but what if he doesn’t? Andy Sisco is currently in Scranton and Steve Garrison is pitching in Trenton, but I think we all know the obvious answer is Manny Banuelos. Remember that Manny only threw 109 innings in 2009 and 64 in 2010 there is zero chance he is going to be starting the rest of the season. But, I could definitely see a late season callup to pitch out of the bullpen in his future.
One last note, Feliciano can obviously be moved to the 60-day DL. I wonder if the Yankees will do that and put someone new on the 40-man?
Apr 14, 2011 @ 21:17:03
I was worried about Hughes going into the season but I kept pushing it to the back of my mind. Since mid June last season, unless my math is wrong, his ERA is 6.18 in his starts.
Apr 15, 2011 @ 09:02:14
I don’t know about the exact number Tim, but he’s clearly been struggling since mid season last. Almost looks like shoulder fatigue.
Random thoughts from last night’s win:
Why did we have to watch Gardner in the 9th inning? Wouldn’t Andruw have given us a better shot at winning it in the 9th?
And, yeah, Colon looks like his uniform is way too tight but he’s certainly throwing really well. Is there a spot start for him in the future in Hughes’ place? And Nova seems like he’s destined to be the long relief guy – he’s good for nine batters and then not so good. Or maybe we just swap Nova and Colon – yep, that’s simpler.
Comment on Joba: his swagger is back. Nice job, big guy.
Yeah, I know, it’s only 11 games in and I’m already talking about shuffling two of the rotation spots but hey, makes sense to me.