Some scouts are "convinced the Yankees are going to release Sergio Mitre," reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The club has two open rotation spots and one long relief job, which could go to Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, and Ivan Nova in some combination.
If the Yankees release Mitre prior to March 28th, he'd only be due 45 days termination pay, which on his $900K salary equals $222,527. If they release him after that they'd owe the full $900K, less the prorated portion of the league minimum if he signs elsewhere. So either way the bill to let Mitre go should be less than $500K.
Mitre, 30, owns a 5.03 ERA, 5.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, and 1.4 HR/9 in 105 2/3 big league innings across two seasons for the Yankees, tossing another 68 innings in the minors. He's been homer-prone despite strong groundball rates. Mitre had Tommy John surgery in July of 2008, earning a release from the Marlins a few months later. He signed a split contract with the Yankees that November. While rehabbing his elbow, Mitre picked up a 50-game suspension for violating MLB's drug policy. Later in his Yankees career, he was retained for the '10 and '11 seasons as an arbitration eligible player.
Umm… okay, so… Mitre catches a minor-league deal with somebody. Maybe the Yankees… Ha!
Bartolo Colon 2011 AL CyYoung Award Winner!!!
And the MVP
And apparently will save the world from evil invading aliens.
Better hope Sam Cassell is on the alert then.
maybe, maybe haha
haha lol, he has a pretty good chance too
If only we still had Chad Gaudin, we wouldn’t be going through this 4/5 starter mess. Yes, he can pitch in both spots!
Wasn’t it in just 2009 the North East Sports Media was SALIVATING over the back end of the sox rotation that consisted of Brad Penny, John Smoltz and Dice – K. I vividly remember Peter Gammons saying on national TV, that if the red sox had one problem in 2009 it was that they “had too much pitching” Amazing how the Yanks do something similar to the sox and get rocked in the media for it. The Rotation to start the year won the same in August, and It wont be as bad as everyone hopes…
It’s not a proper comparison; Smoltz and Penny were flops in hindsight, but they sure weren’t available on minor league deals before that season.
Still wont be as Bad as everyone is hoping… Plus the deep minor league arms that will be knocking on the door and/or used as trade chips
i like that you didn’t acknowledge that your original comparison was way off and instead just pushed forward with the paranoia. keep the faith, nyy!
Not true the comparison may not work in regards to smoltz but just because penny signed a major league doesnt mean was a better option than garcia is now, he was awful in the nl west the year before signing . Actually i’d be surprised if garcia didnt get any major league offers considering he wasnt that bad last year and was certainly better than a guy like vasquez who was signed to big league deals. Even though smoltz was better than the 5th option the yankees have now, guys like stark made the claim that signing smoltz, penny saito, and baldelli made there offseason better than the yankees in year that the yankees signed tex, cc and burnett, which was the type of attitude that adam was referring to.
“just because penny signed a major league doesnt mean was a better option than garcia is now, he was awful in the nl west the year before signing”
you mean the year he was injured and threw only 90 innings? yeah, nice one. the previous, healthy year he threw 200 3.63 FIP innings. freddy garcia hasn’t done that siiiince…2004
the only reason penny became a one-year shot guy was because of the injury during the “year he was awful”. his ceiling was a mile higher than garcia’s
your revisions are inaccurate and even worse, boring
“his ceiling was a mile higher than garcia’s” no it wasnt if your going to criticize me for only looking at one year of penny’s career you might want at more than one year of his career. The 2 years prior to his fluke season he was pretty mediocre in a pretty crappy division. What was his ceiling in your opinion did you actually think he would pitch close to his 2007 numbers? Sorry my “revisions” arent as exciting as your delusions. When i saw that they signed penny i was thinking he’d put up a mid 4 era that is better than what garcia will do next year but not by that much. It still doesnt rationalize the way some journalists like stark reacted toward the different off seasons, but who cares the scenarios are in fact different for more than the reason stated already.
“if your going to criticize me for only looking at one year of penny’s career you might want at more than one year of his career”
good call. let’s try it! here’s penny
YEAR – IP – FIP
2004 – 143 – 3.59
2005 – 175 – 3.64
2006 – 189 – 3.89
2007 – 208 – 3.63
2008 – 94 (injury)
2009 – red sox
yea geez what a crazy fluke outlier 2007 was amirite old chap
here’s garcia
YEAR – IP – FIP
2004 – 210 – 3.67
2005 – 228 – 4.05
2006 – 216 – 4.58
2007 – 58 (injury)
2008 – 15 (injury)
2009 – 56 (injury)
2010 – 157 – 4.77
2011 – yankees
garcia has only posted a FIP below 4 twice in his entire career (2001 and 2004) and the most recent time was 6 years before the yankees signed him at age 35. penny averaged a FIP of about 3.6 for four consecutive years prior to his injury and was signed immediately after that injured year at age 30
there is no comparison at all. whatsoever. penny’s ceiling was a mile higher
Since I know you like fWAR also
WAR from 2004 – 2007
Garcia- 13.0 (712 innings)
Penny- 13.7 (715 innings)
Not a huge gap
Garcia also leads in xFIP (4.17 to 4.19). I’d give the edge to Penny but there isn’t as much a gap as you think. And I’m referring to that time span, not today.
