Still, a 10-9 win is hard to process. It means an overworked bullpen and a lineup continually stressed.
Such wins are not sustainable, and we must ask, where did all that vaunted Yankee pitching depth go?
Out the door, that's where.
This winter, the Yankees gave up 10 young pitchers in trades and roster moves. We won't know until July whether the losses outweigh the gains, but here's a snapshot of where things stand.
We traded four pitchers for Juan Soto:
Jhony Brito: He's thrown 13 innings, given up 2 ERs with 16 strikeouts. The Padres love him. He might be their best pitcher in camp. He's 26. Someday, the Soto trade might be remembered as "the Brito trade."
Randy Vasquez: Nine innings, six earned runs, nine strikeouts, five walks. Meh. Not so impressive. The Padres are working him, hoping he'll make the rotation. He's 25.
Drew Thorpe: Seven shutout innings, 3 hits, 6 Ks, before being part of the package dealt for Dylan Cease. Not sure what it means when a guy is traded twice in a winter, but if you figure the Padres converted Thorpe into a front line pitcher, not a bad return on the investment.
Michael King: The main cog in the deal. He's thrown just 5 innings and given up 2 hits, 4 strikeouts. Not sure why the light load. But if King were still a Yankee, he might be our opening day starter, in lieu of Gerrit Cole's barking elbow. San Diego wants King to be their ace. If he succeeds - (a big "if," obviously) - they might have three aces to show for the Soto deal. That would sting.
We also sent them Kyle Higashioka, who hasn't hit much this spring, but - hey - Higgy is Higgy, right? One year he led us in spring HRs, then went dead through May. The Higmeister does what the Higman desires.
We traded three pitchers for Alex Verdugo:
Greg Weissert: He's thrown six innings, given up a run, 8 strikeouts. Big sweeping curve. He's 28, no chicken of spring. He'd be competing for the back end of our bullpen.
Richard Fitts and Nicolas Judice: Neither has thrown for Boston this spring. Fitts is considered the most promising of the three. Sorta surprised he hasn't been showcased, at least as a sop to critics of the trade.
We lost three pitchers in the Rule 5 draft. (Selecting teams must keep them all year, or they'll return to the Yankees:)
Mitch Spence: The first player selected in the December draft, by Oakland. He's thrown 13 innings, given up 6 ERs and struck out 14. Obviously, they want him to succeed. Not sure if he's doing it. He's 25.
Matt Sauer: Hyped former high Yankee draft pick - grabbed by the Royals - has thrown 8 innings, given up 2 ERs, 10 strikeouts. Looks like he could stick. This would hurt.
Carson Coleman: Taken by the Rangers, hasn't thrown a pitch this spring. Assign him a parking spot. He's probably coming home.
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17 comments:
Great rundown, thanks, Duque. And from the looks of it, if we don't keep Soto and either keep Vertigo or deal him for something useful...those trades were disasters for us.
If Verdugo, Soto, and Gleyber all walk, do the Yankees get get draft pick compensation?
Don’t sweat the ST stats. I’m more guided by what they did during the regular season. In my estimation, the big losses were the law firm of Thorpe, Fitts, and King.(King will be a F/A after this year) Anyway, Soto wasn’t coming for a bag of baseballs.
The bigger issue here is the team’s failure to secure more viable pitching depth and the over reliance on aging relievers with bad arms (Effross, Trivino, Kahnle, who between them may not pitch an inning for us.)
Cashman has a lot to answer for; The root problem is he never does.
Let’s not forget JP Sears 13 IP 15SO 2.08 ERA.
I know spring training games mean nothing.
But I did predict a slew of 13-9 and 15-11 games.
I'm not sure the NYYs win all or most of them.
But the team sux. If they lose a lot of these games while scoring a lot of runs, it might well be worth watching anyway.
MLB pitching in general is shot. Was watching PTI the other day and they said last pitcher to get 300 wins was Randy frecking Johnson in 2009. Hell, Gerrit Cole only has 145 wins at age 33. Remember the rumors over the winter that Cashman was going to amass a "super bullpen"? How'd that work out.
