Brian Cashman Making Good on the Justin Wilson Trade

I have to eat a little bit of crow today because I was one of those fans, writers and Monday morning quarterbacks that were killing Brian Cashman when he made the head-scratching decision to send relief pitcher Justin Wilson to the Detroit Tigers for RHP’s Luis Cessa and Chad Green. Well hindsight being 20/20 and all the New York Yankees did pretty well in the trade and got just what they wanted out of the deal, true starting pitching options for the team going forward.

Having a great bullpen is one thing but if you don’t have an arm or two that can eat innings to save the bullpen and pitch well enough to hand the bullpen the lead what do you really have? Also, where would the Yankees be right now and this season without Cessa and Green? Probably dumpster diving for a starter well past his prime, that’s where. Think Chris Capuano.

Now have Green and Cessa been aces in waiting? Well aside from Green’s last two starts, no, but they were never donned future aces in waiting either. In fact most teams only have one ace on the staff and the rest of the team is filled out behind that ace. Cessa and Green are likely #3 - #5 starters based on projections but isn’t that and all six years of team control worth more than any relief pitcher? Especially when that relief pitcher is not a closer? I have to say the answer is yes, especially after seeing the two young guns pitch lately.

No matter what you say or think six years each of a 4^th and 5^th starter, worst case scenario, is still better than a few years with a left-handed specialist reliever. Every day of the week. Kudos to Cashman. 

Where the Hell is Johnny Barbato?

You heard me, where the hell is Johnny Barbato? At one point this season the New York media, bloggers and such were calling Barbato the Yankees “secret weapon” and now these same journalists are writing about how thin the Yankees middle relief is outside their three-headed monster. So I say again, where the hell is Johnny Barbato?

Barbato made the Yankees out of spring training this season and pitched many meaningful and effective innings for Joe Girardi at the beginning of the season. In an extremely limited sample size Barbato, ignoring the small sample sizes in ERA and FIP and instead focusing on things that aren’t ballooned up by one or two bad innings of relief, Barbato struck out over 10.0 batters per nine innings while limiting his walks and hits allowed. Does he have the Robert Refsnyder going on or something?

Listen. I fully realize that Barbato only faced 53 batters in 15 appearances and I am fully aware of his 4.14 FIP and 5.54 ERA and I am in no way saying that he will be the savior and the absolute answer to the Yankees middle innings relief problem. What I am saying is why do you give a guy a shot and he proves himself only to snatch the rug out from under him after a bad outing or two? That doesn’t happen when Stephen Drew goes a season and a half and couldn’t hit water in an aquarium and that doesn’t happen when Esmil Rogers, Chris Capuano and other veterans couldn’t strike out a little league team but it seems to happen to the Yankees prospects and I’m fed up.

I say one last time. Where the hell is Johnny Barbato?

Old Faces in New York Spring Training Places

The New York Yankees have seen a lot of turnover over the past few seasons and especially during the 2016 offseason so I thought now would be a good time to see how those former Yankees faces are doing in different spring places. Not that spring stats mean much of anything at all but it can still be fun to look at to see if the team “won” a specific transaction or not.

Adam Warren:

Tm	GS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
CHC	1	0	0	5.14	4	1	2	7.0	7	6	4	1	0	5	1.000	9.0	1.3	0.0	6.4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Stephen Drew:

Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
WSH	16	37	4	9	3	1	8	0	4	8	.273	.351	.455	.806

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Brendan Ryan:

Tm	Age	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
WSH	34	17	30	5	11	2	0	3	0	1	5	.379	.400	.517	.917

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Rookie Davis:

GS	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
0	4.50	1	0	2.0	2	1	1	0	1	1	1.500	9.0	0.0	4.5	4.5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Chris Capuano

Tm	GS	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9
MIL	0	0	0	1.69	7	0	1	10.2	9	2	2	0	3	8	1.125	7.6	0.0	2.5	6.8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Chris Young:

Tm	Age	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
BOS	32	14	37	4	7	3	2	6	1	3	6	.206	.270	.471	.741

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Jake Cave: 

Tm	Age	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
CIN	23	22	54	5	11	1	1	3	1	5	11	.229	.302	.313	.614

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Jose Pirela:

Tm	Age	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
SD	26	21	52	5	18	5	1	4	0	1	8	.353	.365	.510	.875

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

What if the Yankees Go Injury Free in 2016?

