High and Tight.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

They're Finally Saying What I've Been Telling You for Years

Kyle Farnsworth has joined fellow bullpen mate Brian Bruney in repeating that Joe Torre had no clue how to manage a 'pen, and that he picked favorites (including when selecting a coaching staff):
Farnsworth:
After a year in which Farnsworth said he had communication problems with Joe Torre, the big right-hander is hoping for a better result under new manager Joe Girardi.

“It’s tough when you lose the confidence of your manager,” Farnsworth said Thursday. “You come in and prepare yourself day in and day out, and you have no clue about anything.”

Farnsworth went 2-1 with a 4.80 ERA in 64 games last season, but never threw more than one inning in an outing. He pitched in consecutive games just five times, and three straight days twice.

“I don’t know how that came about,” he said.

Farnsworth battled occasional problems with his back last season, yet said he could have pitched on consecutive days more often. His back has not been an issue this spring.

Girardi played with Farnsworth with the Chicago Cubs, which is giving
the pitcher a comfort zone.

“It’s definitely good to have,” Farnsworth said.

Bruney:

[Bruney] believes the changes on the Yankees' coaching staff - particularly Dave Eiland taking over as pitching coach for Ron Guidry - have helped him focus on the task at hand rather than worrying constantly about the consequences of a bad outing.

"I formed a relationship with Dave where he's easy to talk to," Bruney said. "In the past, I might not have had that relationship; I didn't talk to Gator."

Bruney also admitted to a level of fear in playing for Joe Torre, who was constantly criticized in recent years for overusing certain relievers.

"With Torre - and I'm not trying to bad-mouth anybody - sometimes you would go out there and try to be so good because you were scared of doing bad," Bruney said. "You can't pitch like that. (Joe) Girardi understands that you make mistakes - and I'm going to make them."

Girardi admitted to never hearing of Bruney before last season, but he isn't taking anybody's word when it comes to reputations.

On Aug.7, the Yankees sent Bruney down to Triple-A to open a roster spot for Chamberlain, a move Bruney didn't take well. He returned a little more than two weeks later when Ron Villone went on the disabled list, but he allowed runs in five of his final six outings of the season, prompting Torre to leave him off the playoff roster.

"I used to dread coming to the park," said Bruney, 26. "I enjoy getting up every day and coming to the field now."

"In years past, I was like, 'I can't ever go bad, because if I don't do good, I'm going to get sent down,'" Bruney said. "That means a salary cut, having to move. All that stuff becomes a big jumble in your mind. Now, it's easy to play.

"I'm not scared to fail."

You really didn't have to be a genius to see this was happening. Too bad the media largely ignored any mistakes by Torre until after he was long out the door.

Labels: all hail girardi, brian bruney, kyle farnsworth, torre is dumb

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 4:41 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Deadline Day

There's only hours left until the (non-waiver) trade deadline, and my guess is the Yankees will pull off at least one deal, if not more. Obviously the target for improvement would be in the bullpen, and the most attractive prize out there is Eric Gagne. The question then becomes would the Rangers lower their ridiculous demands, or would they continue to ask for the moon in hopes of signing Gagne to an extension (remember, Gagne is represented by the anti-extension agent, Scott Boras).

Farnsworth certainly seems to have worn out his welcome. It's a shame. The guy has all of the talent in the world but never really has learned to pitch. A big problem that the Yankees have right now is that they have too many similar relievers, guys with good fastballs without a lot of movement who relay mainly on that pitch alone (Farnsworth, Proctor, Bruney). One of them is going to go, and interest in Farnsworth seems low. Cashman has had an interest in Wilson Betemit for a couple of years now, and while the guy certainly has potential, he's yet to really put together any sort of impressive campaign in the major leagues. Moving Proctor however would give the Yankees a better backup option than Miguel Cairo in exchange (although my guess is Torre would elect to keep both players for some reason) and free up a roster spot for Joba Chamberlain.

The Rockies supposedly have interest in Farnsworth. Perfect. A guy who throws a 100 mph flat fastball in Coors (humidor balls or no humidor balls). Can't wait to see the 600' HR Pujols hits off of him.

In a perfect world, when Chris Britton returns from injury and finally gets a long overdue promotion, the bullpen could shape up like this:
Rivera
Gagne
Vizcaino
Chamberlain
Britton
Bruney
Villone

Of course that would mean promoting the effective guys, going with a 7 man 'pen, and saying goodbye to Mike Myers. Villone stays because of all of them, he's the only one really capable of a long relief role (I don't think Joba should be used that way unless he's on a regular work schedule, ie. 3 innings every 3 or 4 days. Historically, Torre lets his long man sit in the bullpen for ages without use.) A more realistic option would have Britton toiling away in AAA, and Myers still on the big club (Joe's gotta have those crafty vets, you know).

Ian Kennedy stays in AAA as a starter. I suppose he's now the new "next in line" should an injury happen.

