On Tuesday my colleague Daniel talked about Francisco Rodriguez, and concluded that the Yankees should take a shot on the reliever. Mind you, he said that while having a minor league contract in mind, and I'd be okay with the Yankees signing just about anyone on a minor league deal. Well, it's not going to happen.
Earlier today the Rodriguez not named Alex agreed to a one-year major league contract with his old team, the Milwaukee Brewers. Francisco will earn $3.25 million, and can earn another $550,000 with incentives.
I'm happy with what the Yankees have done to improve their starting rotation and batting, but their bullpen going into this season has me nervous. After David Robertson, there's not another guy that I feel that good about. So I really hope Cashman can work his magic and change that.
I'm not thrilled with our bullpen either, but here is my unsolicited opinion. I think Robertson will be just fine in the closer's role. Kelly or Claiborne should be able to handle or split setup. Between Thornton, Cabral, or even Banuelos we should have at least one good lefty. And the remaining pitchers that don't get the 5th rotation spot can fill in the rest of the pen.(Pineda, Warren, Phelps, Nuno, etc.)
ReplyDeleteJeff Levin.....if you had Grant Balfour's name, either to the front, or to the rear of Robertson's name..
ReplyDeleteyou would be feeling better.
Patrick you're killing me! How can a pitcher have a name like "BallFour" anyways. Just kidding. Balfour is a good pitcher, but there's three reasons I'm glad we didn't sign him. First, he's a fly ball pitcher that I don't think would translate well to Yankee stadium. Second, if he did sign, Robertson would probably have gotten little to no leeway to adjust to his new role. And third, I just don't like paying a reliever not named Mariano Rivera that much money.
ReplyDeleteJeff......two quick points before I run.
ReplyDeleteBalfour, besides being good, would of been the Paul O'Neil, of that bullpen. Missed opportunity.
I'm sorry, but you guys have to give this Mariano thing up..He does not pitch for the Yankees any longer.
That day is done, that ship has sailed.........etc.
I'm going to make one more argument against Balfour. And since I see you're an avid student of Thomas's sabermetrics, I'll use that. On BaseballReference, they have a category on Nuetral Parks. If you take Balfour out of Oakland and put him in a neutral park, he becomes an ordinary pitcher with an era well north of 3, and nearly a full run higher than Robertson in the same situation. And that's in a neutral environment. Not the hitter's paradise known as New Yankee Stadium.
DeleteI already made that argument, used about 20-30 sabr stats that D Rob annihilated Balfour in, including BIPs. Balfour lost them all, nobody cared.
DeleteAre you and I the only ones that didn't want Balfour? By the way, great article on steroid forgiveness. I find the hypocrasy of the old school voters hilarious. For some reason, they can condone methamphetamine use, but condemn steroid and HGH use. Don't get me wrong, I'm against both. But one is performance enhancing as the other. I think anybody that has admitted and accepted should be forgiven.
DeleteIf there were many they were not as vocal as you or I.
DeleteAnd thank you, It got a lot of likes and surprisingly I wrote it all in less than 15 minutes.
Interesting, I have an article in the works on D-Rob. Check back soon.
DeleteNo Jeff..you, Daniel and I have said the same thing! We don't need him!
DeleteThomas C..
DeleteI too have read and copied your classes for another day, when I have the time to digest everything!
Damn good work...thank you!
use all those stats to see why Balfour would have been bombed in Yankee Stadium III
DeleteI think I am probably less worried than most about the bullpen. Sure I would like to KNOW the bullpen is going to be great but think about it. Think about the job that Joe Girardi has done, most of the time on the fly, with the bullpen.
ReplyDeleteGirardi has had a great bullpen ever since he took over getting the most out of guys like David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain (at times), Preston Claiborne, Adam Warren, Shawn Kelley, Boone Logan, Luis Ayala, etc. Most of the guys were not well known or even really respected much ( D Rob got sent down like two or three times before he stuck for good) and Girardi saw the talent, mixed and matched well, and won wont it.
I don't expect to have the best bullpen in the league, I expect it to be a running thing for a while unfortunately, but I expect the ship to be righted. I expect big time contributions from the likes of Dellin Betances, Cesar Cabral, Mark Montgomery, etc. We will be fine, maybe not right away, but we will be fine.
Daniel...
DeleteWhy do you do that to me? That was about what I was going to type up!
Another thing to think about fans, we have around two or more guys that may be able to close IF D-Rob falters. Closing is something that takes an attitude. Of all the pitchers we have, one has to have a bad attitude!
I know, but, but Mo didn't have a bad attitude...oh, but he did!!!! Think about it, how many pitchers do you see, throw inside as much as he did...it wasn't only to get them out per-say, it was also to keep them from diving over the plate when he dumped it over the out-side corner.
Not anything more than my opinion.
Dellin Betances has an attitude, he just has to be given a chance to show it. Dude is intimidating.
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