Welcome to spring training, the foreplay of the Major League Baseball season. It’s where the games don’t count and where the players with roster spots take it easy. It’s one of the few times where everyone is in first place and the sky is the limit in the hope department. There are a lot of “what if’s” in spring training though that need to get figured out before the season, for example what if Robert Refsnyder can play third base? Does he still begin the season in Triple-A with the RailRiders? I like the short-sighted speculation like that but at the same time I prefer to play devil’s advocate, analyze and look at everything from both sides and throw a “what if” out there that cannot be answered for quite some time like what would happen to the New York Yankees and how far would they go if the team went relatively injury free in 2016?

Could we expect a 40 home run season and 150 games played from Mark Teixeira? Another 30+ home run season from Alex Rodriguez and seeing him pass Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list? Another 30 starts and a whole lot of myths and rumors squashed about his and five doctors decision to skip Tommy John surgery and rest and rehab the ligament instead? Jacoby Ellsbury finally living up to the hype of being a $150 million man? Yes, yes, yes and yes.

While there are plenty of upsides to having a generally healthy season there will always be a con to every pro. We won’t get to see much, if any, of Aaron Judge since Carlos Beltran will play the bulk of right field and Aaron Hicks will fill in when needed at the position. We won’t get to see much Robert Refsnyder either if the Yankees stay healthy all season as Starlin Castro and Chase Headley get the bulk of the playing time at second and third base respectively. We’ll still get to see Gary Sanchez, Brian McCann and A Rod will need days off throughout the season to keep them healthy and fresh, but not enough for my liking as a self-professed prospect humper.

While we squabble over playing time and the lifelong debate of veteran or prospect if the Yankees stay healthy you will see them back in the postseason regardless. This team is littered with youth and littered with talent and if they can put it together collectively as a group and stay healthy you may see 90-92 wins in 2016. I truly believe that. Health and staying fresh means the offense somewhat resembles the 2^nd highest scoring offense they were in 2015, the pitching of Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Luis Severino and others stay in the rotation rather than Chris Capuano, Esmil Rogers and others who struggled in the rotation last season, and it means a dominant back end of the bullpen. All these components equal victories and a damn good season for not only the players and the fans but for the city of the Bronx as well. Go Yankees, stay healthy!

Familiar Faces in Different Places

The New York Yankees did not add a single major league free agent to their team this offseason and much of the reason why was the fact that New York did not have much coming off the books in terms of players and dollars. While the Yankees did add Aroldis Chapman and Starlin Castro is separate trades the team remained virtually the same from 2015 in many key areas. The Yankees lost three free agents this season in Chris Young, Stephen Drew and Chris Capuano while the team also lost Jose Pirela, Adam Warren, Brendan Ryan, Rookie Davis, Eric Jagielo and others in the Castro and Chapman deals. We've seen the new faces don Yankees pinstripes on Yankees photo day and today we look at those familiar faces who are sporting uniforms in different places. As painful as it may be please try to enjoy.

Adam Warren - Cubs

Justin Wilson - Tigers

John Ryan Murphy - Twins

Jose Pirela - Padres

Brendan Ryan - Reds

Chris Young - Red Sox

Chris Capuano - Brewers

Chase Whitley - Rays

Rookie Davis - Reds

Stephen Drew - Nationals

Jake Cave - Reds

FORMER Yankee Update: Chris Capuano

You know Yankees family I have been extremely worried about a certain Yankee pitcher and his possible return to the club this offseason, I even wrote about it once this winter. Chris Capuano, seemingly Brian Cashman’s “BFF,” I compared to Candy Man stating that if I said his name three times that the Yankees GM would be forced to re-sign him. I felt bad that I had accidentally said his name three times and I was just sitting idly waiting on the news that the Yankees invited him to spring training or signed him to a minor league deal or something. Good news though Yankees fans, Capuano will not be back in the Bronx in 2016.

Capuano signed a minor league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers this week and will head to their spring training camp looking to break the active roster with the club out of camp. Capuano, now 37-years old, went 0-4 with a 7.97 ERA with the Yankees last season in 22 appearances and had as many losses as he had designations for assignment with the club. In 11 seasons in the majors Capuano has posted a 76-91 record and a 4.39 ERA including a five-year stint with the Brewers from 2004-2010.

Good luck Chris, I truly mean that.

The 2015 TGP Awards

Welcome ladies and gentleman to the second annual The Greedy Pinstripes Award Show live from Yankee Stadium. We're going to be doing things a little bit differently this time around and we're not going to be handing out the traditional awards. We already know who the MVP is and who the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Award candidates were for 2015. Those are given out by the BBWAA and the IBWAA, here at The Greedy Pinstripes we have a different set of awards to be given out.