Besides Betemit, there are other infield options. Houston's Mike Lamb is available, and Cashman should certainly look into picking him up. He was a Yankee during spring training a couple of years ago, but lost the roster spot to Travis Lee. He's hitting .299/.378/.480 with an OPS+ of 123 and can play RF, LF, 3B, 1B, and 2B. For everyone who's fallen in love with Andy Phillips lately... well, he's a lot better than Andy Phillips, and has the versatility to move around the field when needed. In my oh so humble opinion, he is exactly the type of player the Yankees need on the bench at this point in time.

I'll be back throughout the day with updates as rumors become deals and deals become official.

Update, 8:15 AM PST: The Red Sox send Joel Piniero to St. Louis for some sticky ribs and a bucket of used baseballs. Pretty much a non-factor deal. I do love though how in every trade rumor I read involving Boston, they are said to be offering "a package involving Wily Mo Pena." Well, no shit. You don't want Pena, but neither does anyone else.

Update, 9:57 AM PST: It seems as if Proctor for Betemit is a done deal. I really don't know how big a fan I am of this deal because I still think Mike Lamb was a better option and now because of the glut of infielders that Joe Torre loves, there's very little chance of bringing him over. On its own though, I like the move. This seems kind of odd though:

The Yankees view Betemit as another first-base/DH/bench option for this year, and a potential third-base replacement for Alex Rodriguez next year.
Bench? Sure. First base? Ok, in the mix. DH? Why in the world would the Yankees need another DH when you have Jhonny the Homicidal Maniac and Godzilla in the field, and the zombie formerly known as Jason Giambi on the mend? There's no reason to DH the guy. The OPS+ of 116 is good, but I'm sure you'll hear a lot more about the .231 BA from the mainstream idiot media.

At least when Proctor's arm inevitably falls off, it will be up to Russell Martin (and not Jorge Posada) to catch the bloody stub.

Update, 10:36 AM PST: The San Diego Union-Tribune has a story in today's paper that the Padres may be interested in Kei Igawa, for whom they bid $10M this past offseason. It wouldn't be the first time the Yankees and Padres swapped a Japanese import. The Padres are still in contention for the Western Division title though, so probably wouldn't be willing to give up much in the way of major league ready talent. Add in the fact that they just traded away one of their relievers, and the likelihood of this deal going down just doesn't seem very high.

Update, 11:25 AM PST: The reports all say it's Gagne to Boston for David Murphy and Kason Gabbard. What makes no sense here is that by all reports I've read, Texas turned down offers of Clippard/Marquez and Clippard/Karstens and demanded Hughes and/or Chamberlain from the Yankees, and yet they accept this deal from Boston for what seems to be far inferior talent? I'm no conspiracy theorist. I'm not the type that thinks MLB conspires against the Yankees. However, Scott Boras is Gagne's agent. The one team in the mix of teams (Boston, Milwaukee and the New York clubs) that was on Gagne's limited no trade list was the Red Sox. In order to waive that clause, Boston will probably have to guarantee him the "closing" incentives in Gagne's contract, which add up to well over $3M for this year. Does it sound that ridiculous that Jon Daniels has a handshake agreement with Boras to get his client the extra $3M from the Red Sox in exchange for bringing Gagne back next year, or setting up another player's contract or extension? With Boras, this seems almost status quo, so this deal in retrospect isn't surprising at all.

Update, 12:28 AM PST: ESPN live chat line of the day:

Bob: In your opinion, who's the most knowledgable baseball guy for ESPN?

Jonah Keri: (3:22 PM ET ) Too many to count. Gammons, Stark, Neyer, Law, Caple, Neel, the always sharp Curtis Granderson...great bunch.

Alex (Toronto): Does Chris Berman not count as a baseball analyst? Or is he too busy with leather?

Jonah Keri: (3:23 PM ET ) hehe

Labels: brian cashman, ian kennedy, joba chamberlain, joel piniero, kei igawa, kyle farnsworth, mike lamb, scott proctor, trade rumors, trades, trading deadline, wilson betemit

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 7:46 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 03, 2006

You Have a Seven Run Lead.

It's over 100 degrees out.
Your starting pitcher has only given up one earned run over 6 innings, and thrown 80 pitches.

For the seventh inning do you:

A.) Keep your starter out there but start warming someone.
B.) Bring in your mop up guy to see if he can finish it out.
C.) Bring in your two most overworked relievers who will be needed down the stretch and risk injuries.

If you're Joe Torre, you choose: C - bring in Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth, and then only when Farnsworth has to leave the game becaue of possible injury on a comebacker, you bring in your garbage-time long reliever, Ponson.

My choice would be B. If you don't use your long mop up guy in that situation, there's no reason to have one at all.

Amazingly, people in the media are still saying Joe Torre should be Manager of the Year.

Labels: bull, joe torre, kyle farnsworth, lupe's bf, scott proctor, sir sid, torre is dumb

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 1:54 PM 7 comments