sucks this isn’t 2009 then, doesn’t it. i mean obviously if boston signed penny in 2011 after injured seasons in 07, 08, 09, and a lousy 2010, the gap would close a bit
and while i admire your effort i guess, the xFIP argument is just weird. do you know what xFIP does? i don’t even get why you think it would be relevant with career numbers
xFIP aims to correct for luck by normalizing HR/FB%. but garcia is and always has been a fly ball pitcher who gives up lots of HRs. his career HR/FB is near 12% for crying out sakes. 2000 innings of performance isn’t luck (“that which is persistent is real”); that’s just how the guy pitches. his HR/FB was near 13% in safeco for crying out loud
likewise with penny, taking career xFIP makes no sense at all unless you’re going to argue he’s had 1700 lucky innings. good luck with that argument
penny’s 2009 ceiling remains a mile higher than garcia’s 2011. there is no data that suggests otherwise
You were giving the numbers from 2004-2007, I said edge to Penny in that span. Why you’re bringing up today I don’t know, but I’m just responding to what you said before.
“penny’s 2009 ceiling remains a mile higher than garcia’s 2011. “. That all applies with 1 word- Predictions. Nothing is accurate unless you can predict the future 100%. No one is expecting a great year out of Garcia and if you want to talk about 2011, I’d almost compare him to Dice-K.
Now you’re not going to go and tell me he’s an excellent pitcher are you?
Garcia is a HR pitcher because he plays in HR hitting ballparks. I’d be interested if you found his splits between his home and away HR/FB ratio. That’s why if you use FIP, xFIP comes in handy. It’s adjustment. Just like ERA+ is ERA.
I’m not using xFIP to back my statement, I’m using it in your case.
And I just found out the answer to something I just wrote
Away HR/FB- 9.5
Home- 13.5
Of course Yankee Staidum is a HR ball park too so I’m a bit worried in that. But if he can pitch like a 5th starter, aka something you expect such as an ERA in the mid 4’s and a quality start more times than not, I wouldn’t be dissatisfied
“You were giving the numbers from 2004-2007, I said edge to Penny in that span. Why you’re bringing up today I don’t know, but I’m just responding to what you said before.”
what i said before — twice — is that penny’s ceiling when he signed in boston was a mile higher than garcia’s when he signed with new york. you then said “I’d give the edge to Penny but there isn’t as much a gap as you think.”
but you’re wrong and there is no data to support your conclusion. 2007 was 4 seasons ago. the 04-07 span is useful for penny, because he signed in 2009 after an injured year. it’s not very useful for garcia, who was injured in ’07 ’08 and ’09 pitched poorly in 2010 and signed in 2011. do you really not get it? i said it all before, up in the comments you’re saying you read
“No one is expecting a great year out of Garcia”
exactly. and they were predicting a better year out of penny in 2009 – as they should have. that’s the whole point
“but you’re wrong and there is no data to support your conclusion”.
Already provided the data with WAR, I said, Penny has the edge, but not by a whole lot.
“what i said before — twice — is that penny’s ceiling when he signed in boston was a mile higher than garcia’s when he signed with new york. you then said “I’d give the edge to Penny but there isn’t as much a gap as you think.”. I said I’d give the edge the Penny in their stats from 2004-2007. You were showing that, and apparently you refused to show some stats for seasons from 2008-2010 for them because of injury.
“the 04-07 span is useful for penny, because he signed in 2009 after an injured year. it’s not very useful for garcia, who was injured in ’07 ’08 and ’09 pitched poorly in 2010 and signed in 2011”- Uhh, okay?
“xFIP doesn’t show us anything useful at all about their careers. it’s useful with small samples and these two pitchers’ careers are not small”
If xFIP is useless, then FIP is. So congrats, you just basically called your 2 favorite stats useless. What are you going to use next? Wins and Losses?
“Already provided the data with WAR, I said, Penny has the edge, but not by a whole lot.”
you’re just being insane. is it on purpose? you’re citing a WAR total from 04-06 (garcia barely had any in 07; he was injured) for a guy signed in 2011. he has been injured for three years and is coming off a 1.3 WAR performance. penny was coming off of a 4.3 WAR performance only one year after being injured. and he was 5 years younger, in his prime. garcia is 35 and every stat he has is a yard worse than 2006, when he was pitched. absolutely night and day
If this is your so claimed argument, on who was better in recent years, then why were you showing 2004-2007 for each of them?
srsly? i gave them the same starting point. the fact that 2004-2007 is shown for both is completely incidental
after four strong years penny went down in 08 for one year and then signed in 2009 at age 30
after three strong years garcia went down in 07 for three years, pitched like a bum in 2010, and signed in 2011 at age 35
“If xFIP is useless, then FIP is”
that is just completely ludicrous. i no longer have any faith that you can understand these subjects. xFIP adjusts one thing about FIP to correct for small sample variation. so when the sample isn’t small, xFIP isn’t useful. FIP still is
you are helpless. good luck
“that is just completely ludicrous. i no longer have any faith that you can understand these subjects.”. I forgot sabers are right with everything, doh!