The first award of the night is the "Andruw Jones" award for the player we are likely to rather see elsewhere by June of 2016. This is in no way, shape or form meant to be a slap in the face or an insult, sometimes the team and the fans are going in two totally different directions and the fans want what the fans want. The nominees are Carlos Beltran, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Aroldis Chapman. And the winner is..... Carlos Beltran!

Beltran should be decent with the bat but his defense in right field and his throwing arm out there is not getting any better. In fact it is only going to get worse the more mileage that gets put on those knees and right shoulder. Beltran was not here to accept the award on his own behalf.

The next award is called the "Scranton Shuttle" award and it will go to the player we think made the most trips back and forth between Scranton and the Major Leagues in 2015. The nominees are Caleb Cotham, Branden Pinder, Nick Goody, Nick Rumbelow and Chris Capuano. And the winner is, with 25 appearances in the MLB bullpen and the man who began the Scranton Shuttle in 2015, Mr. Branden Pinder.

Pinder was the first arm to begin the process of coming up, pitching a night, and going back down. Many did it before him but he was continuously called back to the majors when his 10-day window expired. Pinder was out of the country using his frequent flyer miles he built up during the 2015 season and was unavailable to accept the award on his own behalf. 

And the final award of the night goes to the player who got the greediest during the 2015 season. We call it the "Get Greedy" Award and it's the big one of the night. The nominees are CC Sabathia who will make the most in salary with $25 million, Jacoby Ellsbury who is making over $21 million next season and looking to bounce back from a tough 2015 season, Mark Teixeira who will go for the "contract year" in 2016 before hitting free agency presumably for the final time in his career or the entire Yankees bullpen who will likely throw more innings combined than the starting rotation in 2016. And the winner is... the Yankees bullpen!

None of Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, Ivan Nova, Chasen Shreve, James Pazos and the rest of the crew could be here but the bullpen is expected to take on a lot of the load in 2016. Chapman will likely close before hitting free agency next season while Andrew Miller becomes the best 8th inning man in the game. In the 7th, and most times the 6th inning as well, Dellin Betances will be the fire man and the multi-inning reliever while Chasen Shreve, Branden Pinder, James Pazos, Ivan Nova and others compete for the rest of the innings that the starters can't give the team. 

Thank you for coming out to the second annual Greedy Pinstripes Award Show! Happy New Years everybody!

Brian Cashman… Don’t Even Think About It!

The New York Yankees bullpen has taken a hit in recent weeks with the trades of both Justin Wilson and Adam Warren and Brian Cashman is presumed to be scrambling and working the phones to fix the problem. A problem it is as the Yankees starting rotation fails to give the team six innings per start on a consistent basis leaving the pressure on the bullpen for three or more innings a night. The Yankees traded away a lot of bullpen innings from 2015 and traded away two of their more trusted arms in big spots, bottom line is the Yankees need a new Adam Warren.

That’s the part that worries me. While many beat writers are wondering if it’s going to be James Pazos Jacob Lindgren or the laundry list of other names we’ve donned the “Scranton Shuttle” from the minor leagues to fill the spot or another big trade, say for the Nationals 8^th inning man Drew Storen, to fill the spot I’m over here genuinely worried. There is a man still on the free agent market that has spent parts of the last two seasons with the Yankees. He’s a veteran pitcher that can both start and relieve. He’s a pitcher that Joe Girardi has fallen in love with for whatever reason and an arm that Brian Cashman seems fond of. He’s also an arm that was designated for assignment like 19 times last year, an exaggeration to drive the point home. I don’t even want to say his name because he may be like Candy Man and show up back on the 40 man roster for a 3^rd season.

Chris Capuano!

Cashman, don’t even think about it. Fine, I can’t really stop you from thinking about it but I can strongly advise against it. Please? Chris Capuano is not the answer, he’s not young, he’s not as versatile as you think and he’s just not good or serviceable anymore. Bottom line. Don’t even think about it Cashman. Chris Capuano…. Crap… that makes three times doesn’t it?

Sorry everyone, in advance. The next Adam Warren is coming. Call it a hunch. 

Rich Hill the 2016 Version of Chris Capuano, Only Better

Back during the summer of 2014 the New York Yankees let left-handed reliever Matt Thornton go to the Washington Nationals in a straight waiver claim with the promise that the Yankees young talent would begin to funnel into the bullpen out of the minor leagues. One Josh Outman and one Rich Hill signing later and the Yankees had their replacements, neither of which were Yankees prospects mind you, although both were ultimately designated for assignment before the 2015 season. Outman has not had any significant time back in the Major Leagues since then but Hill reinvented himself as a starting pitcher with the Boston Red Sox and enjoyed a rejuvenated second half with the ball club. Hill is set to hit free agency this season, wouldn’t he be the perfect candidate to be in 2016 what Chris Capuano was supposed to be in 2015?