Dick, here ii is from MLB.COM
“A team that loses a free agent that is ranked as a Type A, B, or C player will receive a draft choice as compensation. Determining which 'Type' a free agent is based on a statistical system created by the Elias Sports Bureau that uses statistics based on a 2-year average for each of the positions.”
So it’s not quite cut and dried. In order to receive draft pick the must tender a qualifying offer. The QO is a one-year deal set at the average of the top 125 salaries in baseball, and this offseason it is worth $20.325 million, and it will be more next year.
I’d say we’d defintley receive comp for Soto & Torres, not sure about Verdugo.
Yeah, acrilly, I've been banging at that for a while: the "super-charged bullpen" we were promised.
This has become standard operating bullshit for the Yankees: passing on a big signing or two or three—this year, YY, Monty, and Snell; in the past, Harper, Machado, Seagar—then making out that you're saving the bucks for something big to come.
It's always just a lie. There is no plan, there is nothing big to come, there's no grand strategy. There's just an ill-qualified little man in the GM's office, always desperately improvising, and learning nothing about the game as the years speed by.
That, and a weirdly diffident, distracted owner, who just wants everybody to get along and the bucks to keep pouring in.
Joe FOB, I would agree. But I fear that, with Judge's injury, we won't even get that much hitting. As previously noted, our lineup was never really "stacked," and with its gearwheel looking at another season of nagging, debilitating injuries, it won't produce even interesting losses.
My 69-93 prediction for the season is actually a pretty optimistic one—considering the age of this team, the battered starters, mediocre bullpen, and Judge's injury. The all-time Yankees record for losses—103, in 1908—could be in jeopardy.
Interesting recent opinion piece, courtesy of the sports section of "The Heavenly Star":
Cashman traded away (Jesus) Montero on January 13, 2012. That was a Friday the 13th, very poor timing. Since then, the Yankees have been plague stricken. By trading away Nicolas Judice (Judas) this winter, Cashman is attempting to expunge some of the bad vibes from the 2012 Jesus sale. His next move will be to procure another player named Jesus, to hopefully replace some of the lost good vibes. But Cashman ignores the fact that he himself, Cashman, is the modern Yankee personification of Judas Iscariot, who was Jesus' treasurer, according to the Gospel. Thus, until Cashman is relieved of his duties, the Yankees will continue to wallow in the mud. An honest look in the mirror is a very good thing.
@ acrilly, Hoss "super-charged bullpen"
Yeah, unfortunately, more like a dead battery.
As I've noted before Cashman is a one-dimensional thinker. Most of his brain is devoted to his ego. The fragment that remains can only hold one, long term thought. This season it was hitting. All his calculus for pitching was filtered through his ego. Ergo, 'we're great!'
On another note, the Texas Rangers placed RHP Carson Coleman on the 60-day injured list, March 9, 2024. Rehab from right shoulder surgery. Not sure how that affects the return policy for players exposed to MiLB draft. He was on the 60 day injured list when he was a Yankee. So they know they bought broken parts.
Dumb Trades R Us.
And when King has a great year and becomes a free agent, we won't get him back. He'll be too expensive, like Monty.
I hate this organization.
Maybe Pettite can step in and throw a few innings. He's stayed in pretty good shape.
Looks like the Sux are absolutely laminating us today.
Maybe Jeter was right - ST is 10 days too long.
The piching depth went into the Genius Cashman hole. Is it only me who sees what an incompetent putz The Genius is? I shake my head and let it go, when I hear great GM, future HOF er. He has done too much harm to the organization letely. Clueless Hal could have made it an easy transition. "B rian, we want to move in a different direction." Sabian and Minaya could have slipped in and they are excellent with player development. As long as The Genius is in charge, no championship. By the way, Cole is not the Genuise's fault. However, no backup plan.
There is only one thing left to do:
Tank the season, tender offers to Soto, Verdugo, and Gleyber (which they will likely refuse) and use the draft picks to create the next wave.
Just don't let The Intern make any of the picks.
And pray Giancarlo has a good year so he can be dumped at the TD.
Last place here we come!
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