Basking In The Good Pitching Afterglow

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Quality of opponent being what it was, yesterday's doubleheader shutout was still a splendid performance by the Yankee pitching staff.  They got very good to outstanding outings from 2 25-year-old starters and some solid bullpen work from a bunch of mostly young and unheralded pitchers all working in higher-leverage roles thanks to the closer being on the DL.  It was a continuation of what has quickly been established as the norm for this group since the opening week of the season.  These guys can pitch, all of them, and they've been the driving force behind the Yankees' early success.

The Yanks open a weekend series tonight in Tampa with the 2nd best record in the American League, a place atop the AL East, and they've done it mainly on the back of their pitching staff while the new lineup continues to work out the kinks and find its way.  It's a very refreshing change of pace from where the rotation was early in the year last season, and I'd like to take a few moments to enjoy it.

Yanks Still Mining For Injured/Rehabbing Roster Gold

(Pass.  Courtesy of Howard Simmons/NY Daily News)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

In the never-ending quest to add more pitching depth, the Yankees were among several teams on hand to watch Johan Santana throw in Florida yesterday.  He's attempting to work his way back from a second shoulder capsule surgery in less than 3 years and the Yanks have been linked to him for months.  According to George King, Santana was sitting 77-78 MPH with his velocity and he maxed out at 81.  That is a far cry from the upper-80s he was throwing the last time he was on a Major League mound, and while King did say his changeup looked "impressive", I question whether Major League hitters would feel the same when it's coming at them at basically the same speed as his fastball.

ManBan In The Bullpen? Sure, Why Not?

ESPN NY is in the middle of rolling out a big 3-part look at the Yankee farm system and its recent struggles, and while I think Wally was a little heavy-handed with his "doom and gloom" overview in Part I, there was an eye-catching bit about Manny Banuelos that I think warrants further discussion:

"Banuelos has got that big arm," a front office source said. "If it's still there and the lightning still strikes then you're going see people say, 'Fuck it, bring him with us [on Opening Day].'"

I've been a big advocate of giving ManBan a real chance at a rotation spot in camp this year.  There's nothing to lose really.  If he doesn't pitch well enough to earn it, send him to Triple-A.  But I could totally get on board with bringing him along on the Opening Day roster in the bullpen if he pitches well enough for one of those open spots.

Phelps And/Or Warren Becoming Trade Bait?

While we're on the topic of interesting things said by Joe yesterday, how about his comment that David Robertson, Shawn Kelley, and Preston Claiborne will all be part of the bullpen next season?  It may not sound like much, but when you consider the available spots in the 'pen and the number of available bodies, it may shed a little light on what the Yankees plan to do with David Phelps and Adam Warren.

Using my Project 189 team as a hypothetical starting point, I had Claiborne as the odd man out to start the year based on the assumption that the Yankees were going to carry both Phelps and Warren.  If Claiborne is in as far as Joe's concerned, that locks up 3 of the 7 available spots.  Another one is going to be reserved for a LOOGY, another will probably be saved for Dellin Betances since it's put up or shut up time for him, and I still expect the Yankees to sign Veteran Reliever X to take on some of the late-inning work.  That's 6 guys with only 1 open spot remaining for a long man.

Nova Still On The Roster

It got overshadowed by STFUgate 2013 yesterday, but if you're a close follower of the 25-man roster you may have noticed that the move to send Ivan Nova back down and call up a position player that was supposed to happen on Monday never did.  Nova is still on the active roster as part of a 13-man pitching staff and the Yankees have played the first 2 games of this current series with a 3-man bench.

There has been no formal announcement from anybody in the organization about what they intend to do with Nova, but in talking to reporters on Tuesday Joe left open the option of Nova making another spot start sometime in the near future.  The Yanks are in the early part of a "20 in 20" stretch leading up to the All Star Break.  Maybe they want to use Nova to spell Andy and get him some extra rest.  They've scaled back his between-start workload and their goal is obviously to keep his back from becoming a bigger problem.

Hopefully we get some kind of clear picture on just what the plan is for Nova soon because playing for a long period of time with just the 3-man bench is not the best strategy in the world.

Vidal Nuno, A Man Of Many (Potential) Roles

(Welcome to the show, guy.  Courtesy of the AP)

The lone bright spot in last night's absolute stink pot of a game was the Major League debut of Vidal Nuno.  After being released from the Cleveland Indians' A-ball affiliate following the 2010 season, Nuno has worked himself up through five levels of the Yankee MiL system in just a little over two seasons and put himself in a position to capitalize on an opportunity when Ivan Nova went on the DL.  While so many people focus on what Nuno isn't when labeling him an automatic non-prospect, I put more stock into what he is when I evaluated him and included him in this year's AB4AR Top 30 (30th spot).  He might not be big, he might not throw hard, and he might not have devastating offspeed stuff, but he's still before his prime at age 25, he throws strikes, he has outstanding command, and his offspeed stuff is just good enough to strike a fair amount of batters out.  As a lefty, that's not a bad skill set to possess.