“xFIP adjusts one thing about FIP to correct for small sample variation”. What’s wrong with adjusting it? Just like how BABIP is an adjustment of a batting average overall is it not? Just like ERA+ is an adjustment of ERA.
it. adjusts. for. small. samples
2000. innings. is not. a small. sample
What are these so called small samples? Home runs?
“Garcia is a HR pitcher because he plays in HR hitting ballparks”
ridiculous. he pitched for 2+ season (500+ innings) in freaking safeco and his HR/FB was almost 13%. and even if it were the ballparks’ fault (it’s not), he’s still in a HR ballpark, so xFIP still wouldn’t be helpful
xFIP doesn’t show us anything useful at all about their careers. it’s useful with small samples and these two pitchers’ careers are not small
“ridiculous. he pitched for 2+ season (500+ innings) in freaking safeco and his HR/FB was almost 13%”
He gave up an equal amount at both home and away because he was a HR hittable pitcher, that’s why. We already know Garcia gives up the long ball a lot, so I have absolutely no idea the point you are trying to make. Whether who was better than 2004-2007 or that Garcia is PROJECTED (as in, Not necessarily happened) to do worse than what Penny DID (as in Actually happened) in 2009
Mitre’s relief splits are not that bad. He is no starter, but he deserves to be a long reliever in the Yankee’s pen.
He’s already done the job before. I don’t see Garcia, Nova, or Colon stepping into the LR spot.
would someone take him if they tried to stash him in the minors? i don’t see why he should be released. he’s not that terrible and pitching depth is important
Yes, he is not that terrible. But he’s still terrible.
it’s all relative here, though. he’s a replacement level arm with experience. if you’re oakland or philadelphia, that’s not worth keeping around. if you’re nyy in 2011, i think it probably is
I don’t think he’s any better than Garcia, Colon, Nova, Phelps, Mitchell, Noesi or anyone else in AAA. I think he’s a waste of a roster space actually.
Figure…
CC, Hughes, AJ, Nova and Garcia.
Mo, Soriano, Joba, Robertson, Logan, Feliciano, Colon.
9 poisition players incl Posada @ DH
Jones, Montero, Pena/Nunez and ???????
Mitre has looked goodin ST but I have more faith in the others and roster spots are tight as it is. Yanks need to think in terms of extra starters moreso than extra relievers.
I just hope they don’t think of Mitre as an extra starter… then we’re screwed even more.
Agreed, but I don’t think he will go in the rotation either bearing an injury to another pitcher.
What’s up YFN78. I agree totally. I’d rather see somebody new come in and get pounded than the same guy who got pounded for two years.
Yanks will be fine with Nova and Freddie. As a Sox fan, Freddie did a great job last year. He knows how to pitch and the team must have a strong defense to help him. Yanks have all of that. Look for 10 to 12 wins. As far as Sergio Meatball – well LR. Colon gone by March 25.
Where’s Aaron Small when you need him
finally!
The demise of the Yankees pitching staff has been highly exaggerated. They have the best pen in baseball. Burnett appears willing and able to correct what went wrong last year. Hughes will have another year’s experience to help him develop.
All this consternation about the 4 & 5 starters is silly. Nova pitched well last year and has a mid 90’s fastball. He’d be in every rotation in the league if teams had him. He’ll pitch to 4.5 ERA and that will be more than good enough with that pen behind him.
As for Garcia/Colon, they both possess the stuff to get through a lineup several times. They’re not aces, but they are perfectly fine as back end starters.
Boston fans may be crowing about their rotation but it’s style over substance. It’s going to be the downfall of that team this season. They simply don’t possess the depth in their system to make up for any injuries or poor performance in the rotation. Aceves’ back will bark before too long.
Nice job turning a post defending the yanks pitching staff into an attack on the Red Sox, after all the best way to argue your own strengths are convince people about an opponents weakness. Hey, if it works in politics it must work in baseball arguments. Also you added the obligatory “throw your former prospect under the bus,” nice job.
Thanks!
wait for it…..wait for it (que the jaws theme music) it’s coming…….
I feel like the Sox depth is pretty solid this year. Certainly not aces down in the minors, but plenty of guys who can start a major league game or two- between Wakefield, Aceves, Doubront, Bowden, Tazawa should be back in the year, Miller is a long shot, but may be able to get some work done in the minors.
Certainly not aces down there, but it’s not like they’ll be running out of starters too easily.
“starting pitching depth is going to be the downfall of the red sox in 2011 and not the yankees”
brilliant!
You’re welcome! Anytime!
Mitre is a journeyman middle reliever, at best. Nobody would care what happens to such a mediocre player if he wasn’t currently under contract to the Yankees.
This would be like losing a family member for Girardi.
Looks like Nova and Garcia start and Colon long relief. I can see Banman taking over for Logan by August.
PLEASE!!!!Brian Cashman! Get rid of Mitre, etc……….. This is will be you’re legacy as a GM if you chose to use this kind of player.Take a chance! Go with Manny! The fans will respect you, even if it doesn’t work out!
Rh1man