Hill will be 36-years old when the 2016 season begins, the same age as Capuano, but the similarities don’t stop there. Both reinvented and rejuvenated their careers with other teams before catching the Yankees eyes and both can easily bounce back and forth between the bullpen and the starting rotation. Both are left-handed and would serve as more than suitable long relief roles with the club. The biggest glaring difference is that if a Yankees starter goes down and Hill pitches like he did for the Red Sox this season he could make an immediate impact for the Yankees in the rotation. Capuano, on the other hand, merely gave the Yankees some innings and tried his best to keep the team in those games before burning out the bullpen. Hill could quietly be a difference maker for the team in 2016.

With the Yankees roster seemingly set and the majority of the money allocated towards 2016 already spent New York is going to have to get creative, get depth and get lucky if they want to compete for a World Series championship next season. It will be players like Hill, the bench roles that can play multiple positions and bring versatility and the minor league deals and the one-year deals that catch lightning in a bottle that is going to separate New York from the other teams in the American League East Division. Does that start with Hill? If it doesn’t then it probably should. 

Yankees Remove Sergio Santos, Diego Moreno off 40 Man Roster

UPDATE: 8:10 pm ET

The New York Yankees have also released Chris Martin.

The New York Yankees offseason has officially begun and so has the 40 man positioning and roster adjustment. The New York Yankees sent two players off their 40 man roster today when both Sergio Santos and Diego Moreno, right-handed starting pitchers, were activated and outrighted off the 40 man roster and to Triple-A with the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders.

Moreno battled an elbow injury this season and had to be activated off the 60-day disabled list before his outright to Triple-A. Santos was also activated off the 60-day DL after undergoing Tommy John surgery this season but Santos has elected free agency for whatever reason. 

It is also worth mentioning that the Yankees cleared three more 40 man roster spots today when Stephen Drew, Chris Capuano and Chris Young hit free agency. 

The Plan To Sign Jason Heyward & Trade Brett Gardner

The New York Yankees have almost all of their positions and roster spots set in stone for the 2016 season as we sit here on September, 29. The second base position will be open with Stephen Drew hitting free agency, the 4th outfielder position will be left open with Chris Young hitting free agency and a few bullpen slots will be open with Chris Capuano hitting free agency, that's it. The Yankees have one of two choices here really, they can head into 2016 with basically what led them to the postseason in 2015 or they can get creative trading away Major League talent, signing Major League talent and continuing their youth movement. You guys know me, I started a blog called The Greedy Pinstripes, so you know what I want to do and you know that I come with a plan.

One player that the Yankees had discussions about in the winter of 2015 before he was ultimately traded to the St. Louis Cardinals was Jason Heyward. Heyward is set to hit free agency after the 2015 season at age 26, something you are seeing less and less of in the days of the luxury tax and profit sharing in Major League Baseball, after probably surpassing the 6.0 WAR plateau in what many consider to be a down season for the Cardinals.

The problem with acquiring Heyward is the team has no place to play him. Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran are all under contract for the 2016 season and are all set to make significant salaries with the team. The good news, for lack of a better term, is that only two of them have full no-trade clauses meaning one could be traded to fill a spot for a starting pitcher or second baseman, Gardner.

The experiment, in my opinion, of having Ellsbury and Gardner hitting at the top of the same lineup has failed. It has failed because neither men are stealing bases or helping the team create runs. With a team that is reliant on the home run and less on manufacturing runs and big innings the team needs to make a change. Station to station baseball with some of the speediest guys in MLB is not working for whatever reason and Heyward, a left-handed batter, would help alleviate the problem. Slotting Heyward into the second hole in the starting lineup gives the team more on-base percentage, more pop in the lineup and more chances to score and score big when the likes of Brian McCann, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez come up behind them.

I love Gardner, I truly do, and I love everything that he brings to the table. His grittiness, his hard-nosed approach to the game and all the other intangibles that cannot be defined by simply heading over to Baseball Reference but his greatest asset, his speed, is being under-utilized with this team. Sending Gardner in an offseason trade with, for an example's sake, Ivan Nova and prospects could fetch the Yankees a good second baseman and the final piece to the puzzle while getting younger, and in my opinion better, in 2016.