The Yankees outrighted pitchers Chad Gaudin and Royce Ring to remove them from the 40-man roster, tweets Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger. Gaudin elected free agency. Outfielder Melky Mesa was added to the 40-man.
Gaudin, 28 in March, was named by MLBTR as a non-tender candidate earlier today. He didn't make it that far after posting a 5.65 ERA, 7.3 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 2.2 HR/9, and 39.2% groundball rate in 65.3 innings for the Yankees and Athletics this year.
Ring, a lefty reliever, turns 30 in December. He spent most of the season at Triple-A, posting a 1.93 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, and 0.4 HR/9 in 42 innings.
Those moves were expected so no shockers there. I was sort of shocked that they chose to protect Melky Mesa simply because he probably couldn’t make any teams 25 man roster if he were claimed and would most likely be offered back to the Yanks. He’s probably at least 2 years away and still has some question marks as far as his contact hitting ability and selectiveness.
Arizona and Cleveland’s major league outfield talent is so thin, you never know who they might take.
Arizona and Cleveland’s major league outfield talent is so thin, you never know who they might take.
I’m not sure how good his defense is, but if it is really good, some teams might see him as an ample risk for a fourth outfielder that they can mold. It only takes one team’s interest to lose him and the Yankees might see potential in him that they want to keep. It might just be paranoia or the fact that there are no others that really need protecting. Correct me if I’m wrong, because I am guessing to a certain degree.
After losing Kroenke and almost losing Nova the year before the Yankees aren’t likely to be as dismissive as in years past. They could have really used Kroenke this year and the next since Damaso Marte is out for a while. If the cost is losing Royce Ring or Chad Gaudin, I say take it.
Well said..
Melquisedec Mesa is his full name. He has been called the best 5 tool guy in the Yanks system as he’s fast, has a great arm, great power and is great defensively. He had a great 2nd half in 2010 but what works against is that he turns 24 in january, has never played above A+, and has contact and plate discipline problems (career .307 OBP and 297 ko in the last 2 years). He had a combined line of .260/.338 w/ 21 dbls, 9 trips, 19 hrs and 31/40 SB last year. He had a better looking 2nd half of .278/.348 w/ 9 dbls, 6 trips and 14 hrs w/ 14 SB. His KO totals were still too high though (78 in 241 AB).
Very informative. Still I know little about this guy and if the Yanks want to protect him, there has to be some value in this kid.
Informative to me as well. I had never heard the name “Melky” before Melky Cabrera, and now with Melquisedec, I did a quick Google, and it seems the name is derived from Melchizedek from the book of “Genesis.”
What’s this got to do with baseball? Nothing. But thanks for the enlightenment.
No problem.
I’m not sure how good his defense is, but if it is really good, some teams might see him as an ample risk for a fourth outfielder that they can mold. It only takes one team’s interest to lose him and the Yankees might see potential in him that they want to keep. It might just be paranoia or the fact that there are no others that really need protecting. Correct me if I’m wrong, because I am guessing to a certain degree.
Seriously? The Yankees had two different Melkys?
Yep. Except Mesa’s real name is Melquesomec or something like that.
Melky is actually a fairly common name in the DR
Like… from Melquiades, i guess, fairly common also in some parts of México (towards the south).
Looks like Ring was descent this year, why are the Yankees exposing him, do they have something better to put on the 40-man roster or is there some underlying issue with him?
He pitched decently in AAA all year and they never gave him a shot. His call up at the end of the year seemed merely as a ‘thanks for trying’ nod rather than a legit asset. Somehow Chad Gaudin kept his job though.
Royce Ring has very “fringy” stuff. If he wasn’t a lefty he might not even be in baseball.
makes sense. I figured they’d look into him more because he was a lefty
makes sense. I figured they’d look into him more because he was a lefty
Sometimes lefties take longer to figure it out, I wonder if he’s going to be one of them?
…and some of them act very weird while chasing slow rollers LOL, i don’t know why is that, or maybe i pay more attention to them than when slow rollers are hit towards right handed pitchers.
But yet a lefty can survive with fringe stuff out of the ‘pen simply because they’re a lefty. Ring is clearly doing something right. I can imagine someone like Kevin Towers taking note of this – that ‘pen is in shambles and the only lefties who worked in it last year were Jordan Norberto (sucks because of lack of strike-throwing) and Zach Kroenke. It would make sense to pick up another option.
Decent(not descent as you wrote) is good to have, but when you have to clear off your roster to make room for prospects, guys like Ring are the first to go, really.
He accepted the outright assignment, apparently(Gaudin did not), so as long as Ring clears waivers, he can stay in the Yankee organization–just not on the 40-man roster. Of course, they could still non-tender him later I suppose. 😉
yopu kidding me? the guy was garbage and I’m glad hes gone same goes for Gaudin
They signed Ring to play in the minors and he was pretty good, in the major leagues he hardly had the chance to stablish himself now that it seems he ‘re-invented’ himself and came to terms with his lack of power pitches.
The same happened with Jorge “el chato” Vázquez, he was pretty good yet they don’t want him in the major league level, he’s been signed for the AAA because he has always been pretty good in AAA+ (or AAAA if you want) at México. Too bad for him since the Yankees gave players too much time in the major league roster like Ramiro Peña, Randy Winn, etcetera.
Royce Ring is the Yankee’s version of the Twins Anothony Slama – relievers with great stats (and names!) who can get outs in the minors but really don’t have major league command/control/velocity.
If that’s what Ring is, then we had two of them including Jonathan Albaladejo. He was lights out in AAA, but walks guys and gives up homers in the big show.
Royce Ring is the Yankee’s version of the Twins Anothony Slama – relievers with great stats (and names!) who can get outs in the minors but really don’t have major league command/control/velocity.
Why the F did they get rid of a guy named ROYCE RING??? I would kill for that name!!!
Now we need for the yanks to get Max Power (The Simpsons) :p