Germany or no Germany, I couldn't very well let the Yankees make a slew of early roster moves today without my 2 cents. It started when they called up Bruce Billings as a fresh arm for tonight's game, it continued when they announced that they had traded Vidal Nuno to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-hander Brandon McCarthy a few hours ago, and it got real a few minutes ago when they announced that Alfonso Soriano had been designated for assignment to open a 25-man spot for Billings.
On the McCarthy move, it's a good one. He's an upgrade over Nuno and will help give a little more length from the back end of the makeshift rotation, although not the type of upgrade the front office was hoping to get from somebody like Jeff Samardzija or Jason Hammels. Personally I think the value of adding McCarthy gets limited a bit by having to give up Nuno for him. I think Nuno was a better fit as a multi-use lefty reliever and not being able to move him into that role to help the 'pen is a bummer.
As for Soriano, it was a long time coming and last night's 0-4 game with 2 more strikeouts and a dropped foul pop up was the last straw. He was a great half-season pickup last year and looked genuinely re-energized playing back in New York, but the Father Time clock struck midnight this year and he never found his game at the plate, whether he was getting regular ABs or not. Hopefully that roster spot gets used for somebody better than Billings down the road. Like an actual right-handed power bat.
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