Nuno's greatest quality, at least as it relates to the current Yankee roster, might be his flexibility.  That ability to pitch in multiple scenarios, paired with the aforementioned left-handedness, could make Nuno a very versatile bullpen piece for Joe to use as he sees fit.

Rotation Issues Creating An Extra Need For Middle Relief, An Opportunity For Young Pitchers

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(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Last Tuesday, in light of the middle relief corps' poor start, I questioned the decision making in letting pitchers like David Aardsma and the still injured at the time Clay Rapada go in favor of guys like Shawn Kelley and Cody Eppley.  I also quickly questioned the logic in keeping the team's top two spot starters, David Phelps and Adam Warren, together in the bullpen as long relievers rather than sending one of them down to stay stretched out in case the Yankees needed a spot start or two.  The middle relief issue has faded to the background a bit as the Yankees have gone on a nice little 6-1 run since their rough start, and Eppley has been banished to Triple-A thanks to the return of Phil Hughes to the rotation.  But as that rotation has come together and everybody has gone through at least twice, the need for strong middle relief, particularly long relief, has continued to be put on display.

Yanks Sign Wang

As first reported by Jon Heyman, the Yankees have agreed to sign former starter Chien-Ming Wang to what is believed to be a MiL deal.  Wang is expected to join the Triple-A rotation to start the season.

As I've been saying for a while now, this is exactly the type of signing the Yankees usually make to fill out their Triple-A rotation and it's the signing they had yet to make this year so the timing couldn't have been better.  I don't expect Wang to contribute much, if any, at the Major League level and if it gets to the point when he is starting in the Major League rotation then something went horribly wrong.  But it is always fun to see familiar faces return to the organization, and via the new CBA Wang can opt out in June if he hasn't been called up.  If nothing else, he can use the first few months in the Minors as an audition for a Major League job elsewhere.

Why A Wang Return Would Be Helpful

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(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

The biggest non-Jeter's ankle story of yesterday was the return of Chien-Ming Wang to the Yankees.  It wasn't as an official team member, as Wang is still searching for a job offer after a brutal 2012 with the Nationals, but he was there to pitch for team scouts and coaches and hopefully do enough to get himself a contract offer.  The Yankees were connected to Wang recently and scouted him at the WBC, where he was reportedly throwing his sinker high 80s-low 90s and didn't allow a run in 12 IP.  After the dreaded baserunning foot injury of '08 and the awful follow-up performance in '09, a return to the Yankee organization would be a nice little deal for Wang.

It also wouldn't be bad for the Yankees, who are always in the market for pitching depth.  While Wang is certainly not a contender for a Major League rotation spot at this point in his career, or even a 40-man roster spot for that matter, he does represent the type of veteran arm the Yankees have liked to keep stashed in their Triple-A rotation for the last few years.  They find themselves without that arm right now and adding Wang to the mix could be the final piece needed to solidify the top levels of their organizational rotation depth.

Wait, Derek Lowe Is Still Available?

That's a serious question.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't realize Derek Lowe was still wallowing away on the free agent market.  I assumed some team had already snapped him up on a MiL deal after his surprisingly strong late-2012 stint with the Yanks.  Came to find out he's still out there thanks to Axisa's little update blurb on him yesterday when Lowe said he would be willing to come out of the bullpen.

I definitely wouldn't be interested in Lowe on anything more than a MiL deal, and I wouldn't expect him to make the Opening Day roster, but he could be valuable in multiple scenarios for the Yankees.  At best, he could do what Axisa would like him to do and serve as the swingman and 7th reliever in the bullpen, freeing the lose of the Nova-Phelps competition up to go down to Triple-A to stay stretched out as a starter for the eventual injury that will come up.  At worst, he decides to stay in Triple-A after camp ends and serves that cheap veteran innings-eater function I was talking about yesterday.

Lowe might still be holding out for a Major League offer, counting on other injuries in another camp inspiring teams to give him a look.  But if he doesn't get any, and still wants to play, he should be willing to take a MiL deal as much as the Yankees should be willing to offer him one.

Yanks Still In The Market For Pitching Depth, Eyeing An Old Friend

Along with signing cheap veteran players to fill bench results, a Yankee staple the past few seasons has been stashing a cheap veteran starter or two in the Minors for emergency pitching depth.  Last year it was Ramon Ortiz and John Maine who filled that role, and filled it admirably, but so far this offseason there hasn't been a single signing of that type.

Enter this little nugget of intel from The Post's George King about the Yankees monitoring the status of Chien-Ming Wang, who threw for Billy Connors recently in a quasi-audition.  According to King, the Yankees haven't reached out to Wang or his agent, but they will be scouting him when he pitches for Taiwan in the WBC.  Wang has never been the same since injuring his foot in Houston in 2008, and was downright awful last season in Washington (6.68/5.85/5.43 in 32.1 IP).  He wouldn't be in the running for a Major League call up, as those will most likely be given to Adam Warren and Brett Marshall, but he could serve as backup depth in Triple-A should one of those younger arms be needed in the Majors.